Men's Hockey heads to Canisius for weekend AHA doubleheader

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team will travel to Buffalo for a pair of games with Atlantic Hockey America foe Canisius on Friday and Saturday to kick off a stretch of 14-straight conference games to finish the regular season. Faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. both nights.

Following a three-week holiday break, the Tigers fell, 2-1, at Bowling Green on Dec. 29 before earning a 5-3 home victory versus Guelph last Saturday in exhibition play. Canisius will take the ice for the first time since suffering a home AHA sweep to Robert Morris, 5-2 and 3-1, on Dec. 14-15.  

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TIGER REWIND
RIT jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals by graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis, senior forward Evan Miller and sophomore forward Christian Catalano, before graduate student forward Nick Cafarelli pushed the Tigers to a 4-0 edge at 7:13 of the second opposite Guelph. The Gryphons scored twice to halve the RIT lead early in the third period, but junior forward Tyler Mahan later scored on an empty net with 2:29 left in regulation to put the game out of reach.  

In the Bowling Green setback, first-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek made a career-high 44-saves, including 26 on 27 shots faced in the first period. Following a scoreless second, RIT tied the game at 5:25 of the third before Bowling Green scored what proved to be the game-winner less than six minutes later. 

RIT looks to avenge a 6-4 home setback to Canisius on Dec. 3. Canisius jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead, before Tiger junior forward Philippe Jacques tipped a shot from the point by Mikrogiannakis past Golden Griffin goaltender Ben Bonisteel's glove 3:30 into the second. The teams later traded goals during a three minute span of the second, including a Tiger tally by sophomore forward Matthew Wilde, before Canisius' Alton McDermott scored twice in 17 seconds early in the third for a 5-2 lead. First-year defenseman Tristan Allen scored a power play goal at 4:29, but Canisius responded 27 seconds later to retake a three-goal lead whick proved insurmountable. Junior forward Simon Isabelle scored with 1:28 left in regulation.    

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa opened 2025 tied for 13th nationally in scoring with 21 points and tied for third with 16 assists. 

• Fukakusa had a team-best eight-game point scoring streak snapped in the most recent Bowling Green setback, but still has 12 points (4 goals/8 assists) over the Tigers' last nine games. 
• Fukakusa notched a career-high four assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9). He 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 fifth multi-point game of the season. 
• Fukakusa also opened the New Year ranked sixth nationally with 231 faceoff victories while winning 54.7 percent of his draws this winter. He tied a career-high winning 18-of-31 faceoffs in the Robert Morris opener and also won 13-of-15 draws (.867) in the New Hampshire opener. Fukakusa won 16-of-24 draws in the latest Bowling Green game for his ninth-straight game with double-digit faceoff wins. 

WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde entered the break leading Atlantic Hockey with 1.27 points per game, and has scored at least one point in eight of the last 12 games since missing the Tigers' first eight contests with a preseason injury.  He is tied for the team lead with seven goals and is also tied for second with 14 points. 

• 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. 
• Wilde was named to the 2024-25 Atlantic Hockey Preseason All-Conference Team after finishing his rookie season tied for fifth nationally among first-year players with 19 goals while tying for 10th among all freshmen with 35 points. He also broke the Division I-era record for goals by a Tiger first-year by five.

SPREAD THE LOVE
Twenty-three players on the current roster have tallied at least one point this season, while 18 have scored at least one goal. 

SIMON SAYS DROP THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle starts the New Year fifth nationally with 232 faceoff victories and, of the 14 players in the country that had at least 200 faceoff wins, ranked first with a .595 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 October loss to Bowling Green. Isabelle won 11-of-19 faceoffs in the Robert Morris game for his 15th double-digit faceoff win performance in 20 games this season. During the Canisius game, he also won 10-of-19 draws and scored his seventh goal of the season - tied for the team lead. 

SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek has made at least 30 saves in 11 of his 12 appearances this season. Credited with a career-high 44 stops in the recent 2-1 loss at Bowling Green, he also made 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to to the Falcons (Oct. 19) during the Brick City Homecoming game at Blue Cross Arena. 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. 

FAMILIAR FACES
Wilde and Fukakusa join fellow sophomore Christian Catalano as the team's top returning line this season.  

• The trio played 36 games together last year, starting the season as the Tigers' fourth line before making their way up to the second line for the majority of the second semester and all of the postseason. 
• All hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, they also previously played on the same line prior to coming to RIT during their time with the OJHL Toronto Junior Canadiens in 2021-22. 
• Fukakusa returns after finishing seventh on the squad with 28 points (9G/19A) while Catalano tied for 11th with 17 points (9G/8A). 
• The threesome totaled a season-high 10 points on three goals and seven assists during the Tigers' 6-2  victory over Bentley (Nov. 9) earlier this fall. 

TRISTAN THE NIGHT AWAY
First-year defenseman Tristan Allen ranks fourth on the squad with 12 points and is tied for second with 10 assists. He scored his first goal in a Tiger sweater and added an assist in the home setback to Canisius (Dec. 3) before logging an assist in both ends of the home doubleheader versus Robert Morris (Dec. 6-7) en route to Atlantic Hockey America Rookie of the Week Honors. 

BLOCK PARTY
Graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis is currently tied for seventh nationally with 41 blocked shots. After knocking down a career-high six shots at New Hampshire (Nov. 20), he blocked five shots - including the 200th of his career - the following night against the Wildcats. Mikrogiannakis owns 209 blocks to date.