ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT males’s hockey workforce travels to Union on Saturday to open the sixtieth season (18th in D1) in program historical past. The Tigers return after ending the 2021-22 season with an 18-16-4 document, together with a 12-10-4 Atlantic Hockey mark to earn the fourth seed for the AHA Match. RIT received two out of three video games to advance previous Sacred Coronary heart within the AHA Quarterfinals, earlier than falling to Air Drive, 4-3, in its ninth semifinal look in program historical past.
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BIG RED
Sophomore ahead Carter Wilkie was named the Atlantic Hockey Co-Preseason Participant of the Yr and a member of the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey Workforce. Wilkie returns after main the Tigers with 30 factors and 17 assists, whereas ending second with 13 objectives throughout his first season in Orange and Black. He additionally tied for second within the nation with six game-winning objectives, and have become simply the fifth Division I participant in over 10 years to notch three time beyond regulation game-winning tallies. The 2022 Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Yr and an AHA All-Rookie Workforce honoree, Wilkie landed seven convention Rookie of the Week honors a season in the past, and was additionally named the league’s Rookie of the Month on three events.
TENDER LOVING CARE
Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone joined Wilkie on the AHA All-Rookie Workforce final winter. He completed fourth within the convention with a 2.46 objectives in opposition to common in addition to a .919 save share en path to an 8-9-1 document. Beginning the ultimate 11 video games of the season, he tied a profession excessive with 39 saves within the Tigers’ 1-0 shutout of Sacred Coronary heart within the opening sport of the AHA Quarterfinals for his eighth 30-plus save outing of the season. He additionally logged 33 saves on three different events in the course of the run, together with the 4-4 tie with AIC (Feb. 5) in addition to within the 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) en path to Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors. Scarfone closed the common season with 33 saves within the Tigers’ 1-0 OT setback at Air pressure (Feb. 26).
GAME CHANGING VOTE
A proposal was handed final January on the NCAA Conference in the course of the Division III Enterprise assembly which is able to permit RIT to supply scholarships to its Division I males’s and girls’s hockey student-athletes. Multi-divisional intercollegiate athletic applications like RIT, which sponsors 22 Division III groups together with two Division I hockey groups, have been beforehand not allowed to use all Division I laws to its Division I groups, together with the lack to award athletic grant-in-aid to its gamers primarily based on a 2004 bylaw. Nevertheless, with the vote overwhelmingly passing by a 388-18-39 margin, the Tigers shall be on the identical footing as the remainder of its friends throughout the nation with a full 18 scholarships out there to every hockey workforce. Union, which was beforehand the one different Division I males’s program in the identical boat as RIT, may also profit from the laws.
DEARLY DEPARTED
RIT graduated three of final season’s top-five scorers, together with Will Calverley, Dan Willett and Jake Hamacher. A Hobey Baker nominee and 2021 second-team All-American, Calverley led the Tigers with 15 objectives and was second with 27 factors en path to his second-straight First-Workforce All-Atlantic Hockey award. Hamacher was third with 21 factors (9 objectives, 12 assists) and tied for tenth in D1-era historical past with 106 factors (43 objectives, 63 assists). Willett completed second with 13 assists and fifth with 18 factors whereas rating fourth nationally with 91 blocked pictures. Willett and Hamacher additionally completed first and second in program historical past with 166 and 165 video games performed, respectively.
SKY WALKER
Fifth-year Kobe Walker returns after ending second for the 2021-22 Tigers with 11 objectives, together with three power-play tallies, two game-winners and two short-handed scores. In 29 appearances, the top-line proper winger’s 19 factors ranked fourth on the squad, whereas his eight assists tied for the sixth-highest complete on the workforce. A 3-time Atlantic Hockey All-Tutorial Workforce member, Walker returns with 111 appearances in an RIT sweater together with 56 profession factors on 28 objectives and 28 assists thus far.
BERRY GOOD
Fifth-year Spencer Berry is again for his remaining season after ending 2021-22 as considered one of three Tiger defenseman who appeared in all 38 video games in the course of the season, ending second on the workforce with 52 blocked pictures to associate with three assists. A four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Tutorial Workforce honoree, he returns with 88 video games performed and 10 profession factors (all assists).
ANDREW-BE-DO-BE-DOO
Fifth-year Andrew Petrucci performed 35 video games final season, notching a aim and an help. The hard-nosed fourth-line centerman has performed 104 video games throughout his RIT profession, compiling 15 factors on eight objectives and 7 assists. He’s additionally a four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Tutorial Workforce honoree.
GOING GONZO
Senior Elijah Gonsalves returns with 70 profession video games and 52 factors on 20 objectives and 32 assists. The 2019-20 Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Workforce honoree scored higher than 20 factors his first two seasons and appears to bounce again after having his season reduce brief on account of damage after 15 appearances final 12 months. Gonsalves is a two-time Atlantic All-Tutorial Workforce honoree and was an AHCA All-American Scholar in 2020-21.
MORE IS BETTER
Senior Caleb Moretz has scored 40 factors in 89 profession appearances the final three seasons, together with a aim and 5 assists enjoying all 38 video games final winter. He was third on the workforce with 244 face-off wins and second with a 52.7 face-off win share. A 3-time AHCA All-American Scholar and Atlantic Hockey All-Tutorial Workforce member, Moretz additionally completed second amongst forwards on the workforce with 24 blocked pictures.
WAYNE’S WORLD
Head Coach Wayne Wilson grew to become the forty ninth NCAA males’s hockey coach to hit the 400-win plateau with the 1-0 OT win at Princeton (Nov. 27) final season. Wilson ranks ninth amongst lively coaches with a 409-290-77 document the final 23 seasons – all on the Tiger bench. The one coach in NCAA historical past to win the Spencer Penrose (D1 Nationwide COY, 2001) and the Sid Watson (D3 Nationwide COY, 2010), he totaled a 116-31-12 mark in six Division III campaigns (1999-2005) and owns a 293-259-65 document coming into his 18th Division-I season.
GOING DUTCH
RIT is 0-6-1 in seven all-time conferences with Union. The groups have not met because the Dutchmen earned a 6-1 victory in Rochester in the course of the 2017 season (Oct. 20), whereas the Tigers misplaced a 5-2 resolution in Schenectady the season earlier than (Oct. 21). The groups skated to a 2-2 tie at Union in the course of the 2006-07 season (Oct. 14).
WHO’S AFRAID OF A COUPLE EXTRA MINUTES
RIT completed the 2021-22 season with a 6-1-4 document in 11 time beyond regulation video games, together with a 1-0 win over Sacred Coronary heart within the Atlantic Hockey Match Semifinal opener.
START ME UP
RIT was 12-1-1 when scoring first final season and 10-0-1 when holding a lead after two intervals. Nevertheless, the Tigers have been 1-15-2 when trailing after 40 minutes of play.
MAGIC NUMBER
RIT’s was 16-4-3 a season in the past when holding opponents to a few objectives or much less, together with an 14-3-1 mark when holding opponents underneath three objectives.
ABOUT THE DUTCHMEN
Union returns to motion after ending the 2021-22 season with a 14-19-4 document, together with a September 11-2 ECAC Hockey Mark. The Dutchmen bested Princeton twice, 3-2, 5-1, within the first spherical of the ECAC Hockey Match, earlier than falling twice at Clarkson, 3-2 (OT), 4-3 (OT) within the quarterfinals. Junior ahead Liam Robertson is the highest returning scorer after ending fifth with 19 factors, together with a team-high 13 objectives. Junior ahead Chaz Smedsrud was sixth with 16 factors, together with 11 assists. Senior goaltender Connor Murphy began 37 video games a season in the past, compiling a 2.66 objectives in opposition to common and a .919 save share en path to a 14-18-3 document.
JUST LEAVE THE RED LIGHT ON NEXT TIME
RIT was credited with the quickest consecutive objectives by the identical workforce in over 24 years on the finish of its 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) final season. Carter Wilkie broke a 2-2 tie with 10.4 seconds left in regulation earlier than Will Calverley was credited with a aim with 6.9 on the clock after the Purple Eagles received the following draw immediately again into their very own empty web. In response to the NCAA document e-book, RIT tied the fourth-fastest pair of objectives ever scored by the identical workforce, matching UMass-Lowell’s Randy LeBrasseur and Invoice Dohaney’s feat in opposition to Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1987. The Tiger objectives have been additionally the quickest since Nebraska-Omaha’s Andrew Tortorella and Jason Cupp scored in a three-second span reverse Denver on Nov. 15, 1997. New Hampshire’s John Grey scored twice in a three-second span versus Colgate on Feb. 6, 1971 for the quickest consecutive objectives scored by the identical participant, whereas Colorado School’s Tony Frasca and Omer Brandt maintain the all-time document with objectives in a two-second span in opposition to Michigan Tech on Feb. 1, 1962.
NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM
RIT completed the non-conference portion of the 2021-22 schedule with a 4-4-0 document, tying the very best single-season win complete within the Division-I period. It was additionally the Tigers’ third-consecutive season ending with a .500 document in non-league video games after ending 2-2-1 in 2020-21 and 4-4-0 in 2019-20.
FAMILIAR FACE
Former Tigers standout Shane Madolora is again for his second season with this system as Volunteer Goalie Coach. The 2012 graduate stays the Division I-era program chief with a .932 save share, which is tied for tenth in NCAA historical past. He’s additionally tops with a 1.97 objectives in opposition to common, which stays tied for twentieth within the NCAA document e-book. Madolora established single-season program data as a junior which nonetheless stand, main the nation with a .935 save share to associate with a stingy 1.93. GAA on his approach to Inside School Hockey Second-Workforce All-America honors and Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Yr recognition. The next 12 months, he tied his personal document with a 1.93 GAA to associate with a .931 save share whereas tying for first nationally with a program-record seven shutouts. Madolora stays first in Tiger historical past (and tied for twenty first in NCAA historical past) with 13 profession shutouts, in addition to fourth with 1,727 saves, fifth with 36 wins, and tied for fifth with 65 appearances. His 18-9-5 document in the course of the 2011-12 marketing campaign tied for the second-highest single-season win complete by a Tiger, finishing his RIT profession with a 36-14-2 document.
OH, CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
5 gamers are skating with letters on their sweaters in the course of the 2022-23 season. Fifth-years Kobe Walker and Andrew Petrucci have been elevated to co-captains after serving as alternate captains a season in the past, whereas seniors Spencer Berry, Elijah Gonsalves and Caleb Moretz have been named alternate captains.
TIGERS IN THE NHL
Former RIT standout defenseman Chris Tanev enters his 14th season within the NHL, spending his first 11 with the Vancouver Canucks earlier than signing a free agent contract with the Calgary Flames previous to the 2020-21 season. Voted the 2010 AHA Rookie of the Yr, Tanev made his NHL debut on Jan. 18, 2011, changing into the primary RIT participant to seem in an NHL contest. Getting into the 2022-23 season, he has performed in 652 NHL video games with 30 objectives and 128 assists for 158 profession factors. He received a gold medal with Workforce Canada on the 2016 Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation World Championships and was named a finalist for the NHL’s Masterson Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Tanev tallied 28 factors (10-18-28) and was plus-33 in 41 video games for RIT in 2009-10. He and one other former Tiger, Steve Pinizzotto (2005-07), have been teammates with Vancouver in 2012-13. Pinizzotto tallied 57 factors (20-37-57) in 54 profession video games for the Tigers and appeared in 36 NHL video games with two objectives and 4 assists.
RIT’s NCAA DIVISION II/III HISTORY
RIT has made 16 NCAA Match appearances since 1983. RIT received the 1983 Division II Nationwide Championship earlier than profitable the Division III Nationwide Championship in 1985. The Tigers additionally completed as Division III runner-up in 1989, 1996 and 2001 whereas making semifinal appearances in 1984, 1986, 1999, and 2010. Total, RIT was 26-15-4 in NCAA contests on the DII/III degree and is 3-2 in 5 Division I match showings. The Tigers made the NCAA Match in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, and 2016.
FINAL FOUR FRENZY
RIT was the primary workforce in NCAA historical past to achieve the Frozen 4 in its first postseason look in 2010 and was additionally the primary Atlantic Hockey workforce to achieve the nationwide semifinals. RIT was one win away from duplicating that feat in 2014-15 after upsetting total top-seed Minnesota State, 1-0, within the Midwest Area Semifinals.
