Preseason Power Rankings: Previewing teams ranked No.63-61

Alright, ladies and gentlemen …

Inside My Preseason College Hockey Power Rankings

That’s right, it’s time for my preseason power rankings. Before we dive into the top three teams today, let me walk you through my methodology.

1) Player Grades
First things first: I’ve assigned a grade to every player in college hockey this season. It’s a modified version of Dom Luszczyszyn’s Game Score — adjusted because not all of the data points used at the NHL level are available in the NCAA. InStat provides a wealth of data — 90 percent of it excellent — though some gaps remain.

The formula closely mirrors what College Hockey News uses for its CHIP metric, with my own modifications to better weight traits I consider critical. Personally, I place a premium on tall, mobile defensemen and strong two-way power forwards. That doesn’t mean players outside these profiles are penalized, but those who excel in these areas are rewarded accordingly.

A development curve is built in as well. A player’s numbers from last-season are adjusted for expected growth from freshman to sophomore year, sophomore to junior year, etc. That curve diminishes as players age, reflecting how veterans tend to plateau by their senior season. Occasional leaps — a jump from 15 points as a junior to 40 as a senior — happen, but they’re rare.

Projections are also weighted by strength of schedule, broken down on a per-game basis, and then extrapolated over 34 games, the length of a standard regular season.

2) Incoming Freshmen
The same formula is applied to incoming freshmen. InStat provides extensive data at the junior level, which I translate to the NCAA level. Over the past three seasons, I’ve tracked all NCAA freshmen and developed a curve based on their junior league and age. For example, a 17-year-old scoring 60 points in 50 USHL games is more impressive than a 20-year-old doing the same. Players are also bonused according to their star rating from Neutral Zone.

This season presents a challenge: we have zero data on CHL players entering college hockey, yet over 300 are expected to join NCAA programs. My solution was to scale their rating relative to the USHL. Next season, with more CHL-to-NCAA data, this process will be refined. As with all players, these numbers are broken down per game and extrapolated over 34 games.

3) Team Grades
It’s impossible to simply aggregate player scores, especially with teams carrying different roster sizes. To normalize, I project lineups for each team: top six defensemen, top 12 forwards, and the top-ranked goalie. This eliminates the bonus that would otherwise go to teams carrying 29 players versus 26. So, every team is ranked using the same number of players, and a total score is developed.

4) Positional Rankings
New this year, I include positional rankings using the same top-6 defensemen, top-12 forwards, and top goalie criteria. Each team will have positional ranks, overall rank, year-over-year comparisons with Pairwise and league finish, and a score out of 100. This score quantifies gaps between teams. For instance, teams ranked No. 15–19 in my rankings (to be written up later) are only separated by 0.8 points, illustrating how tightly bunched certain tiers are. The wider the margin, the clearer the gap.

You’ll be able to keep track of ALL of our rankings by using this page:

The page will be updated with national and league-by-league rankings as more teams are released.

Alright, let’s dig in.

(63) RIT

Forwards: Big Group of Incoming Freshman Could Push for Significant Minutes

RIT finished last season ranked No. 60 in the Pairwise, and that was with Tyler Fukakusa and Matthew Wilde in the lineup. Both have since departed via the transfer portal, leaving the Tigers with a thinned-out forward group that wasn’t exactly deep to begin with.

The cupboard now hinges on a mix of experience and unproven talent. LIU transfer Austin Brimmer joins returners Simon Isabelle and Chris Catalano as the top three forwards by most measures. Beyond that trio, the Tigers will be leaning heavily on youth. Five freshmen — Evan Konyen (OHL), Camden Bajzer (BCHL), Caleb Elfering (BCHL), Zachary Wigle (OHL), and William Moore (BCHL) — will likely have to play meaningful minutes in the middle six for first-year head coach Matt Thomas.

Defense: Can The Tigers Get More Offense from the Back End?

RIT’s defense will be anchored by senior Xavier Lapointe and junior Crossley Stewart. Sophomore Tristan Allen is expected to settle into a top-four role, while freshman Brock Reinhart (WHL) projects as an immediate contributor in that same tier.

The Tigers lacked offensive punch from the back end last season, and there’s little reason to expect a dramatic shift this year. I have the Tigers slotted with the No. 62 defensive corps in the country.

Goaltending: Krbecek and MacKenzie Could Duel for Starting Role

The crease at RIT is wide open, with a genuine competition shaping up between returning sophomore Jakub Krbecek and newcomer Collin MacKenzie, fresh out of the OHL.

Krbecek logged minutes as a freshman, and I had him ranked as RIT’s top goaltender (although statistically the Tigers were below-average defensively). He faced a barrage of rubber—605 shots in just over 1,000 minutes, which translates to 36.3 per 60 minutes. His stat line reflected that volume: a 3.90 goals-against average paired with an .893 save percentage.

MacKenzie, meanwhile, arrives after a three-year run in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67’s. Last season he posted an .884 save percentage and 3.66 GAA across 39 games. In 108 OHL appearances, MacKenzie compiled a 51-33-10 record, backed by an .898 save percentage and a 3.02 GAA.

Bottom Line: RIT Faces a Reset, but Rebuild Could Be Short-Lived

RIT has every resource necessary to be among the premier programs in Atlantic Hockey. The facilities are first-rate. But college hockey runs in cycles, and the Tigers have been caught in a downturn after watching their roster picked apart by the transfer portal in recent years.

This season feels like a reset. A new head coach is in place, and two of last year’s top contributors departed for Hockey East schools through the portal. That combination makes 2025–26 look more like a bridge year than a breakthrough.

Still, don’t expect RIT to down for long. The freshman class, particularly up front, has the potential to be highly productive. The challenge will be keeping that core intact when the portal door swings open again next spring.