ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team celebrates Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend on Saturday, as Bowling Green State University, ranked No. 10 in the current USCHO.com Division I poll, comes to Blue Cross Arena for non-conference contest beginning at 7:05 p.m.
Just under 1,000 tickets still remain for Saturday’s game. Fans can purchase tickets at the Gene Polisseni Center or Blue Cross Arena box offices or also online at www.rithockey.com. RIT has sold out five consecutive Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend games at Blue Cross Arena dating back to 2010. The first 7,000 fans in attendance will receive a free Brick City weekend t-shirt.
RIT (0-2-0) enters Saturday’s game looking for its first win of the season. Last weekend, the Tigers dropped a pair of non-conference road games, 6-0 at Clarkson, and 5-1 at No. 19 St. Lawrence. Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters) scored RIT’s lone goal on Saturday, while Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 64 saves in the two games. Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) picked up his first collegiate point.
Both RIT head coach Wayne Wilson and associate head coach Brian Hills played collegiately at Bowling Green. Hills was a Hobey Baker Finalist in 1983 and is the university’s second all-time leading scorer. Wilson was a captain on the Falcons when they won the 1984 NCAA Division I National Championship.
Bowling Green (2-0-0), who also plays at Western Michigan tonight, and Canisius on Friday, opened the season last weekend. The Falcons swept a home-and-home series against Ohio State, winning by scores of 6-3 and 2-0. Matt Pohlkamp leads the Falcons with three points on two goals and an assist. Mark Cooper also has two goals, while Brent Tate has a pair of assists. Tommy Burke and Chris Nell picked up wins in goal. Nell made 25 saves to pick up the shutout on Saturday. The Falcons went 23-11-5 last season, just missing a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Bowling Green has won all four previous meetings between the two schools, the last coming in 2008.
Saturday’s game will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26 with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio bringing you the action from Blue Cross Arena. In addition, the game will be broadcast over the airwaves on WITR 89.7 FM and witr.rit.edu. Live stats are also available here.
