ROCHESTER, NY – Former RIT men’s hockey standout Chris Tanev enjoyed a tremendous 2015-16 season, appearing in 69 games with the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, while helping Team Canada win the gold medal at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships.
Tanev played in 69 games with the Canucks in 2015-16, tallying four goals and 14 assists for 18 points, while playing a career-high 21:45 minutes per game on Vancouver’s top defensive pairing. He led the Canucks and was 16th in the NHL with 166 blocked shots. His 2.41 blocked shots per game were seventh best in the league.
At the World Championships, Tanev played in all 10 games for Team Canada and started the Championship contest vs. Finland. He recorded one assist and was plus-8, playing tough, hard nosed defense, helping lead his country to the gold medal.
In six NHL seasons, all with the Canucks, Tanev has appeared in 295 career games with 14 goals and 51 assists for 65 points. He has also appeared in 16 playoff contests with three assists. In 2010-11, Vancouver reached the Stanley Cup Finals.
Tanev played one season for the Tigers before signing a professional contract with Vancouver in 2010. During the 2009-10 season, Tanev, a freshman, helped lead RIT to its first trip to the NCAA Tournament and a berth in the Frozen Four. Tanev played in all 41 games and recorded 28 points on 10 goals and 18 assists. He led the team and was among the national leaders with a plus-33 rating. In addition to earning AHA Rookie of the Year honors, he earned All-AHA third team honors. He was a three-time AHA Rookie of the Week and earned 2010 Atlantic Hockey Championship All-Tournament Team honors.
RIT won its second straight Atlantic Hockey Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time as a Division I program during the 2015-16 season.
