Men’s hockey looks to maintain winning ways this weekend at Holy Cross

Tigers can clinch home ice in conference quarterfinals with a win

Goaltender Louis Menard and the Tigers will look to clinch home ice in the Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinals with a win this weekend at Holy Cross.

The RIT Tigers men’s hockey team travels to Worcester, Mass., Feb. 13–14, to play the College of Holy Cross in a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m. One RIT win would clinch a top-four finish in the standings and ensure the Tigers would host an Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal playoff round March 13–15.

RIT (17-10-1, 16-5-1 Atlantic Hockey) split a pair of home contests against Sacred Heart last weekend. On Friday, RIT had its 11-game winning streak snapped in a 6-4 loss. On Saturday, the Tigers rebounded to record a 5-3 win. Goaltender Louis Menard made 27 saves, improving to 7-1-1 in AHA contests this season and 32-7-6 all-time in conference action. Freshman Cameron Burt recorded four points (1-3-4) in the two games last weekend and was named the AHA Rookie of the Week on Monday.

The Tigers have scored 19 power-play goals in their last 10 games and are 19 for 64 (29.6 percent) during that span. The power play is now sixth in the nation. RIT is third nationally in goal scoring, averaging 3.79 goals per game. The Tigers have scored at least four goals in nine straight games.

Holy Cross (10-13-5, 9-10-3 Atlantic Hockey) had its nine-game unbeaten streak (5-0-4) snapped last weekend, losing a pair of games to Bentley, both by 4-1 scores. Jordan Cyr leads the Crusaders with 14 goals and 22 points. Rob Forshner and Brodie Sheahan each have eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points. Adam Roy has seen most of the action in net this season, with a 6-11-4 record, 3.32 goals against average and .886 save percentage.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 12-5-0. This weekend’s contests will be the third and fourth regular-season meetings between the two schools this season. The two teams faced each other Oct. 31–Nov. 1 at Ritter Arena. RIT swept both games in that weekend series, 5-1 and 5-2. The Tigers went 4-0 against Holy Cross last season, including two dramatic 5-4 overtime wins in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals at Ritter Arena. The Tigers have won the last 10 contests (eight at the Division I level) against Holy Cross dating back to Nov. 4, 1983.

Both games can be heard on WITR-FM (89.7). For more, visit RIT Athletics.