Men's Hockey hosts Robert Morris for two-game AHA set

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team hosts Robert Morris for a pair of Atlantic Hockey America contests this Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (5:05 p.m.). 

Playing its final two games before a three-week holiday hiatus, the Tigers look to snap out of a 0-6-1  streak over its last seven games following a 6-4 setback to visiting Canisius on Tuesday night.  Robert Morris snapped a four-game slide with a 4-1 win over visiting AIC last Friday, before falling in Saturday's rematch, 4-2, in its most recent contests. 
 
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TIGER REWIND
RIT lost a 6-4 decision to visiting Canisius on Tuesday in their first home game in over two weeks. Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde and first-year defenseman Tristan Allen each had a goal and an assist to lead 10 Tigers with at least a point. First-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek stopped 19 shots for his first outing in 11 career appearances with less than 30 saves.  

The Golden Griffins opened a 2-0 first-period lead before Tiger junior forward Philippe Jacques scored at 3:30 of the second. Canisius retook a two-goal lead less than seven minutes later before Wilde scored off a nice backhanded feed by sophomore forward Christian Catalano at 13:05. 

Canisius scored twice in a 22-second span less than three minutes into the third for a three-goal lead before Allen notched a power-play tally at 4:29. The Golden Griffins answered 27 seconds later to put the game out of reach. Junior forward Simon Isabelle scored with 1:28 left in regulation to close the night. 

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa entered the weekend leading Atlantic Hockey with 18 points as well as 14 assists this season.
• Riding a team-best six-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 weekend ranked sixth nationally with 187 faceoff victories while winning 54 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 as well as 15-of-23 on Tuesday vs. Canisius.

WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde has totaled 12 points on six goals and six assists over the last nine games after missing the Tigers' first eight 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 weekend leading Atlantic Hockey with 1.33 points and 0.67 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 17 games entering the weekend. 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 weekend fourth nationally with 202 faceoff victories and, of the 10 players that started the weekend with at least 175 faceoff wins, ranked second with a .603 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 10-of-19 faceoffs in Tuesday's Canisius game for his 13th double-digit faceoff win performance in 17 games this season while also scoring his team-leading seventh goal. 

SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek had a streak of 10 games to start his collegiate career with at least 30 saves snapped in Tuesday's Canisius setback. Before then, he made 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). Current RIT goalie coach Mike Rotolo '17 previously held the mark for the most 30-save games by a RIT first-year in D1-era program history with eight.