Men's hockey hosts home opening series against Colgate Friday and Saturday

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team will take on Colgate this Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (5:05 p.m.) in the first two games of the season, which will be played at the Gene Polisseni Center.

The Tigers look to bounce back from a 2-1 OT setback against Bowling Green last Saturday, while the Raiders were swept on the road at UMass-Lowell, 5-2 and 2-1, last Friday and Saturday.

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TIGER REWIND

• RIT freshman goaltender Jakub Krbecek made a career-high 43 saves, but it was visiting Bowling Green that posted a 2-1 OT victory over the Tigers in the Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game, played last Saturday at Blue Cross Arena downtown of Rochester.
• Junior forward Simon Isabelle scored on a wrap-around at 14:43 of the second to open the scoring, before the Falcons answered with a power-play goal less than two minutes later. The game remained scoreless until Bowling Green scored the game winner with 47.4 left in overtime, handing the Tigers their first home loss since 2014.
• Isabelle scored his third goal of the season and is tied with the graduate student defender Dimitri Mikrogiannakis for the team leader.
• Graduate student moving forward Nick Cafarelli scored his team-leading fourth assist.
• RIT finished 0-for-3 on the power play and killed three of four penalties.
• Last Saturday's match was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,566 fans, which marked the second home match in a row. The Tigers also defeated Notre Dame 3-0 last season in front of a packed house.

SAVINGS ACCOUNT

• Freshmen Jakub Krbecek 43 saves in last Saturday's Bowling Green setback were the second-most by a Tiger freshman during the Division I era
• Krebeck finished two behind Josh Watson, who stopped 45 shots in a 5-3 home setback to No. 17 Merrimack on Jan. 1, 2011, during his first season in a RIT jersey.
• Krbecek became only the fourth Tiger freshman to total 40-plus saves in a game and was the first since Logan Drackett made 41 stops to preserve a 3–3 tie against Northeastern in the Brick City Game to kick off the 2017 season -2018 was opened.
• Krbecek is the first D1-era goaltender to collect at least 30 saves in three straight games to start his RIT career.
• Current goaltending coach Mike Rotolo compiled a RIT record eight games with at least 30 saves during his first season as a Tiger en route to a 9-9-3 mark in 2013-14, including 40 saves in a 2-2 tie against Robert Morris .

CONGRATULATIONS

RIT will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its first season of play this weekend at the Gene Polisseni Center during its first home games. After officially opening their doors on September 18, 2014, the Tigers defeated St. Lawrence 5-2 on October 10 in their first game at the GPC.

SUMMARY 2023-2024

• RIT finished the 2023-2024 campaign with a 27-11-2 record, including its first Atlantic Hockey Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.
• RIT compiled an 18-7-1 AHA mark to earn the Bob DeGregorio Trophy and the top seed for the AHA tournament for the second year in a row.
• RIT finished with a 5-0 record at the 2024 AHA Tournament, including a 5-2 victory over AIC in the championship game at the Polisseni Center. The Tigers defeated their opponents during the tournament by a margin of 26-6.
• The Tigers saw a seven-game undefeated streak end in the NCAA Regional Semifinals after a 6-3 setback against second-seeded Boston University in a game played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
• RIT posted back-to-back 20-win seasons at the Division I level for the second time, after also finishing 2022-23 with a 25-13-1 record. RIT went 23-13-2 in 2008-09 before finishing with a DI-era best 28-12-1 record during its run to the Frozen Four in 2009-10.
• RIT finished the season sixth nationally with 3.90 goals per game and fifth with a +1.50 scoring margin. The Tigers also finished eighth in scoring defense (2.40), while owning the fourth-ranked penalty kill (.865) and the 13th-ranked power play (.240).
• RIT finished the season with a 19-0-1 record when leading after the first period and a 23-2-2 record when leading after the second period.
• The Tigers were also 22-0-1 when leading by multiple goals and 22-1-1 when holding opponents to fewer than three goals.
• RIT scored at least five goals fourteen times last season and finished undefeated in those games.
• RIT averaged 3.92 goals in its 26 Atlantic Hockey games last winter, for a total of 102 goals during conference play. Air Force finished second with 88 goals and 3.38 goals per game.