Army Hits the Road to Take on RIT

WEST POINT, N.Y. – After hosting four competitions at Tate Rink, the Army West Point hockey team will be on the road this weekend in Rochester, N.Y., for a two-game series with the Rochester Insitute of Technology. The Black Knights will face the Tigers on Friday and Saturday from the newly built Polisseni Center at 7:05 p.m. each night.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Online Stream • AtlanticHockey.TV ($)
Radio • 1260 WBNR-AM/1420 WLNA-AM
Audio • GoArmyWestPoint.com
Livestats • GoArmyWestPoint.com
Twitter • ArmyWP_Hockey

THIS WEEK: TAKING ON RIT

Army boasts an AHA-best 12 points heading into this week to top the standings for the fifth straight week.
RIT stands at sixth alongside Mercyhurst and Holy Cross with six points.
The Cadets enter the weekend riding a two-game winning streak after sweeping a weekend series for the first time since last January, while the Tigers are suffering a four-game skid with series losses to Canisius and Air Force.

LAST WEEK: FOUR POINTS FOR ARMY

For the first time last January, the Black Knights completed a weekend sweep with victories over Canisius on Friday and Saturday at Tate Rink.
Army dominated the game on Friday night with a 3-0 shutout victory where the Golden Griffins were allowed just 14 shots.
It was the team's third shutout of the season with Parker Gahagen in net and the eighth of his career. On Saturday, the Cadets continued to excel and edged Canisius 5-2 to clinch the four points up for grabs on the weekend.
The fourth line of Dominic Franco, Tipper Higgins and Michael Wilson were responsible for 13 points on the weekend off of four goals and nine assists.
Franco, Higgins, Dalton MacAfee, Taylor Maruya and Nick DeCenzo all notched their first goals of the season as Mike Preston and Garret Peterson picked up their first points of the year with assists.
In all, the Black Knights posted 24 points over the two games.

STAR OF THE WEEK

Franco was named the Army Athletic Association Athlete of the Week, the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week and earned the second Star of Division I Hockey awarded by the NCAA due to his five-point weekend.
He led the Black Knights with five points in the team's 3-0 and 5-2 victories over the Golden Griffins.
The freshman had a hand in all three goals on Friday night off two assists and his first career goal.
Then on Saturday, he tallied his second goal and third assist of the weekend. Franco was part of a line that combined for 13 points over the two games.
Franco is now tied for first on the team in points with seven. He is tied for third in the league in rookie scoring with 0.78 points per game which also ranks him 25th in the nation.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK

Dalton MacAfee garnered Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week accolades this week after tallying two points for Army in two games off a goal and an assist.
He assisted Higgins on the redirect on Friday night and netted his own on Saturday to post a +4 performance on the weekend.
The Needham, Mass., native is part of the second-rank scoring defense in the nation that posts 1.33 points per game.
He is also a member of the second-best penalty killing defense in the country with a .918 efficiency.

USCHO.COM POLL

After capturing a weekend sweep over Canisius, the Army West Point hockey team received a nod in this week's USCHO Division I Hockey Poll.
It is the second time this season that the Black Knights have earned votes, the last being on Oct. 14.
Other AHA opponents receiving votes in this week's poll are Air Force (11) and Robert Morris (1).
The Cadets picked up a solo vote in the poll.

SCOUTING RIT

RIT enters the weekend with a 3-7-1 overall record and a 3-5-0 mark in AHA contests. The Tigers dropped a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests at the Air Force Academy by identical 4-3 scores last weekend.
RIT trailed 3-0 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday before rallying to tie on both nights.
Air Force would score with 1:13 left in regulation to win Friday and in the final seconds of the second period Saturday.
Ryan Kruper scored two goals over the weekend, one in each game. Erik Brown leads the Tigers this season with 11 points.
Besides Brown, RIT's offense is fairly balanced with four skaters boasting four goals each and seven with more than four assists.
Mike Rotolo has spent a majority of the time between the pipes for the Tigers making 227 saves for a .883 saves percentage and allowing just 2.83 goals per game.

For up-to-date information about Army hockey, please follow @ArmyWP_Hockey on Twitter and Instagram.

Army Hits the Road to Take on RIT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nick DeCenzo

Dominic Franco

Parker Gahagen

Tipper Higgins

Dalton MacAfee

Taylor Maruya

Garret Peterson

Mike Preston

Michael Wilson

Army West Point Athletics

Army Hits the Road to Take on RIT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nick DeCenzo

Dominic Franco

Parker Gahagen

Tipper Higgins

Dalton MacAfee

Taylor Maruya

Garret Peterson

Mike Preston

Michael Wilson

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