Trio of men’s hockey standouts earn 2018-19 Atlantic Hockey Regular Season honors
ROCHESTER, NY – Senior forwards Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) and Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s), along with junior defenseman Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) earned All-Atlantic Hockey honors for the 2018-19 season, as the league announced its regular season award winners on Thursday, March 14. Girduckis was a second team selection, while Brown and Brubacher were both named to the third team.
Girduckis leads RIT in scoring in 2018-19 with career-best totals of 11 goals, 24 assists and 35 points this season. Girduckis, the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week on Jan. 8, is among the Division I leaders with four shorthanded points. He recorded a team-best 28 points on eight goals and 20 assists in 28 AHA contests this season. Girduckis has 10 multiple-point games in 2018-19, including a career-best four assists in a 6-1 win over Colgate at Blue Cross Arena as part of RIT’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend on Oct. 20.
In four seasons, Girduckis has 92 career points on 30 goals and 62 assists in 143 games. He has amassed just 20 penalty minutes in four seasons.
Brown, a 2018 All-Atlantic Hockey first team selection, leads RIT with 17 goals this season and has 10 assists for 27 points. He is tied for sixth in Division I with nine power-play goals, just one of the national lead. On. Jan. 11, Brown became the 11th player in RIT’s Division I history to reach 100 points in his career in a win over American International. He also tallied a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Colgate on Oct. 20. Brown recorded 14 goals and 23 assists in 27 AHA games this season. He is also one of 10 finalists for the 2018-19 Senior CLASS Award.
Brown, who set a Division I team single-season mark with 29 goals last year, has 69 goals in his career, which is RIT’s Division I school record. He is seventh in RIT’s Division I era with 113 career points on 69 goals and 44 assists in 145 games. Brown is second all-time in the Division I era with 25 power-play goals and 11 game-winning markers.
Brubacher, the 2017 AHA Rookie of the Year, has a career-best total of 29 points on six goals and 23 assists, while appearing in all 35 games this season. He has eight multiple-point games, including three different three-point outings, most recently against Robert Morris on Feb. 22. Brubacher was tied for second on the team with 23 points in 28 AHA games, which was also tied for fourth among all defensemen in league play.
Brubacher is now fourth all-time among all RIT defenseman in career scoring at the Division I level with 76 points on 21 goals and 55 assists in 109 games. He has recorded at least 23 points in each of his first three seasons.
RIT is currently 15-16-4 in 2018-19 and trails the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal series at Sacred Heart, 1-0. Game two is Thursday night from Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. at 7:05 p.m. If necessary, game three is Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
