Atlantic Hockey Preview - RIT
The final stop on the tour of Atlantic Hockey is the home of the Atlantic Hockey tournament, Rochester. That is also the home of defending regular season champion RIT.
RIT won the regular season championship last year in their first year in the conference. RIT won an impressive 21 wins last year. That was the most wins for the Tigers since the 2001-02. That followed up a tough year the previous year when they only managed 6 wins in their initial year of division I.
The Tigers were a powerhouse on offense last year - ranking 2nd in the NCAA in goals. They scored an impressive 3.88 goals per game - and an even better 4.14 goals per conference game. Leading the charge this year will be seniors Simon Lambert and Matt Smith. They tied for the team lead in goals last year with 17. But the real strength of the team is their offensive depth. A whopping 13 returning players had double digit points last year. This team will score a lot of goals on the season.
The defense last year was much improved from the previous year. They allowed a solid 29.4 shots on goal in conference action. The good thing for RIT is that all of their defensemen are returning. Brent Patry is the leader of this group. He was elected as one of the captians for the Tigers this year. This unit should be able to stifle opponents fairly well, and could be counted on to help out the goaltenders.
The goaltending for RIT is a bit inexperienced. The good news is that Atlantic Hockey goaltender of the year Louis Menard is back. He didn't lose a conference game last year. He also posted a league best 2.01 goals against average and a impressive .930 save percentage during conference action. The other goalie for RIT that is expected to see some action is freshman Jan Ropponen.
RIT will definately be a force in the conference. Their offense should be outstanding and the defense should be solid. If Menard is close to what he was last year, another conference title could be in the works.
Projected record: 20-8
RIT won the regular season championship last year in their first year in the conference. RIT won an impressive 21 wins last year. That was the most wins for the Tigers since the 2001-02. That followed up a tough year the previous year when they only managed 6 wins in their initial year of division I.
The Tigers were a powerhouse on offense last year - ranking 2nd in the NCAA in goals. They scored an impressive 3.88 goals per game - and an even better 4.14 goals per conference game. Leading the charge this year will be seniors Simon Lambert and Matt Smith. They tied for the team lead in goals last year with 17. But the real strength of the team is their offensive depth. A whopping 13 returning players had double digit points last year. This team will score a lot of goals on the season.
The defense last year was much improved from the previous year. They allowed a solid 29.4 shots on goal in conference action. The good thing for RIT is that all of their defensemen are returning. Brent Patry is the leader of this group. He was elected as one of the captians for the Tigers this year. This unit should be able to stifle opponents fairly well, and could be counted on to help out the goaltenders.
The goaltending for RIT is a bit inexperienced. The good news is that Atlantic Hockey goaltender of the year Louis Menard is back. He didn't lose a conference game last year. He also posted a league best 2.01 goals against average and a impressive .930 save percentage during conference action. The other goalie for RIT that is expected to see some action is freshman Jan Ropponen.
RIT will definately be a force in the conference. Their offense should be outstanding and the defense should be solid. If Menard is close to what he was last year, another conference title could be in the works.
Projected record: 20-8
posted by Komey at 10:34 AM
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