RIT men’s hockey plays Saturday for Atlantic Hockey Championship

Unfinished business.

The RIT men’s hockey team is coming off its second straight Atlantic Hockey regular season championship. But in Atlantic Hockey, being crowned regular season champ (the Tigers have won a league high six trophies) only gets you so far in the world of college hockey.

It’s all about who stays hot in the conference tournament. After being upset in last year’s tournament, the Tigers have redemption on their mind.

In a winner-take-all-game Saturday night, No. 1 seed RIT hosts No. 5 seed American International College. The winner of the 2024 Atlantic Hockey Championship earns the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament.

RIT is making its sixth trip to the Atlantic Hockey Championship and its first since 2016. The Tigers have claimed three Atlantic Hockey Postseason titles (2010, 2015, 2016) in their previous five appearances in the title game. In 2010, the Tigers shocked the college hockey world by earning a trip to the NCAA’s prestigious Frozen Four.

If victorious on Saturday, the Tigers will enter the NCAA Tournament with 16 of the nation’s best teams remaining on the road to the Frozen Four. The 2024 NCAA men's ice hockey tournament begins with the selection show on Sunday, March 24. Championship selections, along with pairings for the tournament, will be announced live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. The tournament begins March 28 with regionals and concludes April 11 and 13 at the Men's Frozen Four in Saint Paul, Minn.

In national rankings, RIT checks in at No. 18 in the latest USCHO poll and No. 19 in the latest USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll.

For individual honors, the Tigers are racking up Atlantic Hockey accolades. Goaltender Tommy Scarfone, a business management student from Montreal, was named the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of Year, while Wayne Wilson was named Coach of the Year. Six Tigers overall landed Atlantic Hockey All-Conference honors.

Nationally, three Tigers have also been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s most prestigious award.

Coach Wilson knows Saturday night will be an intense game with AIC making its fourth appearance in the Atlantic Hockey Championship, all of which have come since 2019.

“AIC has done a great job. It’s a great matchup,” Wilson said in a recent podcast with Atlantic Hockey. “Every weekend series has gotten tougher and tougher. This is what we have been playing for all year.”