Men's hockey travels to New Hampshire for a two-game set against the Wildcats

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team will hit the road for the second weekend in a row and the third time this month to take on New Hampshire this Friday and Saturday. Faceoff both nights is scheduled for 7 p.m

RIT looks to be coming off an 0-3-1 mark after a 3-2 loss and a 3-3 tie at Sacred Heart last weekend in Atlantic Hockey America. The Wildcats fell 3-1 at home to No. 5 Maine last Saturday after splitting a home-and-home series with Northeastern (W, 4-1 home, L, 1-0, away) the previous weekend. .

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TIGER REWIND
RIT played an Atlantic Hockey doubleheader at Sacred Heart last weekend, losing 3-2 on Friday before tying the game 3-3 on Saturday in a game that culminated in a 1-0 shootout win for the Pioneers.

Sacred Heart scored the only goal of the first period and then twice in a span of 1:30 later in the second to build a 3-0 lead in Friday's opener. RIT sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa scored with 1:52 left in the second and later assisted sophomore forward Christian Catalano's goal midway through the third, but the Tigers couldn't find the equalizer despite finishing with a 29-25 shot advantage and a 59-41 advantage in shot attempts.

RIT opened the scoring in Saturday's rematch on a goal from senior forward Tanner Andreasbut after a scoreless second, the Pioneers took the lead with two goals in the first 1:52 of the third. The Tigers tied the game less than five minutes later on a draw from sophomore forward Matthew Wildebut Sacred Heart regained the lead with a power play goal at 10:51. RIT senior forward Grady Hobbs The game was tied with 3:58 left on Fukakusa's second assist of the game, before the teams played the rest of regulation and five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime scoreless.

RIT played its first road series at Sacred Heart since 2019, making its first appearance at the recently completed Martire Family Arena in Fairfield. Ten of the last 11 meetings between the teams have been played at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, while one game in 2022 was played at Army's Tate Rink due to a winter storm that hampered travel.

THE KILLERS
The RIT penalty kill entered its 14th week nationally at 87.5 percent. The Tigers entered the New Hampshire Series having killed 49 of 56 extra man chances this season and saw a streak of 22 straight kills over their last seven outings come to an end in the third period of last Saturday's game at Sacred Heart.

SPREAD THE LOVE
Senior forward Grady Hobbs became the 15th RIT player to score a goal this season during last Saturday's performance at Sacred Heart. Freshman defenseman Mathieu Cobetto-Roy also registered an assist for his first point in a Tiger jersey, as 19 of the Tigers' 23 total skaters now have at least one point in 14 games entering this weekend's series against New Hampshire. First-year goalkeeper Jakub Krbecek also provided an assist in the 6-2 win over Bentley (9 November).

SIMON SAYS LEAVE THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle entered the week fifth nationally with 173 faceoff wins and of the 13 players who started the week with at least 150 faceoff wins, they finished in third place with a winning percentage of .609. Isabelle won a career-high 18-of-26 (.692) draws in the 3-2 win over Clarkson, before winning 18-of-23 (.783) faceoffs in the 2-1 Bowling Green setback . He won 13 faceoffs in Saturday's Sacred Heart game, which is his 11th double-digit faceoff win in 14 games this season. Also second year Tyler Fukakusa entered the week tied for 15th with 148 wins, while winning 51.2 percent of his draws.

SAVINGS ACCOUNT
Freshman Jakub Krbecek has stopped more than 30 shots in each of his nine starts this season, including a career-high 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to Bowling Green (Oct. 19), tied for the 10th-highest single-game total in the nation this year – and also stopped 35 shots in the 4-1 setback over Niagara (Oct. 30). Krbecek won the first of two consecutive AHA Rookie of the Week honors after making 32 saves in a 3-2 win over Clarkson (Oct. 6), winning his first collegiate start. He also recorded his first career point with an assist and made 33 saves in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9). Krbecek moved past current RIT goaltending coach Mike Rotolo '17 for the most 30-save games by a RIT freshman in program history of the D1 era.

NO SOPHOMORE RAID

• Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa leads RIT with 15 points this season, including a team-high 12 assists. Riding a three-game point streak, he had a goal and an assist in back-to-back games against Army (Nov. 16) and Sacred Heart last Friday before adding two assists last Saturday.
• Sophomore Matthew Wilde is tied for second on the team with nine points (4G/5A) over the Tigers' last six games after missing the first eight games of the season due to a preseason injury.
• Sophomore forward Christian Catalano completes the Tigers' top line and is tied for fourth on the team with eight points (3G/5A).
• The score stood at ten points on three goals and seven assists during the Tigers' 6-2 win over Bentley (November 9) earlier this season.
• The trio returns after playing 36 games together last year. They started the season as the Tigers' fourth line before making their way to the second line for most of the second semester and all of the postseason.
• Fukakusa returns after finishing seventh in the team with 28 points (9G/19A), while Catalano finished in 11th place with 17 points (9G/8A).
• They were all from Mississauga, Ontario and also previously played on the same line before coming to RIT during their time with the OJHL Toronto Junior Canadiens in 2021-2022.

WILD TIMES GONE

Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde was named to the 2024-25 Atlantic Hockey Preseason All-Conference Team. Wilde finished his rookie season ranked fifth nationally among first-year players with 19 goals, while ranking 10th among all freshmen with 35 points. He also broke the Division I-era record for goals by a Tiger freshman with five. Wilde finished the season on an eleven-game point streak, totaling ten goals and five assists during the Tigers' run to end the season. He started the streak with a string of goals in six games, including two goals during a 9–2 win over Canisius (February 23). Wilde scored two goals, including what turned out to be the game winner, during RIT's 5-2 win over AIC in the AHA Championship game.

SLIP-RESISTANT
Prior to the 2024-25 season, RIT had not lost more than three straight games in four seasons. The Tigers' last loss of more than three games was a five-game skid during the 2018-19 season.

PRECURSORS
RIT's 5-4 loss to Colgate (Oct. 25) marked only the second time in 45 games over the past three seasons that the Tigers lost as they built a multi-goal lead. RIT was 41-0-2 when leading by more than one goal since letting 2-0 and 3-1 leads slip in a 4-3 loss to Union in the 2022-23 season opener (Oct. 1).

FIFTY SPOT
Senior forward Grady Hobbs scored an assist for his 50th career point in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9) and has totaled 26 goals and 24 assists over the past four seasons. It was the second week in a row that a Tiger reached the 50-point plateau behind the senior forward Tanner Andreas scored an assist in Niagara's setback for his 50th point since donning a RIT jersey.

CONGRATULATIONS
RIT celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first season of play at the Gene Polisseni Center during the Colgate 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.