Men's Hockey closes regular season hosting Mercyhurst

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team closes the regular season hosting Mercyhurst for two games this Friday (7:05 p.m) and Saturday (7:05 p.m.) with the final Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) standings still to be determined.
 
The Tigers look to continue building momentum heading into the postseason following a five-point weekend versus AIC, including a 3-0 shutout last Friday and a 3-3 tie on Saturday that culminated in a 2-1 shootout victory.   The Lakers look to snap a five-game winless streak, including 4-1 and 7-3 setbacks at first-place Holy Cross last weekend.
 
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PLAYOFF UPDATE
Defending AHA Champion RIT is assured of playing a first-round game in the AHA Tournament on March 1st against an opponent and at a site still to be determined. The top five teams in the final standings receive a first-round bye, while the sixth, seventh and eighth-seeded teams host the 11th, 10th and ninth-place teams, respectively, in the first round.
 
Sitting in 10th place with two games to play, RIT remains alive for as high as the eighth seed and a home playoff game. RIT would move up to the eighth seed with two regulation wins over Mercyhurst coupled with Robert Morris and AIC both accumulating fewer than two points apiece in the AHA standings over the final days of the regular season. In the event of a tie in the final standings, RIT would win a tiebreaker with AIC, but would lose a tiebreaker with Robert Morris based on head-to-head points earned during the regular season.
 
TIGER REWIND
RIT shutout visiting AIC, 3-0, last Friday before playing to a 3-3 tie and winning a 2-1 shootout on Saturday to earn five AHA standings points. 
 
On Friday, sophomore forward Christian Catalano broke a scoreless tie with 12.1 seconds left in the second period before graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis tallied for a 2-0 Tiger lead at 12:27 of the second. Senior forward Grady Hobbs tacked on a long-distance empty-netter with 32 seconds left in regulation to close the night.
 
On Saturday, sophomore forward Matthew Wilde scored 29 seconds into the game and later tied the game at 12:05 as the teams finished the first 20 minutes knotted, 2-2. RIT retook a 3-2 lead on a goal by first-year forward Ty Whyte, but the Yellow Jackets retied the game 40 seconds later.  Scoreless the rest of regulation and through a five-minute overtime period, Catalano and senior forward Tanner Andrew each converted penalty shot attempts to push RIT to the shootout victory.
 
OPEN AND CLOSING ACTS
RIT closes the regular season opposite Mercyhurst after splitting a pair of games in Erie, Pa. to kick off AHA play last October 11-12. The Tigers fell, 4-2, in the opener despite goals by junior defenseman Gustav Blom and graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis, but bounced back for a 4-2 win in the rematch led by two goals by junior forward Simon Isabelle and 31 saves by first-year goaltender Jakub Krbecek.
 
DAVID SAYS NO
First-year goaltender Ethan David was named the AHA Goaltender of the Week on Monday. After making 22 saves for his first career shutout in last Friday's 3-0 win over AIC, he stopped 24 shots to preserve Saturday's 3-3 tie. He also denied two attemps in Saturday's penalty shootout as the Tigers won, 2-1. In nine appearances and six starts this season, David owns a 2-3-1 record with a .902 save percentage and a 2.84 goals against average.
 
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa entered the week tied for eighth nationally with 23 assists and tied for 37th with a career-high 30 points.

• A 2025 Hobey Baker Award nominee, Fukakusa entered the week third in the AHA with 0.72 assists per game and 10th with 0.94 points per game, including at least one point in all but 11 games this season.
• He notched a career-high four assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9) and 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 Air Force (Feb. 1) for one of his seven multi-point games this winter.
• Fukakusa also entered the week fourth nationally with 375 faceoff victories while winning 55.3 percent of his draws this season. He tied a career-high winning 18-of-31 faceoffs versus Robert Morris at home in December and also won 13-of-15 draws (.867) in the New Hampshire opener. Fukakusa won 26-of-42 (.619)total draws during last weekend's AIC doubleheader, including 14-of-24 on Saturday for his 24th game this season with double-digit wins. 

WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde entered the week first in Atlantic Hockey with 0.67 goals per game and sixth with 1.08 points per game. Also tied for second with 16 goals, he only trails Holy Cross' Liam McLinskey (20), who has played eight more games this winter.

• After missing the first eight games with a preseason injury, Wilde has scored at least one point in 17 of 24 games since his return and is second on the squad with 26 points.
• A 2025 Hobey Baker Award nominee, 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. 

TAKES A LICKIN', KEEPS ON TICKIN'
Graduate student defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis moved into first place in the nation last weekend with 78 blocked shots this season. He knocked down a career-high seven shots in last Friday's 3-0 AIC shutout for his ninth game this year with at least four blocked shots and has 246 career blocks to date. Mikrogiannakis also recently became the  10th player in program history to play 150 games and currently ranks seventh with 152 appearances in a Tiger sweater over the last five seasons.
 
SIMON SAYS DROP THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle entered the week 10th nationally with 353 faceoff victories and, of the 10 players in the country with at least 350 faceoff wins, ranked fifth with a ..561 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 compiled 27 wins on 37 total draws (.730) versus AIC last weekend, including a 15-of-19 (.789) showing on Friday for one of his 22 double-digit win performances this winter. He is also tied for second for the Tigers with seven goals and is sixth with 14 points entering this weekend's doubleheader with Mercyhurst.
 
SPREAD THE LOVE
Twenty-two of the 25 total players on the current roster have tallied at least one point this season, while 18 of the 22 total skaters have scored at least one goal.
 
TRISTAN THE NIGHT AWAY
First-year defenseman Tristan Allen is tied for fourth on the squad with 15 points and is third with 13 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.