Men's Hockey opens 2023-24 season at St. Lawrence Saturday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT men's hockey team kicks off the 61st season in program history with a trip to St. Lawrence (6:05 p.m.) this Saturday. The Tigers return after finishing the 2022-23 campaign with a 25-13-1 record, including an 18-7-1 Atlantic Hockey mark to win the inaugural Robert DeGregorio Trophy, along with its first regular-season championship since 2011. 

Seeded first for the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, the Tigers swept Mercyhurst in the best-of-three quarterfinal series, before falling to Holy Cross in three games in the semifinals to wrap up the second-winningest Division I-era campaign in program history.

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QUICK HITS

• RIT is coming off its sixth 20-win season in 18 seasons at the Division-I level and the first since ending the 2014-15 campaign with a 20-15-5 mark en route to the first of two-straight Atlantic Hockey Championships.
• RIT finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 22-11-1 record, tying the 2009-10 team for the most regular-season wins in 18 seasons at the Division I level. 
• RIT returns 10 of its top 11 scorers from a season ago. Fifth-year forward Kobe Walker finished his final year with the program fifth with 23 points, including a team-high eight power-play goals. 
• Junior forward Carter Wilkie returns after becoming only the 13th player to hit the 40-point plateau in a single season in the Division I era and first since Erik Brown totaled 42 points (including a single-season program record 29 goals) in 2017-18. 
• Wilkie is also tied for 27th in Division I-era program history with 70 career points in 77 games played. Fifth-year forward Elijah Gonsalves has also scored 77 points in 109 games the last four years.
• RIT received a league-high 105 points in this year's Atlantic Hockey preseason poll, including seven of 11 first-place votes. Sacred Heart was picked to finish second with 99 points, including two first-place votes, followed by AIC (90 votes, one first), Holy Cross (82, one first) and Canisius (79) in the top-five.
• RIT owns a 6-7-0 record opposite St. Lawrence since moving up to the Division I level in 2005-06.
• The Tigers most recently defeated St. Lawrence, 2-1, in their fourth game of the 2021-22 campaign played at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, N.Y. in front of 6,753 Brick City Homecoming and Family weekend fans. Current senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata logged the primary assist on the game-tying, second-period goal. 
• RIT is 1-1 in two season openers versus St. Lawrence, including a 5-2 win to kick off the 2014-15 campaign.
• RIT was 13-2-0 last season when building a first-period lead and 16-1-0 when leading after the second. The Tigers were also 18-1-1 when building a two-goal lead and 16-4-1 when scoring first. 
• RIT received 17 votes in the 2023-24 USCHO.com preseason poll. 2023-24 opponents Notre Dame (#20), Clarkson (RV/22), Maine (RV/10), AIC (RV/7), Canisius (RV/3), St. Lawrence (RV/2) and Sacred Heart (RV/1) were also listedin the rankings. 
• RIT reached as high as No. 18 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey rankings last season. The Tigers received their first USCHO ranking since finishing No. 20 in the final 2016 poll after winning their second-straight Atlantic Hockey Championship. RIT also had not appeared in the USA Hockey poll since finishing No. 10 in the final 2010 rankings following its first Atlantic Hockey Championship and a run to the Frozen Four. 

BIG RED
Junior forward Carter Wilkie was named the Atlantic Hockey Preseason Player of the Year. Also named the preseason Co-Player of the Year last year, Wilkie went on to be voted the 2022-23 Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year and a First-Team All-Conference selection. He tied for 17th nationally with 40 points on 14 goals and 26 assists after finishing the regular season leading Atlantic Hockey in points and points per game. A four-time Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week and two-time Player of the Month as well as a Hobey Baker Award nominee last year, he enters the season tied for 27th in Division I-era program history with 70 career points on 27 goals and 43 assists in 77 games played.
 
GIANNI BE GOOD
Senior defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro returns after garnering Atlantic Hockey First-Team All-Conference recognition a season ago. Named a preseason first-team all-conference pick last week, He finished the campaign first nationally among defensemen and set a single-season Division I-era program record for defensemen with 14 goals while also tying for sixth among the nation's blueliners with 32 points. Cassaro landed a league-high four Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week citations and was also nominated for the Hobe Baker Award during the year. In two seasons at RIT, he has totaled 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists during 77 games played, including all 39 contests last year.
 
TENDER LOVING CARE
Junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone is back after breaking the Tigers' Division I-era single-season program record with 934 saves, while his 22 wins were the second-highest single-season mark. Named a preseason first-team all-conference pick, the 2022-23 Hobey Baker Award nominee and first-team All-Atlantic Hockey honoree completed the campaign tied for fourth nationally in wins with a 22-11-1 record and tied for 15th with a .918 save percentage. In 23 Atlantic Hockey games, Scarfone finished 16-6-1 with a 2.11 goals against average, a .927 save percentage and 27.22 saves per game. He was also named the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week a league-high four times and was also voted the Goaltender of the Month for January.

BEST OF THE BLUE LINERS
Senior Aiden Hansen-Bukata was named the 2022-23 Atlantic Hockey Best Defenseman as well as First-Team All-Conference. He finished the season ranked 10th nationally with 30 assists and tied for sixth among defensemen with 32 points. The first RIT player to eclipse the 30-assist mark in a season since 2015-16, Hansen-Bukata also led Atlantic Hockey with 23 assists in conference play during the regular season while leading all defensemen with 25 points. He also ended the campaign 12th nationally with 69 blocked shots. In 95 career games, Hansen-Bukata has totaled 47 points on four goals and 43 assists.

FORWARD THINKER
Senior Cody Laskosky was voted the 2022-23 Atlantic Hockey Best Defensive Forward. He finished fourth for the Tigers with 28 points and third with 13 goals while registering 66 defensive zone takeaways. Laskosky put together the team's longest scoring streak last season, notching at least one point in nine-straight games to start the season. He has made 87 appearances the last three seasons, and returns with 43 points on 18 goals and 25 assists.

CAPTAIN CALEB
Fifth-year forward Caleb Moretz was named captain for the 2023-24 season, trading in the "A" from his sweater for a "C" this season. In 120 games over the last four years Moretz has totaled 59 career points on 21 goals and 38 assists, finishing seventh on the team last season with 19 points on five goals and 14 assists as well as second with 246 faceoff wins and a .532 winning percentage. Moretz is a four-time AHCA All-American Scholar as well as a four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree.
 
GOING GONZO
Fifth-year forward Elijah Gonsalves returns for a second-straight season as an alternate captain along with 109 appearances the last four years. He bounced back from an injury-shortened junior campaign to play in all 39 games a season ago, tying for eighth on the squad with 18 points on seven goals and 11 assists. Gonsalves enters the season tied for 27th in Division I-era program history with 70 career points on 27 goals and 43 assists in 109 appearances. He is also a two-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree as well as an AHCA All-American Scholar.
 
WAYNE'S WORLD
Head Coach Wayne Wilson entered the season tied for 40th in NCAA Men's Ice Hockey history with 434 victories and currently ranks ninth among active Division I coaches with a 434-303-78 record the last 25 seasons - all on the Tiger bench. The only coach in NCAA history to win the Spencer Penrose (D1 National COY, 2010) and the Edward Jeremiah (D3 National COY, 2001) awards, he totaled a 116-31-12 mark in six Division III campaigns (1999-2005) and owns a 318-272-66 record during 19 Division-I seasons. He became the 49th NCAA men's hockey coach to hit the 400-win plateau with the 1-0 OT win at Princeton (Nov. 27, 2021).  He also coached his 800th career game last season, becoming only the 48th coach to achieve the milestone.

CONFERENCE CALL
Atlantic Hockey has changed back to all 11 teams qualifying for the conference postseason tournament, scheduled for the first four weekends in March. The bottom six teams in the final standings will play first-round single games (Mar. 2), before four best-of-three quarterfinal series the following weekend (Mar. 8-10). The four remaining teams will square off in two best-of-three semifinal series (Mar. 15-17), while the Atlantic Hockey Championship game is scheduled for March 23. The higher-seeds will host the lower seeds throughout all games of the tournament.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING!
RIT completed the 2022 fall semester with a 12-4-0 record, marking the first time the Tigers had won 12 of their first 16 games during the Division I era. RIT also strung together eight-consecutive wins from Oct. 21 (W, 4-2 at Air Force) to Nov. 25 (W, 5-3 vs. Princeton) – tying the second-longest winning streak during the Division I era. RIT won its first eight home games of the season for its longest Division I-era home winning streak, eclipsing the seven-game streak during the 2008-09 season. 

NATIONALLY RANKED ON BOTH BENCHES
When then No. 20/20 RIT hosted No. 5/5 Penn State on Dec. 30, 2022 last season, it was the first ever game played at the Gene Polisseni Center between two ranked teams and marked only the second time during the Division I era RIT faced a ranked team during the regular season while also being nationally ranked. Previously slotted No. 18 in the USCHO poll to start the 2011-12 season, the Tigers opened the campaign with a 3-1 setback to No. 4 St. Cloud State during the Mutual of Omaha Stampede, hosted by Nebraska Omaha. 

GAME CHANGING VOTE
A proposal was passed in January of 2021 at the NCAA Convention during the Division III Business meeting which allowed RIT to offer scholarships to its Division I men's and women's hockey student-athletes. Multi-divisional intercollegiate athletic programs like RIT, which sponsors 22 Division III teams along with two Division I hockey teams, were previously not allowed to apply all Division I legislation to its Division I teams, including the inability to award athletic grant-in-aid to its players based on a 2004 bylaw. However, with the vote overwhelmingly passing by a 388-18-39 margin, the Tigers are now on the same footing as the rest of its peers across the country with a full 18 scholarships available to each hockey team.

TIGERS IN THE NHL
Former RIT standout defenseman Chris Tanev enters his 15th season in the NHL, spending his first 11 with the Vancouver Canucks before signing a free agent contract with the Calgary Flames prior to the 2020-21 season. Voted the 2010 AHA Rookie of the Year, Tanev made his NHL debut on Jan. 18, 2011, becoming the first RIT player to appear in an NHL contest. Entering the 2023-24 season, he has played in 758 NHL games with 32 goals and 150 assists for 182 career points. He won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2016 International 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 points (10-18-28) and was plus-33 in 41 games for RIT in 2009-10. He and another former Tiger, Steve Pinizzotto (2005-07), were teammates with Vancouver in 2012-13. Pinizzotto tallied 57 points (20-37-57) in 54 career games for the Tigers and appeared in 36 NHL games with two goals and four assists. 

RIT's NCAA DIVISION II/III HISTORY
RIT has made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1983. RIT won the 1983 Division II National Championship before winning the Division III National Championship in 1985. The Tigers also finished as Division III runner-up in 1989, 1996 and 2001 while making semifinal appearances in 1984, 1986, 1999, and 2010. Overall, RIT was 26-15-4 in NCAA contests at the DII/III level and is 3-2 in five Division I tournament showings. The Tigers made the NCAA Tournament in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, and 2016.

FINAL FOUR FRENZY
RIT was the first team in NCAA history to reach the Frozen Four in its first postseason appearance in 2010 and was also the first Atlantic Hockey team to reach the national semifinals. RIT was one win away from duplicating that feat in 2014-15 after upsetting overall top-seed Minnesota State, 1-0, in the Midwest Region Semifinals.