Syracuse University
RIT
'Cuse to Face RIT at Home Friday For Split Series
2/4/2026 1:14:00 PM | Ice Hockey
The Orange Hit the Road on Saturday to Play the Tigers
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Syracuse Links: Notes | News | Roster | Schedule
RIT Links: Notes | News | Roster | Schedule
Puck Drop
- Syracuse will host RIT on Friday for the final home game of the 2025-26 regular season before heading to Rochester for the second game of the series on Saturday.
- 'Cuse split the series with RIT in October when it won on the road 5-2 but then lost the following day at home 4-1.
- This is an important matchup for the 'Cuse as they look ahead to playoffs for home ice advantage in the AHA postseason. Syracuse currently sits in fifth place in the AHA standings, trailing RIT by one point. Lindenwood sits in third now following their sweep of RIT last weekend, two points ahead of the Orange. The No. 3 seed and No. 4 seed will have home ice advantage for the first round of playoffs, while the one and two seed will have the advantage for the semifinals.
- Both games will be streamed on FloHockey as puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday at Tennity Ice Pavilion and 3 p.m. Saturday at Gene Polisseni Center.Â
Syracuse in the Winter Olympics
- Syracuse women's ice hockey will be represented across three different nations competing for three different nations, USA, Canada and Japan.
- Two Orange alum and current head coach Britni Smith will be in Milan competing for gold in this year's Olympic Winter Games. Melissa Piacentini '16 will be Team USA's Video Coach, Smith will serve as an Assistant Coach for Team Canada, and Akane Hosoyamada '15 will be playing for Team Japan making her third Winter Olympics appearance.
- Team USA and Team Canada are set to face each other in the final preliminary match on February 10. Team Japan could face either team in playoffs but are not in their prelim group.
- Team USA and Team Canada will kickoff Olympic play February 5 and Team Japan will play February 6. The games will be streamed on Peacock.
The Playoff Push
- As the 2025-26 regular season comes to a close, there is a tight race in the AHA as teams fight for playoff seeding.
- Penn State and Mercyhurst have clinched first-round byes in the conference tournament and home ice advantage for the semifinal round. But the No. 3 and No. 4 seed and home ice advantage in the first round is very much up for grabs between four teams. The No. 5 seed will travel to the No. 4 seed and No. 6 and No. 7 will face each other for a play-in game at the No. 3 seed, the winner of that match will then play No. 3.Â
- Only nine points separates third place from sixth place, it will be a race to the finish for Lindenwood (30 pts), RIT (29 pts), Syracuse (28 pts), and Robert Morris (21 pts) in the regular season.
- Syracuse can capitalize this weekend coming off a bye-week and Lindenwood's weekend sweep of RIT to potentially leapfrog the Tigers in the standings. Lindenwood will also be facing Penn State this weekend, presenting more opportunities for the Orange to take control of home ice-advantage.
- In the final week of AHA play, Syracuse will travel to Mercyhurst, RIT visits Penn State, and Lindenwood faces Robert Morris. All major games that would determine the final standings.
- In the event there is a tie in the standings, tiebreakers are as follows: Head-to-head winning percentage, conference wins, head-to-head goal differential, goals allowed in head-to-head competition, head-to-head winning percentage in games against teams starting with the No. 1 team down to the No. 7 team, and goal differential in games against teams starting with the No. 1 team down to the No. 7 team.
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