2018-19 Season of Orange

Promising times ahead for RIT Hockey Programs

The Atlantic and College Hockey America conferences will be fast-paced, invigorating, and tighter than ever this year as RIT’s men’s and women’s team look to top the 2018-19 Division I ranks.

RIT in Prime Time

RIT and 13WHAM Rochester are teaming up for the second straight year to bring men's hockey broadcasts over the air for the 2018-19 season, as 17 regular season home games will be aired on CW Rochester.

In all, nine of the 17 games will be aired live, with seven (Nov. 9, Nov. 13, Nov. 30, Dec. 7, Jan. 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 22 and March 2) to be shown on tape delay. The contest against Colgate University, on October 20, during RIT’s Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend, kicked off CW Rochester's live broadcast schedule for the 18-19 season.

For local viewers, CW Rochester is broadcast over WHAM-TV's digital signal at channel 13.2. It can also be seen on DirecTV channel 14 and Spectrum cable channel 16.

2018-19 Schedules

Cheer on the RIT Tigers this season. Tickets for men’s and women’s hockey are available at the Gene Polisseni Center and Gordon Field House Box Offices, by calling (585) 475-4121, or by visiting www.rittickets.com.

Wilson celebrates 20th season as men’s head coach

Head coach Wayne Wilson celebrates his 20th season behind the bench at RIT. He holds a career record 349-237-63 as the Tiger’s head coach. For 2018-19, Wilson has 20 veterans returning in addition to seven highly-regarded newcomers. Wilson and his coaching staff will have the Tigers primed to win their third league title in the last five seasons.

“This a very strong group of newcomers,” said Wilson. “We expect them to come in and earn playing time and push our returners to get better and make us a better team this season.”

Seven newcomers join men’s team

The men's hockey team will look to make it back to the top of the heap in Atlantic Hockey and attempt to win their fourth league title as they prepare for the 2018-19 season.

Forwards Will Calverley (Scarborough, Ontario/Chilliwack Chiefs), Jake Joffe (Toronto, Ontario/Toronto Jr. Canadiens), Merritt Oszytko (Edmonton, Alberta/Fort McMurray Oil Barons), Andrew Petrucci (Toronto, Ontario/Toronto Patriots), and Kobe Walker (Lloydminster, Alberta/Lloydminster Bobcats) add speed and skill to a deep group of returners. All five will look to step into the lineup and make significant contributions when they are called upon.

The duo of Spencer Berry (White Rock, British Columbia/Langley Rivermen) and Zach Salloum (Orleans, Ontario/Ottawa Jr. Senators) adds great mobility and skill to a defensive unit that helped allow just 26.8 shots on goal per game last season.

10,556 Fans Pack Arena

RIT Men’s Hockey enjoyed a sold-out Brick City Homecoming Game at Blue Cross Arena for the 9th time in 10 years. RIT took to the ice against a seasoned Colgate squad from the highly-touted ECAC conference. Senior Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) recorded his third career hat-trick, junior Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) added a pair of goals and sophomore goaltender Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) made 41 saves, as the RIT men’s hockey team (2-1-0) rolled to a 6-1 win over Colgate University (2-1-0) in front of a sellout crowd of 10,556 fans at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester Saturday night as part of Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend.

“I thought we played a really good first period,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “I was disappointed with the numbers of penalties we took, especially in the second period, but to win 6-1 at home during homecoming is a great accomplishment and puts us in a good frame of mind going forward.”

Strong Showing for Women’s Hockey

The RIT Women’s Hockey team (1-2-2) battled Union College (1-5-1) for Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend on Friday and Saturday from the Gene Polisseni Center. RIT skated to a 1-1 tie Friday evening, and suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 regulation loss Saturday afternoon to the Dutchwomen.

Although disappointed in the end result, the tigers showed promise and heart throughout the weekend series. “We have to battle back from adversity. We have played in several tight games, but now need to find a way to win those games,” said women’s coach Chad Davis.

RIT is back in action next weekend, Oct. 26-27 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of the ECAC. Both Friday and Saturday's games start at 3 p.m.

New head coach and assistant coach join women’s hockey

Chad Davis joins RIT as the Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach, the 14th head coach in program history.

Davis arrives at RIT after spending the previous seven seasons at Adrian College, turning the Bulldogs into a perennial powerhouse at the Division III level. He led Adrian to three consecutive berths in the NCAA Division III Championship, including national runner-up honors in 2016-17.

In seven seasons at Adrian, Davis compiled a remarkable 150-37-10 record, including a 95-14-6 mark since the start of the 2014-15 season. His .787 winning percentage was second-best among all Division III coaches during that time frame and is third best in Division III history. Davis was named the AHCA/CCM Division III Women's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year in 2017.

Hannah McGowan will join the RIT women’s hockey staff as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 season. McGowan arrives at RIT after spending the 2017-18 season at her alma mater, Adrian College, as lead assistant coach under Chad Davis, helping lead the Bulldogs to a 22-6-1 record, NCHA Championship, and a berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. She mentored the defensive unit and coached two players who earned All-American honors.

Six newcomers round out team of veterans

Six highly talented newcomers are set to join the women's hockey team for the 2018-19 season. The class of six student-athletes includes four forwards and two defensemen. Three players hail from Canada, while three are from the United States.