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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend has become an established tradition among RIT alumni and students. The weekend culminates in a hockey game played in Rochester’s downtown Blue Cross Arena.
For the seventh consecutive year, a sellout crowd of 10,556 filled the arena, most wearing orange.
It’s become a Rochester sporting tradition. Ask any RIT alum the week leading up to the game whether they are going, and their immediate response will be “Of course!”
Students are shuttled in from the campus in a seemingly endless line of buses. The Corner Crew is larger than ever. The band sounds better in the larger arena.
Most schools make sure they are victorious in their homecoming game. Not RIT. Instead, they take the approach of bringing in well-known, competitive schools.
“We’ve had great opponents,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. “So first of all you have a great test in front of you. Homecoming is supposed to be for the easy win. We’re not going to get any of those having UConn, having the Michigans, the Boston Colleges. We want to challenge ourselves. Having big name schools coming in is great for our fans. They recognize who we’re playing.”
RIT didn’t get an easy win, nor did they get a hard loss. RIT battled Connecticut to a 1-1 tie after the teams went scoreless through the first two periods.
RIT is now 2-5-3 in Homecoming games, with their second consecutive tie.
Kasperi Ojantakanen scored at 5:46 of the third period on a deflection which squeezed through the five-hole to give the Huskies the initial lead.
Chase Norrish tied it at 11:31 with a slapper from above the right circle.
“I come from a very small community,” Norrish said. “I haven’t played in too many games like this. It’s definitely very exciting for me.”
“I thought it was awesome,” Connecticut fourth-year coach Mike Cavanaugh said of the atmosphere. “Probably the best environment that a UConn team has played in since I’ve been here. Maybe second to our opening night against Boston College at the XL Center. But this was outstanding and hats off to the community up here for putting on such a great event.”
For RIT’s senior goaltender, Mike Rotolo, who only needed 21 saves, Brick City has special meaning for him.
“Obviously being from Rochester, I’ve been to these games before growing up,” he said. “It’s exciting. We pack this place, get a sea of orange in there. It’s fun to play in this game.”
The environment spurred the players on. RIT controlled the majority of the game, outshooting Connecticut, 37-22.
“I was impressed with RIT,” Cavanaugh said. “Our goaltender [Adam Huska, starting his first collegiate game] was outstanding. He probably stole us a point tonight, because I thought they won the majority of the puck battles and races to pucks. They were the better team tonight.”
“I thought we played well,” Wilson said. “We didn’t give up much defensively. We generated quite a bit offensively. I give their goalie full credit. No rebounds. I was pleased with our overall effort.”
It won’t get any easier next year as Northeastern is slated to come to town.
“We’ll continue to challenge ourselves,” Wilson said. “I’m not looking for easy wins.”
However, it won’t matter to the RIT alumni and students. They will still circle the date on the calendar in anticipation, not worrying about whether their beloved Tigers win or lose (or tie).
That’s because the Brick City Game has become as much a Rochester seasonal tradition as shoveling snow in the winter, the Lilac Festival in the spring, and sailing on Lake Ontario in the summer.
Other Atlantic Hockey results:
Union 4, Sacred Heart 4
Sacred Heart came back from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to salvage a tie. Vito Bavaro and Zach Tsekos scored 1:12 apart late in the third to knot the score. Brett Magnus made 37 saves for the Pioneers.
No. 16 Northeastern 7, Bentley 3
Northeastern jumped out to 3-0 and 6-1 leads en route to an easy 7-3 win over Bentley. Tyler Deresky scored a shorthanded goal in a losing effort.
Holy Cross 2, No. 11 Providence 1 (OT)
Atlantic Hockey claimed yet another victory against a ranked, non-conference opponent as Johnny Coughlin scored at 1:41 of overtime to give Holy Cross a 2-1 win over Providence. Paul Berrafato made 33 saves in the win.
Alaska Anchorage 1, Canisius 0
Canisius was unable to sweep the Alaskan schools, as they fell to Alaska Anchorage, 1-0, on a first period goal at 19:10. Daniel Urbani made 25 saves to keep his team within striking range.
