Courtesy of RITAthletics.com
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team plays its first two regular season games at the Gene Polisseni Center this weekend, as ECAC foes Union College and Rensselaer come to town. RIT hosts Union on Friday at 7:05 p.m. and takes on Rensselaer Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m.
RIT opened the 2017-18 season by skating to a 3-3 tie against No. 14 Northeastern on Saturday night at Blue Cross Arena as part Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend. Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) scored a pair of goals, while Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) also scored. First-year goaltender Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) made 41 saves in his collegiate debut. Drackett was named the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week, while senior defenseman Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) was named the Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week.
RIT returns its top six scorers and 10 of 11 overall from last season, which includes six 20-point players.
Union (0-5-0) comes into Friday’s game looking for its first win of the 2017-18 season. The Dutchmen, a 2017 NCAA Tournament Team, lost a pair of home games last weekend, 5-4 to Massachusetts and 3-2 to Vermont. Brett Supinski leads the team in scoring with five points on three goals and two assists. Anthony Rinaldi also has three goals. In net, Jake Kupsky has played in all five games with a 3.27 goals against average and an .891 save percentage. Union has three NHL draft picks on its roster.
Rensselaer (0-0-2) opened the 2017-18 season with a pair of 1-1 ties at Ohio State last weekend. Jared Wilson and Evan Tironese scored Rensselaer’s goals, while Chase Perry was tremendous in goal, stopping 83 of 85 shots in the two games. He enters the weekend with a 0.92 goals against average and a .986 save percentage. Rensselaer has four NHL draft picks on its roster.
RIT is 12-7-3 all-time against Union and 1-6-0 against Rensselaer. Last season, the Tigers went on the road to both schools and fell 5-2 at Union and 6-3 at Rensselaer.
Both games will streamed live on RIT Sports Zone with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio on the call from the Polisseni Center. The pregame show with host Kevin Roche airs at 6:30 p.m. In addition, both contests will be broadcast over the airwaves on WITR 89.7 FM and WHAM 1280 AM, while live stats will available.
Tickets for both games are available at the Gene Polisseni Center and Gordon Field House Box Offices, or by calling (585) 475-4121 or by visiting www.rittickets.com. Friday is a free jersey towel giveaway, while Saturday is free post-game autograph night.
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