ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT junior forward Carter Wilkie was voted the Atlantic Hockey Preseason Player of the Year while senior defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro and junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone joined him on the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey Team, announced Tuesday.
 
The defending regular-season champion Tigers were also picked to finish first out of 11 teams in the Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Also named the conference preseason Co-Player of the Year last year, Wilkie was tabbed 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.
 
Cassaro returns after garnering Atlantic Hockey First-Team All-Conference recognition a season ago. 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.
 
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. A Hobey Baker Award nominee and first-team All-Atlantic Hockey honoree, Scarfone 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.
 
RIT received a league-high 105 points in this year's 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 finished the 2022-23 season 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.
 
RIT is scheduled to kick off the 2023-24 season at St. Lawrence on Saturday, Oct. 7th.