Men's Hockey takes down Mercyhurst, 6-3, in regular-season finale

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT sophomore forward Matthew Wilde totaled two goals and two assists while sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa added a goal and three assists to push the Tigers to a 6-3 victory over visiting Mercyhurst, Saturday, in the season finale.
 
PLAYOFF UPDATE
RIT clinched the ninth seed for the upcoming Atlantic Hockey America Tournament and will play seventh-seeded AIC in the first round on a date and at a venue to be announced.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Mercyhurst opened the scoring 5:32 into the game after Will Margel scored off a feed from Steven Agriogianis to finish an odd-man rush.
• RIT answered 2:31 later after sophomore forward Christian Catalano fought a puck out of the Tiger zone to Fukakusa in the neutral zone. Fukakusa skated to the right faceoff circle and dropped a pass to a trailing Wilde before one-timing a return pass, near post.
• Mercyhurst retook the lead with a power play goal following a Tiger interference penalty. Agriogianis tipped a shot by Tyler DesRochers from the point that scored inside the left post at 14:13.  
• RIT knotted the score with 16.1 left in the first with a power play goal after a Mercyhurst tripping penalty. A shot by junior defenseman Xavier Lapointe from the right faceoff circle missed outside the right post but caromed around the boards to Fukakusa outside the left faceoff circle. Wilde took a short Fukakusa feed at the faceoff dot and sniped the right post under goaltender Simon Bucheler's glove.  
• The teams traded goals during an 11-second span with under nine minutes left in the second period. Mercyhurst tallied another power play goal on a shot by DesRochers from the point that scored past a screened first-year goaltender Ethan David at 11:26. The Tigers quickly answered after Fukakusa won a faceoff to the right of Bucheler back to Wilde, who snuck a pass across the slot to sophomore defenseman Crossley Stewart for a one-timer inside the left-post at 11:37.
• RIT took the lead at 10:27 of the third. Catalano carried a puck out of the RIT zone and fought off a Laker defender down the right boards to tip a pass forward to Wilde, who whipped a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot over Bucheler's glove inside the far post for what proved to be the game-winner. 
• Junior forward Tyler Mahan scored on an empty net with 1:52 left in regulation before Catalano closed the night with a goal with 46 seconds remaining.

GAME NOTES

• Wilde matched the career-high four-point night he had earlier this season with two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9). He finished the regular season second for the Tigers with 32 points, including a team-high 18 goals, in 26 games.
• Fukakusa also matched the career-high four points (all assists) he tallied in the 6-2 win at Bentley. He finished the regular season with team-highs of 36 points and 27 assists.
• Catalano tied his career-high with three points on a goal and two assists. He also posted a three-point night in last year's 9-2 win over Canisius (Mar. 23).
• David finished the game with 26 saves to improve to 3-0-1 in his last four games. He also made 29 saves to backstop Friday's 3-2 opening win over Mercyhurst.
• Stewart logged his second-straight game with a goal after notching the opening tally on Friday.
• Next week's matchup with AIC will be a rematch of last year's AHA Championship game won by RIT, 5-2.
• Seven members of the program were honored in a pregame Senior Day ceremony – graduate students Dimitri Mikrogiannakis and Nick Cafarelli, senior Tanner Andrew, Grady Hobbs, Evan Miller, Douglas Scott and student manager Oscar Nguyen.