Former Toronto Jr. Canadien Gianfranco Cassaro needs a trophy case just for his Atlantic Hockey awards.
The RIT senior defenseman was named the NCAA Division I conference’s Defensive Player of the Week Monday.
This is his seventh career Atlantic Hockey weekly honour and his third this season.
Cassaro totaled three points on a goal and two assists in RIT’s weekend sweep of Canisius as the Tigers clinched their second consecutive Robert DeGregorio Trophy and the top seed for the Atlantic Hockey postseason.
The Nobleton, Ont., native scored his 14th goal of the season in Saturday’s 3-2 road victory to finish the regular season ranked first nationally in goals among defensemen. He also tied the Tigers’ Division I-era single-season program record for goals by a blueliner he set a year ago.
Saturday’s tally was also his eighth power-play goal this season – the most in Atlantic Hockey and tied for 10th in the country.
Cassaro added two assists to Friday’s 9-2 home victory, including his career-high 30th point of the season.
After playing for the Jr. Canadiens as an affiliate from the Toronto Red Wings U16 team in 2014-15, Cassaro played two full seasons with the OJHL team. He was voted to the league’s All-Prospect team in 2016-17.
After winning an NCAA championship with UMass in 2021, he transferred to RIT.
The Rochester, NY school has a long history of recruiting star players from the Ontario Junior Hockey league, highlighted by Calgary Flames defenceman Chris Tanev (Durham Fury, Stouffville Spirit, Markham Waxers).
Other OJHL grads on this year’s RIT roster include: Ryan Nicholson (Oakville Blades), Dimitri Mikrogiannakis (Newmarket Hurricanes), Elijah Gonsalves (Pickering Panthers, Aurora Tigers, Wellington Dukes), Evan Miller (Wellington), Matthew Wilde,Tyler Fukakusa and Christian Catalano (Toronto Jr. Canadiens) and Crossley Stewart (Burlington Cougars, Toronto Patriots).
The Tigers received a first-round playoff bye and advance directly to the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals March 8 to 10.
