Tickets for this weekend’s games are available at the Gordon Field House and Activities Center Box Office or by phone at (585) 475-4121. Fans can also purchase tickets at www.rithockey.com. Ticket prices are $5 for adults, and $3 for all students and youth.
It will be the final weekend of games at Ritter Arena for the women’s hockey program, as the team moves into the 4,200-seat Gene Polisseni Center for the 2014-15 season.
RIT (16-15-3, 11-7-2 CHA) clinched third place in the CHA regular season standings after sweeping Syracuse in a home-and-home series last weekend by scores of 3-1 and 2-1. Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) leads the team in scoring with 27 points on nine goals and 18 assists. She has 20 points on six goals and 14 assists in her last 18 games. Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) has a team-best 16 goals, while seniors Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) and Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) have 23 and 20 points, respectively. Kunichika is sixth all-time at RIT with 132 career points (53-79-132) and has 20 points in 13 career postseason games.
In net, Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs), the back-to-back reigning CHA Goaltender of the Week, is 12-9-2 with a 1.90 goals against average and .937 save percentage to go along with five shutouts this season and 13 for her RIT career, second most in school history. Binnington is tied for seventh nationally in save percentage and tied for fifth in shutouts. Binnington ended the regular season with an incredible 1.35 goals against average and .955 save percentage in CHA play.
RIT is 17-12 all-time in postseason contests at the Division I and III levels, since women’s hockey was recognized as a NCAA Championship sport in 2001. Since Scott McDonald took over as head coach in 2006, RIT is 13-7 in the postseason, including a 13-3 mark at Ritter Arena. The Tigers are 12-1 at home in the postseason over the last three seasons, including a 5-0 mark en route to winning the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship. Last season, the Tigers advanced to the CHA Semifinals, defeating Penn State in a two-game sweep in the first round, both by one-goal outcomes, before falling to Syracuse in overtime of the semifinals.
Penn State enters this weekend’s games with a 4-27-3 mark, looking to snap an 11-game winless streak. Last weekend, Penn State was swept in a two-game series at Robert Morris, losing by scores of 5-2 and 4-0. Penn State is being outscored by its opponents, 124-47 this season. They have scored three or more goals in a game just six times this season. Hannah Hoenshell leads the Nittany Lions in scoring with 17 points on five goals and 12 assists, while Laura Bowman has 10 goals. In net, Nicole Paniccia and Celine Whitlinger have split time. Paniccia is 1-17-2 with a 3.50 goals against average and .910 save percentage, while Whitlinger is 3-10-1 with a 3.57 goals against average and .913 save percentage.
It will be the fifth, sixth, and possibly seventh meetings between the two schools this season. RIT holds a 3-0-1 edge this far. RIT won a pair of one-goal games against Penn State at Ritter Arena on Nov. 15-16. The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie at Penn State on Jan. 31, while the Tigers skated to a 3-1 win the next day. RIT is 8-0-2 all-time against the Nittany Lions
Saturday and if necessary, Sunday’s games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel 26 with Gene Battaglia and Katie Stack ’11 bringing you the action from Ritter Arena. In addition, Friday’s will be broadcast at witr.rit.edu and on America One. Live stats are also available for all weekend games.
Come out and support the Tigers in their final weekend at historic Ritter Arena.
