Men's Hockey travels to New Hampshire for two-game set vs. the Wildcats

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team hits the road for the second-straight weekend and third time this month to take on New Hampshire this Friday and Saturday. Faceoff both nights is schedule for 7:00 p.m.
 
RIT looks to snap out of a 0-3-1 stretch following a 3-2 loss and a 3-3 tie at Sacred Heart last weekend in Atlantic Hockey America play. The Wildcats most recently fell at home, 3-1, to No. 5 Maine last Saturday after splitting a home-and-home series with Northeastern (W, 4-1 at home, L, 1-0, road) the previous weekend.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Watch: ESPN+  FRIDAY | SATURDAY
Local Audio: WITR 89.7 FM or FOX Sports 1280 AM
Web Audio: witr.rit.edu or foxsports1280.iheart.com
PxP/Color: Ed Trefzger, Matt Campbell
Live Stats: unhwildcats.com/sidearmstats/mhockey
 
TIGER REWIND
RIT played an Atlantic Hockey doubleheader at Sacred Heart last weekend, falling, 3-2, on Friday before tying 3-3 on Saturday in a contest that culminated in a 1-0 shootout win for the Pioneers.
 
Sacred Heart scored the lone goal of the first period and then twice in a 1:30 stretch later in the second to build a 3-0 lead during Friday's opener. RIT sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa scored with 1:52 left in the second an later assisted sophomore forward Christian Catalano's goal midway through the third, but the Tigers couldn't find the equalizer despite finishing with a 29-25 shot advantage as well as a 59-41 edge in shot attempts.
 
RIT opened the scoring in Saturday's rematch on a goal by senior forward Tanner Andrew, but following a scoreless second, the Pioneers took the lead with two goals in the first 1:52 of the third. The Tigers tied the game less than five minutes later on a tally by sophomore forward Matthew Wilde, but Sacred Heart retook the lead with a power-play goal at 10:51. RIT senior forward Grady Hobbs tied the game with 3:58 on the clock off Fukakusa's second assist of the game, before the teams played the remainder of regulation and five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime scoreless.
 
RIT played its first road series at Sacred Heart since 2019 while making it first appearance at the recently completed Martire Family Arena in Fairfield. Ten of the last 11 meetings between the teams were played at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, while one game was played at Army's Tate Rink in 2022 due to a winter storm that inhibited travel.
 
THE KILLERS
The RIT penalty kill entered the week 14th nationally at 87.5 percent. Entering the New Hampshire series having killed 49 of 56 extra man opportunities this season, the Tigers saw a streak of 22-straight kills over their last seven outings come to an end in the third period of last Saturday's matchup at Sacred Heart.
 
SPREAD THE LOVE
Senior forward Grady Hobbs became the 15th RIT players to score a goal this season during last Saturday's outing at Sacred Heart. First-year defenseman Mathieu Cobetto-Roy also logged an assist for his first point in a Tiger sweater as 19 of the Tigers' 23 total skaters now have at least one point through 14 games entering this weekend's series versus New Hampshire. First-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek also tallied an assist in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9).
 
SIMON SAYS DROP THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle entered the week fifth nationally with 173 faceoff victories and, of the 13 players that started the week with at least 150 faceoff wins, ranked third with a .609 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 2-1 Bowling Green setback. He won 13 faceoffs in Saturday's Sacred Heart tie for his 11th double-digit faceoff win performance in 14 games this season. Additionally, sophomore Tyler Fukakusa entered the week tied for 15th with 148 victories while winning 51.2 percent of his draws.
 
SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek has stopped better than 30 shots in each of his nine starts this season, including a career-high 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to Bowling Green (Oct. 19) – tied for the 10th-highest single-game total in the nation this year - and also stopped 35 shots in the 4-1 setback at Niagara (Oct. 30). 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. He also logged his first career point with an assist to go along with 33 saves in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9). Krbecek moved past current RIT goalie coach Mike Rotolo '17 for the most 30-save games by a RIT first-year in D1-era program history.
 
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP

• Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa leads RIT with 15 points, including a team-high 12 assists, this season. Riding a three-game point-scoring streak, he scored a goal and an assist in back-to-back games versus Army (Nov. 16) and Sacred Heart last Friday, before adding two assists last Saturday. 
• Sophomore Matthew Wilde is tied for second on the team with nine points (4G/5A) during the Tigers' last six outings after missing the first eight games of the season due to a preseason injury.
• Sophomore forward Christian Catalano completes the Tigers' top line, sitting in a tie for fourth on the squad with eight points (3G/5A). 
• The line totaled 10 points on three goals and seven assists during the Tigers' 6-2  victory over Bentley (Nov. 9) earlier this season.
• The trio returns after playing 36 games together last year, starting the season as the Tigers' fourth line before making their way up to the second line for the majority of the second semester and all of the postseason.
• Fukakusa returns after finishing seventh on the squad with 28 points (9G/19A) while Catalano tied for 11th with 17 points (9G/8A).
• All hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, they also previously played on the same line prior to coming to RIT during their time with the OJHL Toronto Junior Canadiens in 2021-22.

WILDE TIMES AHEAD
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde was named to the 2024-25 Atlantic Hockey Preseason All-Conference Team. Wilde finished his rookie season tied for fifth nationally among first-year players with 19 goals, while tying for 10th among all freshmen with 35 points. He also broke the Division I-era record for goals by a Tiger first-year by five. Wilde finished the season with an 11-game point-scoring streak, totaling 10 goals and five assists during the Tigers' run to finish the season. He started the streak with a team-best six-game goal-scoring streak, including two goals during a 9-2 win over Canisius (Feb. 23). Wilde scored two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner, during RIT's 5-2 victory over AIC in the AHA Championship game.
 
SLIP-RESISTANT
Prior to the 2024-25 campaign, RIT hadn't lost more than three games in a row in four seasons. The Tigers' last slide of more than three games was a five-game skid during the 2018-19 season.
 
FRONT RUNNERS
RIT's 5-4 loss to Colgate (Oct. 25) marked only the second time in 45 games the last three season the Tigers lost when building a multi-goal lead. RIT had been 41-0-2 when leading by more than one goal since letting 2-0 and 3-1 leads slip away in a 4-3 loss at Union in the 2022-23 season-opener (Oct. 1).
 
FIFTY SPOT
Senior forward Grady Hobbs logged an assist for his 50th career point in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9) and has totaled 26 goals and 24 assists the last four seasons. It was the second-straight week a Tiger hit the 50-point plateau after senior forward Tanner Andrew notched an assist in the Niagara setback for his 50th point since pulling on a RIT sweater. 
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
RIT celebrated the 10th-anniversary of the first season of play in the Gene Polisseni Center during the Colgate games. After officially opening its doors on Sept. 18, 2014, the Tigers defeated St. Lawrence, 5-2, on Oct. 10 in their first game at the GPC.