Men's hockey travels to Robert Morris for AHA doubleheader

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team travels to Pennsylvania for a pair of games with Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) foe Robert Morris on Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (7:05 p.m.) to continue a streak of 14 consecutive conference appearances matches to close out the regular season and gain ground in the final AHA standings.

The Tigers look to bounce back from back-to-back 5-2 losses at Canisius last weekend following a 5-2 exhibition win over Guelph (Jan. 4) to start the new year. The Colonials are winless in four games since the calendar shifted to 2025, including a 4-1 loss and a 2-2 draw against Holy Cross last weekend.

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TIGER REWIND

RIT lost to Canisius last Friday and Saturday by identical 5-2 scores in the first conference games of the spring semester. The Golden Griffins scored 24 seconds into Friday night's opener, but goals from sophomore forward Mattew Wilde and Tyler Fukakusa during a 3:24 period, the Tigers pushed out to a 2-1 lead. Canisius came back with two goals in the first 3:32 of the second period, closing the game with four unanswered scores en route to the victory. First-year goalkeeper Jakub Krbecek a total of 35 saves, including 17 in the first period.

Canisius scored 3:30 into Saturday's rematch and again at 4:31 of the second for RIT junior defenseman Xavier Lapointe made it a one-goal game with a power play goal at 3:10. The Golden Griffins scored three straight goals for a 5-1 lead with less than three minutes remaining before Wilde scored a power play goal with 42.8 on the clock. First-year goalkeeper Ethan David finished the evening with 20 saves.

RIT split visiting Robert Morris in two games last month and rebounded from a 7-3 loss in the opener (Dec. 6) for a 4-3 OT victory (Dec. 7) prior to the three-week holiday layoff. Lapointe scored a pair of goals before the second attacker Christian Catalano later, the game winner counted 2:14 into overtime of the win, while David made 24 saves to offset his first win in a Tiger jersey. The night before, RIT, as a senior defenseman, couldn't get out of a 5-1 deficit early in the third period. Douglas Scott scored his first goal of his career and his first year as a striker Ryan Williams scored his first career point with an assist.

NO SOPHOMORE RAID

Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa entered the weekend tied for 15th nationally with 24 points and tied for third with 18 assists, including 15 points (5G/10A) in the Tigers' last 11 games.

• Fukakusa leads Atlantic Hockey with 0.82 assists per game and is third with 1.09 points per game, including at least one point in all but six games this season and 10 of the Tigers' last 11 games.
• He scored a career-high four assists in the 6–2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9) and also scored a goal and an assist in back-to-back games against Army (Nov. 16) and Sacred Heart (Nov. 22). ) before adding two assists versus the Pioneers (Nov. 17) for one of his six multi-point games this winter.
• Fukakusa also entered the weekend tied for seventh nationally with 255 faceoff wins while winning 55.4 percent of his draws this season. He won 18 of 31 faceoffs in his career the same amount as the Robert Morris opener and also won 13 of 15 draws (.867) in the New Hampshire opener during his current 11-game streak of double-digit faceoff wins .

WELCOME MAT

Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde currently leads Atlantic Hockey with 1.21 points per game and 0.64 goals per game, scoring at least one point in 10 of the last 14 games since missing the Tigers' first eight games with an injury in the preseason. He leads the team with nine goals and is tied for second with 17 points.

• He scored a career-high four points with two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9) for the first of three multi-point games in November.
• Wilde was credited with four points over the two games at Sacred Heart, starting with two assists in the opener before recording a goal and an assist the following night.
• Wilde was named to the 2024-25 Atlantic Hockey Preseason All-Conference Team after finishing his rookie season tied for fifth nationally among first-year players with 19 goals, while ranking tenth among all freshmen with 35 points. He also broke the Division I-era record for goals by a Tiger freshman with five.

SPREAD THE LOVE

Twenty-three players on the current roster have scored at least one point this season, while 17 have scored at least one goal.

SIMON SAYS LEAVE THE PUCK

Junior forward Simon Isabelle currently ranks seventh nationally with 255 faceoff wins and, of the 12 players in the country with at least 230 faceoff wins, ranks first with a winning percentage of .594. 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 October's loss to Bowling Green. Isabelle won 16 of 24 faceoffs during last Friday's Canisius opener, earning his 16th double-digit victory this winter. He also ranks second for the Tigers with seven goals and fifth with 10 points heading into this weekend's trip to Robert Morris.

SAVINGS ACCOUNT

Freshman Jakub Krbecek has made at least 30 saves in 12 of his 13 appearances this season. Credited with a career-high 44 stops in the most recent 2-1 loss at Bowling Green (December 29), he also made 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to the Falcons (October 19) during the Brick City Homecoming game at the Blue Cross Arena. Krbecek won the first of two straight AHA Rookie of the Week honors after making 32 saves in a 3-2 win over Clarkson (October 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). Current RIT goaltending coach Mike Rotolo '17 previously held the mark for the most 30-save games by a RIT freshman in program history of the D1 era with eight.

TRISTAN THE NIGHT AWAY

Freshman defenseman Tristan Allen ranks fourth on the team with 13 points and ranks third with 11 assists. He scored his first goal in a Tiger jersey and added an assist in the home setback to Canisius (Dec. 3) before registering an assist in both ends of the home doubleheader against Robert Morris (Dec. 6-7) on the road to Atlantic Hockey. America Rookie of the Week Award.

BLOCK PARTY

Graduate student advocate Dimitri Mikrogiannakis currently ranks 12th nationally with 44 blocked shots. After knocking down a career-high six shots in New Hampshire (Nov. 20), he blocked five shots — including the 200th of his career — against the Wildcats the next night. Mikrogiannakis owns 212 blocks so far.