ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The No. 19 RIT Men's Hockey team plays an Atlantic Hockey home-and-home series with Niagara this week, hitting the road for its second game of the season at Dwyer Arena on Thursday (7:05 p.m.), before returning home for a matchup at the Polisseni Center on Saturday (5:05 p.m.).
 
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Winners of four straight games after sweeping consecutive AHA doubleheaders at Robert Morris and home opposite Bentley the last two weeks, the Tigers look to avenge a 3-1 setback to the host Purple Eagles three weeks ago. Despite outshooting Niagara, 42-23, RIT fell behind, 2-0, midway through the second period and trailed, 3-0, early in the third before breaking up the shutout with 1:13 left in regulation on a goal by first-year forward Matthew Wilde.
 
Niagara has since swept two games from Canisius, 4-2 on the road and 6-4 at home (Jan. 19-20) before taking a 3-2 exhibition victory hosted by the USA Hockey U-18 Team last Thursday (Jan. 25).
 
TIGER TRACKS

• RIT moved up six spots to fourth nationally in scoring defense this week, only allowing 2.27 goals per game. Also ranked 15th in scoring offense averaging 3.42 goals per game, the Tigers rank 10th with a 1.15 scoring margin. The Tigers' penalty kill moved into the top-10 at eighth (.849) while the power play was 21st (.216).
• RIT was ranked in the USCHO.com national poll for the 11th-consecutive week, sitting 19th for the second-consecutive week after climbing as high as No. 18 last month. The Tigers fell out of the USA Hockey top-20 rankings for the first time in seven weeks, coming up one-vote short of 20th-ranked Notre Dame.
• Senior Aiden Hansen-Bukata was named the Atlantic Hockey Defenseman of the Week on Monday after scoring the game-tying goal with 41.6 seconds left in regulation during Saturday's 2-1 overtime win versus Bentley and assisting what proved to be the game-winning goal while blocking a season-high five shots in Friday's 3-0 victory. He scored a point in his fourth-straight game since returning from a three-game injury absence, notching his second goal of the season along with five assists the last two weekends. He leads the Tigers and is tied for fifth in the conference with 18 assists this season.
• Graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves scored the game-winner 1:15 into overtime to complete Saturday's comeback, while sophomore forward Philippe Jacques, senior forward Cody Laskosky and Gonsalves scored in each period of Friday's game, respectively.
• Three Tigers were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award last Friday – fifth-year defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro, junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone and junior forward Carter Wilkie.
• Cassaro currently ranks first nationally among defensemen with 11 goals, and is also tied for third among all players with five game-winning goals as well as tied for 15th with six power-play tallies. In three seasons with the Tigers, the transfer has scored 62 points to date, including 28 goals which is the most by a Division I-era defenseman. The Nobleton, Ont. native was named Atlantic Hockey First-Team All-Conference last winter after scoring 32 points, including 14 goals which were the most ever by a D1-era Tiger defenseman.    
• Scarfone currently ranks second nationally with a .932 save percentage, and is tied for fourth in victories with a 15-7-1 record. In 15 Atlantic Hockey games, he leads the way with an 11-4-0 record, a .929 save percentage and a 2.05 goals against average. Recently named to the Richter Award Watch list, the Montreal, Que. native moved atop the Tigers' Division I-era wins list with a 45-27-3 record the last three seasons and also logged his eighth career shutout in a 3-0 victory over Bentley last Friday – the most in the conference among active goaltenders. 
• Wilkie currently sits seventh in Atlantic Hockey and first for the Tigers with 26 points, as well as tied for seventh with 11 goals and 15 assists. Also ranked second nationally with 362 faceoff victories, the reigning Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year and Preseason Player of the Year was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week after a seven-point weekend versus Robert Morris, including two goals and an assist in the opening 6-3 victory (Jan. 19) and a goal and three assists in the 7-1 win the following night. The Calgary, Alta. native moved up to 17th in D1-era program history with 96 points, four shy of becoming the 14th 100-point scorer on the list. 

WAYNE'S WORLD
Head Coach Wayne Wilson became the 37th coach in NCAA men's hockey history to hit the 450-win plateau with last Friday's 3-0 win over Bentley. He is currently 37th in NCAA Men's Ice Hockey history with 451 victories and is ranked 11th among active Division I coaches with a 451-311-79 record the last 25 seasons - all on the Tiger bench. The only coach in NCAA history to win the Spencer Penrose (D1 National COY, 2010) and the Edward Jeremiah (D3 National COY, 2001) awards, he totaled a 116-31-12 mark in six Division III campaigns (1999-2005) and owns a 335-280-67 record during 19 Division-I seasons. He also coached his 800th career game last season, becoming only the 48th coach to achieve the milestone.
 
TAKING IT OUTSIDE
With the 1-1 tie versus St. Lawrence (Jan. 6), RIT completed the non-conference portion of the 2023-24 season with a 4-3-1 record, marking the fifth-consecutive season the Tigers went .500 or better outside of league play. RIT also owns a 15-12-2 mark the last five years versus the other five conferences with at least a .500 record versus the ECAC (8-5-2), CCHA (2-0) and Hockey East (3-3), while going 2-4 versus the Big 10.