Men's Hockey | 2/24/2016 12:48:00 PM

College hockey aficionado and Pittsburgh media personality Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary on the RMU men's hockey team. This is his latest:
 
Pittsburgh, Pa. – The senior class that will play its final regular-season game at 84 Lumber Arena on Saturday night against Canisius requires no tribute or ceremony to be remembered.
 
RMU's trophy case is a representative legacy.
 
It contains the hardware acquired by winning the program's first Three Rivers Classic championship in 2012 (the Confluence Cup), by securing the program's first berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, by winning the Atlantic Hockey Conference regular-season championship, still another program-first accomplishment, in 2015 and by winning a second Classic (and a second Cup) in December.
 
And they're not done yet.
 
"This is a group that's had a target on their backs ever since they won 20 games their freshman year," head coach Derek Schooley observed. "They just keep achieving."
 
For the Class of 2016, there is much yet to achieve.
 
The Colonials (19-9-4 overall and first in Atlantic Hockey Conference at 16-6-4) have a three-point lead over Air Force, Holy Cross and RIT in the race for the AHC regular-season title with four points still on the table.
 
Any combination of two points secured by RMU in this weekend's home-and-home series with Canisius or two points Air Force, Holy Cross and RIT all fail to earn this weekend would win the title outright for RMU and make for another banner year on Neville Island.
 
The bigger prize waiting to be won is the Atlantic Hockey Tournament championship, which is accompanied by an automatic bid to the subsequent NCAA event.
 
The Class of 2016 is already the winningest class in program history at 82 and counting.
 
"They've raised the 'compete' level," Schooley said. "They've raised the bar as far as winning. This group, whether it's in small games (in practice), whether it's in anything, they battle and they compete and they win and they don't accept anything else.
 
"They'll continue to work until they get it."
 
They group has developed individually and collectively each season and has been front and center leading the way this season.
 
Winger Zac Lynch (21-22-43), center Greg Gibson (23-18-41), winger Brandon Denham (19-15-34) and winger David Friedmann (6-23-29) are RMU's top-four scorers.
 
Winger Matt Cope (9-16-25), defenseman Tyson Wilson (2-19-21) and defenseman Chase Golightly (4-17-21) are fifth, eighth and ninth on the Colonials' scoring chart.
 
Evan Moore doesn't often score (0-1-1 this season, 4-25-29 in his career) but has been reliable enough as a shutdown defenseman over the years to have appeared in 145 career games, tied for second with Lynch behind Denham's 147 on the 2015-16 roster.
 
Goaltender Terry Shafer is the all-time shutout leader in program history with eight, four of which have been registered this season.
 
They'll all leave eventually well represented in the record book.
 
Lynch is second in the program's 12-season history with 144 points, six behind Cody Wydo (150 from 2011-14). Gibson is tied for sixth (107), Denham is ninth (90) and Friedmann is 10th (89).
 
Lynch is the program's all-time leader in short-handed goals with 13 (seven more than Wydo) and is two shots on goal shy of passing Wydo (486) for the most in program history.
 
Lynch is also RMU's all-time leader in plus/minus at plus 61, while Gibson is third at plus 42, Wilson is fourth at plus 40, Cope is fifth at plus 38, Golightly is sixth at plus 35 and Moore is eighth at plus 31.
 
Shafer is third on RMU's all-time wins list with 38, five away from passing Christian Boucher (42 from 2004-07) for the No. 1 spot. Shafer's career goals-against average of 2.64 is currently the best in Colonials' history.
 
Denham's 147 games played are second to Wydo on the RMU all-time list (151), while Moore and Lynch are tied for third (145), Gibson is tied for fifth (143), and Golightly and Cope are tied for ninth (140).
 
And only the gold platter bestowed upon the Colonials for winning the Nye Frontier Classic in 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska has made its way into the RMU trophy case without the Class of 2016's fingerprints.
 
Recognition of their contributions, highlighted this season by Wilson serving as captain with Denham and Moore as the alternates, will take place before the Canisius game Saturday (Approximately 6:45pm).
 
Given the nine-player contingent slated to be honored and all they've accomplished, it might take a while.
 
"It's been amazing to see them find ways to win new things and accomplish new things," Schooley said.
 
And they're not done yet.

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