Wednesday, March 24, 2010

East #4: RIT

Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers

4 seed vs. Denver, East Regional (Times Union Center, Albany, NY)
Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Champions
Atlantic Hockey Tournament Champions
Record: 26-11-1
Coach: Wayne Wilson

The RIT Tigers, like Bemidji, had moved up and down between Division II and Division III, winning DII titles in 1983 and 1985, before dropping back down to Division III until the 2005-2006 season. The Tigers existed as an independent for that season before joining Atlantic Hockey, and quickly established themselves as a force in that league. In their first season, they won the Atlantic Hockey regular season title, and would've been a strong contender for more, but were ineligible for postseason play, due to their recent move up the food chain. Instead, they've had to wait. They won the conference regular season last year, but fell in the conference semifinal to Mercyhurst and didn't have the resume for an at-large bid. This year, the Tigers won the conference by 10 points and blazed through the conference tournament. They've won their last 10 straight, including OT wins over UConn and Air Force.

The Tigers are led in all offensive categories by sophomore Cameron Burt (15-30--45), with junior Andrew Favot (13-28--41) not far behind. Senior defensemen Chris Tanev (11-23--34) and Dan Ringwald (9-18--27) are actually #3 and #4 in scoring and lead the team in +/- (+32 and +22, respectively). Senior Jared DeMichiel is the unquestioned #1 netminder with a .922 SV% and 2.00 GAA.

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