RIT Players Honored

ROCHESTER, NY – RIT women’s hockey standouts Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets), Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs), and Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) of the RIT women’s hockey team swept College Hockey America weekly honors on Monday, for the week ending March 9, 2014. Grigg was named the CHA Player of the Week, Binnington earned Goaltender of the Week honors, while Clayton was named the Rookie of the Week after RIT won its first CHA Championship over the weekend.Grigg, a junior defenseman, scored the game-winning goal with 6:13 left in the second overtime to lift the Tigers to a 2-1 win over top-ranked Mercyhurst in the College Hockey America Championship on Saturday. Grigg, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, fired a rocket of a slap shot that eluded traffic in front and beat Mercyhurst goaltender Amanda Maklela over the blocker for her third goal of the season. Grigg also assisted on Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury)’s second period power-play goal and blocked a career-high 12 shots in the win. On Friday, she blocked four shots and was plus-2 in a 4-1 win over Robert Morris in the CHA Semifinal. Grigg ended the season with six points over her last six games and 21 points on three goals and 18 assists in 38 games. She blocked a team-high 127 shots, also among the most in all of Division I. It is her first weekly honor of her career. Grigg also earned All-CHA second team honors.

Binnington, a junior goaltender, was named MVP and earned All-Tournament Team honors at the CHA Tournament, leading the Tigers to its first CHA Championship in just its second season as a Division I program. Binnington was remarkable in net, stopping 87-of-89 shots (.978 save percentage) in 153:35 of game action over the weekend. She began the weekend by stopping 25 shots in a 2-1 win over No. 10 Robert Morris in the CHA Semifinal.  On Saturday, Binnington made a career-high 62 saves on 63 shots in a 2-1 double overtime victory over top-seed and No. 8 nationally-ranked Mercyhurst in the CHA Championship. Binnington ended the season by winning seven straight contests, allowing just six goals on her last 240 shots faced (.975 save percentage and 0.77 goals against average).  Binnington finished the season 16-9-2 with a 1.72 goals against average, .944 save percentage, and six shutouts this season. Her .944 save percentage is third nationally. It is her seventh weekly honor of the year and 11th of her career. Binnington was also named the CHA Goaltender of the Year.

Clayton, a freshman forward, scored a goal in Friday’s 4-1 win over No. 10 Robert Morris in the CHA Semifinal on Friday and was on the ice for Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets)’s game-winning goal in double overtime on Saturday in a 2-1 win over No. 8 Mercyhurst in the CHA Championship. Clayton blocked four shots over the weekend and was the defensive center who did a tremendous job in holding two of the best offensives in Division I to just a pair of goals. She finished her rookie season with seven points on four goals and three assists. It is her second weekly accolade of the season.

RIT finished the season with a 20-15-3 mark, winning its final seven games. It is RIT’s third league title in the last four years.