The Robert Morris men's hockey team jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead, but watched Alabama-Huntsville erase that margin and win 12:31 into overtime of the College Hockey America Championship.
Junior forward Ryan Cruthers opened the scoring when he one-timed a cross-ice feed from junior Sean Berkstresser at 6:36. Freshman defenseman Dave Cowan scored his first career goal at 9:02, ripping a slapshot from between the circles high over the stickside of Marc Narduzzi with help from junior forward Logan Bittle and Cruthers. Berkstresser made it 3-0 with the team's only even-strength marker of the period at 12:09, tipping in a shot by senior Doug Conley.
The first period onslaught continued, however, as sophomore forward Chris Margott capped the scoring for RMU with a power play goal at 16:43. Cruthers earned his third point of the period and senior Aaron Clarke collected an assist as well.
Huntsville climbed back into the contest early in the second period with a set of power play goals and an even-strength score. Kevin Morrison buried a rebound after a shot by Scott Kalinchuk 1:18 into the new frame. David Nimmo added a 5-on-3 power play score just 1:40 later to cut the margin to 4-2. Grant Selinger made it a one-goal game with 21 seconds left in the third period when he tipped in a pass from Josh Murray. The Chargers knotted the game 5:22 into the third period with their third power play goal of the contest. Kalinchuk beat Boucher high on the glove side with a slap shot from the top of the right circle. Brett McConnachie and Shaun Arvai earned the assists.
On the Road Again: The Colonials open the 2007-08 season with four straight games away from the RMU Island Sports Center. They first travel to Anchorage-Alaska for the Nye Frontier Classic where they will play #9 Boston University and Wayne State. RMU will then travel to Madison, Wisc. to take on the 17th ranked Badgers.
First Time For Everything: The Colonials will play five teams for the first time in the programs history this season. RMU will travel to Wisconsin, Colgate and American International. The Colonials will have a home-and-home series with Ohio State and will play Boston University at the Nye Frontier Classic.
Friday, Friday, Friday: The only day of the week last season RMU held a winning record on was Friday. The Colonials finished with an overall record of 6-5-1 on Friday's.
Setting Records: Senior Ryan Cruthers rewrote the RMU single-season record book last season. He set five single-season offensive records, including points, points per game, goals, goals per game and power-play goals. Cruthers finished the 2006-07 season with a team high 37 points, 17 goals and 9 power-play goals, while averaging 1.09 points per game and 0.50 goals per game. In the CHA, Cruthers ranked 2nd in goals (17) and power-play goals (9), 6th in points (37), 7th in power-play points (18) and 8th in assists (20).
Splitting the CHA: The Colonials played 10 weekend series' against CHA foes, coming away with only two sweeps, against Niagara and Bemidji State in consecutive weekends.
Power Player: The Colonials had the 11th best power-play in the nation last season converting at a rate of 19.9%. Only one CHA team ranked higher than the Colonials, Niagara who converted at a rate of 20.0%. Leading the Colonials power-play was Ryan Cruthers, who scored nine power-play goals and former Colonial Aaron Clarke's 19 power-play points including two goals and 17 assists.
Plenty-o-Penalty Kill: The Colonials committed a whopping 249 penalties last season, but still managed to lead the CHA in penalty kill percentage. Robert Morris killed off 82.3% of their opponents power-plays. That 82.3% ranked 32 in the nations however.
The Magic of Four: Four has been a magic number for the Colonials in their first two-plus seasons of Division I hockey. As in scoring at least four and giving up less than four. When the Colonials reach four goals, they are 22-7-3 (.734) all-time. If they hold opponents to less than four goals, the are 27-19-7 (.575). On the other side of the coin, when RMU scores less than four, they are just 2-36-2 (.080). When opponents score four of more, the Colonials are just 3-38-2 (.093).
Home, Sweet, Home: The RMU Island Sports Center has become an unwelcome destination for visiting teams as the Colonials went 7-5-1 last season and are 17-21-6 overall and 15-12-3 over the last two-seasons. This season the Colonials will play 15 home games this season, including exhibition contests against Ryerson and the USA U-18 Team.
Talking About the Road: Robert Morris is 15-35-3 on the road all-time, going 6-12-1 in 2006-07, 4-12-1 in 2005-06 and 5-11-1 in 2004-05. RMU never went more than three-games during the 2006-07 season with out picking up a victory on the road, a vast improvement over the 12-game road winless streak during the 2005-06 season that ended with a 3-2 win at Air Force (2/24/06). The Colonials will play 20 games away from the RMU Island Sports Center this coming season, including three neutral site games against Boston University, Wayne State and Ohio State.
Feeling Gray: Including exhibition games, the Colonials were 3-2 last season when wearing their alternate third jersey. Robert Morris wore the jersey in both games of a two-game home series against Ala.-Huntsville, beating the Chargers Friday night before losing Saturday. They also work the sweater in a 6-0 exhibition win over Penn State (10/8/06) and in a loss to Wayne State (3/2/2007. Last season marked the debut of the team's alternate third jersey, a gray uniform that prominently features the athletic department's new logo. The new jersey is worn on occasion and is an addition to the team's traditional white home uniforms and navy blue road sweaters.
Winning Ways: Robert Morris continued to increase its single-season win total last season. The Colonials won 14-games last season after an almost 50% increase to 12 from the 2004-05 season. The Colonials won only eight-games their first season.
Keeping It Close: After three full seasons, the Colonials have played in 31 one-goal games. They are 13-18 in those games. Robert Morris finished the 2006-07 season with nine one-goal games and were 4-5 in those contests.
Preseason All-CHA Team: For the second straight season, Robert Morris has placed a member of its team on the Preseason All-CHA Team. This season however two Colonials were named to the 2007-08 Preseason All-CHA Team. Ryan Cruthers and Chris Kaufman were both tabbed preseason all-CHA.
Preseason Predictions: The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team was selected to finish second in College Hockey America for the upcoming 2007-08 season. The Colonials received two first-place votes and a total of 13 points overall. Niagara also received two first-place votes, but edged the Colonials by one point overall, receiving 14 total points. Bemidji State (12) received the fifth and final first-place vote, while Wayne State (6) and Alabama-Huntsville (5) rounded out the coaches poll.
Aye, Aye Captain: Senior's Rob Cowan, Chris Kaufman and Joel Gasper will serve as team captains for the 2007-08 season. This will mark the fourth-straight season that Cowan has worn the "C" on his sweater, while Kaufman was a captain last year and an assistant captain during the 2004-05 season. Gasper served last season as an assistant captain and will wear the "C" for the first time this season. Gasper also joins Cowan, Kaufman and Kurt Wright ?06 as the only Colonials to ever serve as a captain.
