On the hunt: RIT men’s hockey looking to run the table in AHA Tournament

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) – Motivation comes in all different shapes and sizes. For RIT men’s hockey, it’s pretty clear.

“Last year when we lost to Holy Cross,” said head coach Wayne Wilson.

The top seeded Tigers fell in the conference tournament semifinals in an upset to Holy Cross. The result has been a motivated and refocused group.

“Self reflection over the summer. Came back, what do we need to be better at. We took that to heart. Better discipline. Better at handling certain situations and our leadership group with six captains have all really kind of taken charge of this team,” said Wilson.

“We came close last year and it still hurts. It’s still on our mind,” said graduate senior Caleb Moretz. “Before the season even started, everybody was on the same page.”

That page doesn’t need any SparkNotes. RIT is set on winning the AHA Championship this time around.

“We knew we were gonna win the regular season. We’ve had it up on our wall since day one. If we didn’t win we would’ve been disappointed. That’s kind of the standard we have here,” said Moretz.

That starts on Friday in game one of a best of three series against Robert Morris. And the Tigers are on the prowl.

“The pressure’s on Robert Morris. We’re very disappointed in last year and we are the hunters this year, because we know the regular season means nothing. We’re grateful how we played and we got the first seed. Our mindset is way more about being motivated for the playoffs and being the hunters,” said Wilson.

How does RIT men’s hockey plan on attacking? It’s already been mapped out.

“We’re gonna win the regular season, and then we’re gonna win the playoffs, and we’re gonna go to the NCAAs. It’s just putting your mind to something and everybody working all together to get that,” said Moretz.

After all, Tigers don’t back down from anything.