Until the autumn of 2005, Rochester was the largest media market in the nation without Division I NCAA athletics. This changed when RIT began its first Division I hockey season in October, 2005. A rough first season was highlighted with a win against nationally-ranked ![[WWW]](http://rocwiki.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
St. Lawrence on October 28th, 2005. Despite a poor record, all games were hard fought by a team that largely was recruited to compete in Division III.
RIT is a member of the Atlantic Hockey Association. In this conference, RIT will regularly face teams such as Holy Cross, Canisus, Army, the Air Force Academy, Mercyhurst and UConn. Regular matchups are also expected with teams such as ![[ithaca]](http://rocwiki.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/inter.png){kind=small}
Cornell_University, St. Lawrence, Niagara and other regional rivals.
In 2006 the announcement came that the annual Atlantic Hockey conference championships would be held on neutral ice at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester - an event that will annually draw thousands to the city. Rochester was chosen for its central geographic location in the conference, its facilities, and its hockey tradition.
RIT Hockey plays at the Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena on campus. This facility seats just over 2,200 fans for hockey and is among the best facilities in the conference. The Tigers hockey team also enjoys the best fanbase in the conference, only rivaled in size by Army's. The student section at hockey games - the Corner Crew - is a large, loud sea of orange and black. The Tigers can typically be heard live on the RIT Tigers Sports Network, which includes flagship WITR 89.7FM, as well as WYSL 1040AM with several games broadcast on tape delay on WGBT TV 18.
RIT Athletics Atlantic Hockey Association RIT Corner Crew
RIT Hockey Tradition
Division II National Champions: 1983
Division III National Champions: 1985
Division III National Runner-Up: 1989, 1996, 2001
Division III Frozen Four Appearances: 1984, 1986, 1999
ECAC West Conference Championships: 1984, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Division III Players of the Year: Steve Toll (1997), Jerry Galway (2002)
28 All-Americans
