Men's Hockey hosts Canisius in Tuesday Atlantic Hockey tilt

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team hosts Canisius in an Atlantic Hockey America contest on Tuesday night in the first of three home games this week.

The Tigers return home for the first time in over two weeks following a pair of non-conference losses at New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday.  The Golden Griffins earned four out of six AHA points during their two-set at Mercyhurst over the weekend, starting with a 3-2 win on Friday before tying, 3-3, on Saturday. 
 
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TIGER REWIND
RIT lost, 5-1 and 6-1, at New Hampshire last week. The Wildcats scored 62 seconds into Friday's opener en route to a 3-0 lead early in the second. The Tigers got on the board midway through the second on a tally by sophomore forward Matthew Wilde, but UNH answered 1:13 later and scored again early in the third to finish the night. 

New Hampshire opened Saturday's rematch with a pair of goals in the first 3:38 of regulation, before RIT notched a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 9:29 to cut the lead in half. First-year defenseman Tristan Allen cycled a puck to sophomore forward Christian Catalano, who found sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa on the crease for a short finish inside the right post. The Wildcats netted two unanswered goals in the second followed by two more in the third to complete the weekend sweep.

RIT first-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek was credited with 31 saves for his 10th game in as many outings with at least 30 saves this season, before first-year Ethan David totaled 30 saves in his first career start and third appearance in a Tiger sweater this season. 

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa leads RIT with 17 points, including a team-high 13 assists, this season. 
• Riding a team-best five-game point-scoring streak, he totaled a team-high 12 points on three goals and nine assists, including a career-high four assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9), during the month of November.
• Fukakusa also scored a goal and an assist in back-to-back games versus Army (Nov. 16) and Sacred Heart (Nov. 22) before adding two assists opposite the Pioneers (Nov. 17) for his fourth multi-point game of the month. 
• Fukakusa entered the week ranked 11th nationally with 172 faceoff victories while winning better than 53 percent of his draws this winter. He won a career-high 18-of-30 faceoffs opposite Army (Nov. 16) and also won 13-of-15 draws (.867) in last Friday's setback at New Hampshire.

WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde has totaled 10 points on five goals and five assists over the last eight games after missing the Tigers' first eight games with a preseason injury.   
• He scored a career-high four points on two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9) for the first of three multi-point games in November. 
• Wilde was credited with four points during the two-game set at Sacred Heart, starting with two assists in the opener before logging a goal and an assist the following night. 
• He entered the week leading Atlantic Hockey with 1.25 points per game and 0.63 goals per game. 

SPREAD THE LOVE
Senior forward Grady Hobbs became the 15th RIT player to score a goal this season during the Sacred Heart series. 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 currently have at least one point through 16 games entering the week. 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 192 faceoff victories and, of the nine players that started the week with at least 175 faceoff wins, ranked second with a .608 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. Isabelle won 11-of-19 faceoffs in Friday's opener at New Hampshire for his 12th double-digit faceoff win performance in 16 games this season. Isabelle has also tallied a team-high six goals entering Tuesday's Canisius contest. 

SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek has stopped better than 30 shots in each of his 10 starts this season, including a career-high 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to Bowling Green (Oct. 19) 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.