Men's Hockey hosts Bowling Green in annual Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend game at Blue Cross Arena

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team welcomes Bowling Green to town for the 17th-annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game, Saturday, at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

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RIT opened Atlantic Hockey play last weekend with a road split opposite Mercyhurst, bouncing back from a 4-2 loss last Friday with a 4-2 win on Saturday. 

Bowling Green opened the season with two wins at Mercyhurst, 2-1 and 5-4 (Oct. 4-5) and has won exhibition home games versus Robert Morris, 7-2 (Oct. 10) and Simon Fraser, 4-1 (Oct. 13). The Falcons were also scheduled to play at Western Michigan on Thursday night before heading east for Rochester. 

TIGER REWIND
RIT began its quest for a second-consecutive Atlantic Hockey Championship with a split at Mercyhurst last week. After starting the season with two goals in the Tigers' 3-2 OT setback at St. Lawrence (Oct. 5), graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis notched his team-leading third goal of the season in Friday's 4-2 loss to the Lakers. Following a scoreless first, the Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 second-period lead and made it a 3-0 game 59 seconds into the third to put the game out of reach. Junior defenseman Gustav Blom netted his first goal of the season while senior forward Tanner Andrew assisted both RIT goals for his second-career multi-assist game. Junior goaltender Trent Burnham took the loss despite making 26 saves, including 13 in the opening period. Senior forward Grady Hobbs notched the primary assist on Blom's goal for his first point of the season.

Junior forward Simon Isabelle scored a career-high two goals the following night as the Tigers bounced back for a 4-2 win of their own. Isabelle opened the scoring at 9:42 of the first before the Lakers answered just over a minute later. Junior Philippe Jacques put RIT back on top 1:23 later with his first of the season before Isabelle later struck again at 15:34 of the second for what proved to be the game-winner. Graduate-student forward Nick Cafarelli logged two assists while first-year defenseman Tristan Allen also notched a pair of helpers for his first career points in a Tiger sweater. First-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek totaled 31 saves to preserve his second win in as many starts en route to his second-straight Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week citation. 

HIT THE BRICKS
RIT hosts Bowling Green in its 17th-annual Brick City game, played at the Blue Cross Arena since 2007 in conjunction with Homecoming & Family Weekend.  Unbeaten in their previous eight homecoming games, the Tigers will be in the hunt for their sixth-consecutive victory after defeating Notre Dame, 3-0, last season for their second shutout in the history of the series. RIT will face Bowling Green for the second time in the history of the series and first time since a 2-2 tie opposite the 10th-ranked Falcons in 2015. 

HOME AWAY FROM HOME
RIT has many fond memories of playing at the Blue Cross Arena since joining the Division I ranks. Home to the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Semifinal and Championship games from 2007-18, The Tigers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with championship victories in 2010, 2015 and 2016, while finishing runner-up in 2011 and 2012. RIT owns a combined 15-9-4 record at Blue Cross Arena in the Division I era, including an 8-4 mark in Atlantic Hockey Tournament play. 

700 CLUB
Last Saturday's game at Mercyhurst was RIT's 700th at the NCAA Division I level. Since making the jump from Division III in 2005-06, the Tigers have compiled a 347-285-68 (.544 W%) record the last 20 seasons.

NOT JUST ORANGE IN COMMON
Bowling Green and RIT have had some familiar names in common through the years.

• RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson is in his 26th season on the RIT bench, but originally started his collegiate hockey journey wearing Bowling Green orange instead. Wilson played four years for the Falcons under legendary head coach Jerry York, captaining the 1984 squad to a national championship during his senior campaign. He logged the primary assist on the game-tying goal with 1:47 left in regulation during the title game (played in Lake Place, N.Y. on the same sheet the USA won the "Miracle on Ice" four years earlier) as BGSU went on to defeat top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth, 5-4, in quadruple overtime. Earning a degree in health, physical education, and recreation from Bowling Green in 1984, and a master's degree in education in 1987, Wilson also led the Falcons to three NCAA Tournament appearances during his time as an assistant coach.
• RIT Associate Head Coach Brian Hills graduated from Bowling Green in 1983 as the program's all-time leading scorer with 270 points as well as the all-time leading goal scorer with 116. As a senior, he totaled a program record 94 points on 37 goals and 57 assists en route to being named a First-Team All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist for the second-straight season. He graduated with a degree in business administration procurement and materials management before going on to play professionally in Europe for 11 years. Still ranked second in program history in points, tied for second in assists (154) and third in goals, Hills was inducted into the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988. 
• Buddy Powers was an assistant coach at Bowling Green from 1982-88, before coming back to succeed York as head coach for eight years from 1994-2002. During the interim, Powers spent one season as head coach at RIT, guiding the 1988-89 squad to a 26-8-2 mark and a runner-up finish for the NCAA Division III national championship. He currently serves as the Falcons' Director of Player Development. 

2023-24 RECAP

• RIT finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 27-11-2 record, including its first Atlantic Hockey Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016. 
• RIT compiled an 18-7-1 AHA mark to clinch the Bob DeGregorio Trophy and the top seed for the AHA Tournament for the second-consecutive year. 
• RIT finished with a 5-0 record during the 2024 AHA Tournament, including a 5-2 victory over AIC in the championship game at the Polisseni Center. The Tigers out-scored their opponents by a 26-6 margin during the tournament.  
• The Tigers saw a seven-game unbeaten streak end in the NCAA Regional Semifinals following a 6-3 setback to second overall seed Boston University in a game played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
• RIT logged back-to-back 20-win seasons for only the second time at the Division-I level after also finishing 2022-23 with a 25-13-1 record. RIT went 23-13-2 in 2008-09 before finishing with a DI-era best 28-12-1 record during its run to the Frozen Four in 2009-10. 
• RIT finished the season sixth nationally with 3.90 goals per game and fifth with a +1.50 scoring margin. The Tigers also finished eighth in scoring defense (2.40) while owning the fourth-ranked penalty kill (.865) and 13th-ranked power play (.240). 
• RIT completed the season with a 19-0-1 record when leading after the first period and a 23-2-2 mark when leading after the second period. 
• The Tigers were also 22-0-1 when leading by multiple goals and 22-1-1 when holding opponents to less than three goals. 
• RIT scored at least five goals on 14 occasions last season – finishing undefeated in those games. 
• RIT averaged 3.92 goals in its 26 Atlantic Hockey games last winter, totaling 102 tallies in conference play. Air Force finished second with 88 goals and 3.38 goals per game.