Men’s Hockey
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT Men’s Hockey team welcomes Holy Cross to the Gene Polisseni Center this weekend for the first of three-consecutive home doubleheaders to finish the regular season.
Winners of three of their last five outings, the Tigers earned a two-game sweep at Air Force last weekend with a 2-1 victory on Friday followed by a 3-2 OT win on Saturday. The Crusaders enter the weekend riding a six-game winning streak, including a sweep at Air Force two weeks ago as well as 3-2 (OT) and 4-1 wins over visiting Canisius last Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
FOLLOW LIVE
Stream: FloHockey.tv/watch
Watch: NESN+ (Friday), NESN (Saturday)
PxP/Color: Gene Battaglia, John DiTullio
Local Audio: WITR 89.7 FM or FOX Sports 1280 AM
Web Audio: witr.rit.edu or foxsports1280.iheart.com
PxP/Color: Ed Trefzger, Scott Biggar, Matt Campbell
Live Stats: ritathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey
TIGER REWIND
RIT put together its first AHA sereis sweep of the season with 2-1 and 3-2 OT victories at Air Force last weekend. The Falcons scored the lone goal of the first period in Friday’s opener, but senior forward Tanner Andrew tied the game 4:53 of the second off a turnover caused by junior forward Simon Isabelle. The teams were scoreless until junior forward Mattew Wilde cleaned up a rebound on the crease with 26.8 seconds left in regulation to seal the win.
In Saturday’s rematch, Andrew scored the game-winner 2:55 into overtime off an assist by sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa to clinch the sweep. Air Force tallied the opening goal 35 seconds into the game before Wilde knotted the score 2:30 later with his team-leading 13th goal of the season. The Falcons retook a 2-1 lead at 7:49 of the second, but junior forward Tyler Mahan retied the score with a short-handed tally off an Isabelle assist at 14:15.
KRBECEK LANDS THIRD AHA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK HONOR
First-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek was named the AHA Rookie of the Week after backstopping both Air Force victories last weekend. He started with 34 saves, including all 16 shots he faced in the third period, during Friday’s win before stopping 27 shots (13 in the third period) on Saturday. He also won the award back-to-back weeks (Oct. 7/Oct. 14) to open the season.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa entered the week tied for sixth nationally with 21 assists and tied for 26th with 28 points.
WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde is currently second in Atlantic Hockey with 1.10 points per game. He also leads Atlantic Hockey with 0.65 goals per game and is tied for fifth in the conference with 13 goals – only trailing three players who have played anywhere from eight to 10 more games.
THINK PINK
RIT will wear special pink jerseys for this Saturday’s game versus Holy Cross in support of breast cancer education and awareness. An online auction also started earlier this week where fans could begin bidding on the game-worn jerseys, as well as the ones the women’s team will wear next Friday (Feb. 14) at home versus Penn State. In partnership with Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, proceeds from the auction, as well as the sale of pink t-shirts throughout the weekend, will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
SIMON SAYS DROP THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle entered the week eighth nationally with 310 faceoff victories and, of the 12 players in the country with at least 300 faceoff wins, ranked fourth with a .563 winning percentage. Isabelle won a career-high 18-of-26 (.692) draws in the 3-2 win at Clarkson, before winning 18-of-23 (.783) faceoffs in the October loss to Bowling Green. Isabelle won 12 faceoffs opposite Air Force last Saturday for his 19th double-digit win performance this winter. He is also tied for second for the Tigers with seven goals and is tied for fifth with 13 points entering this weekend’s doubleheader with Holy Cross.
SPREAD THE LOVE
Twenty-two of the 25 total players on the current roster have tallied at least one point this season, while 18 of the 22 total skaters have scored at least one goal.
SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek totaled 34 saves last Friday at Air Force for his 14th game with at 30 saves in 17 appearances this season. Credited with a career-high 44 stops in the 2-1 loss at Bowling Green (Dec. 29), he also made 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to the visiting Falcons (Oct. 19) during the Brick City Homecoming game at 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 (Oct. 6) to win his first collegiate start and also won the award a third time (Feb. 3) after backstopping both Air Force wins. He logged his first career point with an assist to go along with 33 saves in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9). Current RIT goalie coach Mike Rotolo ’17 previously held the mark for the most 30-save games by a RIT first-year in D1-era program history with eight.
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