Robert Morris (0-0-0) vs. Lake Superior State (0-2-0, 0-2-0 WCHA)
Friday, Oct. 10 & Saturday, Oct. 11 | 7:05 p.m. both nights
Pittsburgh, Pa. | 84 Lumber Arena at RMU Island Sports Center
Listen: 970 AM - ESPN Radio (970espn.com) with Steve Kolbe (play-by-play) and Mike Prisuta (analysis)

THE MATCHUP
Robert Morris University hosts Lake Superior State in a two-game series to begin its 11th regular season of Division I men's hockey. The Colonials also opened last season against the Lakers, dropping a pair of 3-1 decisions in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. RMU is seeking to strike back against "Lake State," which has won seven of the eight times these two schools have played - including both all-time meetings on the Island.

GAME NOTES


ABOUT ROBERT MORRIS
- The Colonials return 19 players from last year's squad, which won 17 of their final 26 games to take the Atlantic Hockey Association title and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time
- Forward Cody Wydo enters his senior season as RMU's all-time leader in goals (65) after a program-record 31-goal, 54-point junior year; he finished second in D-I in goals and fourth in scoring. Wydo's 107 career points rank 4th in team history. 
- Pittsburgh-born forward Zac Lynch netted 47 points in 2013-14, including a team-high 28 assists; the junior set RMU records with 4 shorthanded goals and 159 shots on net
- RMU enters the year with tremendous depth in goal, with junior Terry Shafer (.911 SV% in 35 games) and sophomore Dalton Izyk (.917 SV%, 6-2 playoff record) both returning to the crease after promising seasons
- The Colonials hosted Ryerson University last Saturday at 84 Lumber Arena in an exhibition contest. RMU fell 1-0 despite outshooting the Rams 35-22 and out-attempting them 71-44

SCOUTING LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
- The Lakers were one of the few Division I teams to begin their regular season last weekend, losing twice at home to league rival Michigan Tech by a combined 10-4 score
- Lake Superior State is coming off a 16-19-1 record in 2013-14, despite sprinting to a 4-0-1 start and a 9-4-1 record through November
- Sophomore Alex Globke is the Lakers' top returning scorer; the 6-foot-3 forward netted 31 points (12g, 19a) in his first collegiate season
- LSSU lost three 20-point scorers to graduation, leaving senior Stephen Perfetto (7g, 13a last season) to help Globke boost the attack
- Just nine of the Lakers' 29 roster players are upperclassmen, including a mere three seniors. They deployed a pair of freshmen goalies - Gordon Defiel and Kevin Aldridge - in their opening weekend series
- Lake Superior State is under the direction of first-year head coach Damon Whitten, who was an assistant with Michigan Tech for the previous four seasons
- The Lakers enter their second season in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), which they joined after the CCHA dissolved in the spring of 2013

COLONIALS IN THE MEDIA
RMU tunes up with exhibition battle against Ryerson
Goal-oriented Wydo seeks to again lead Colonials' attack
Prisuta on Pucks: New season on the doorstep
Podcast: Coach Schooley's interview with David Todd on 970 ESPN
Pittsburgh Sporting News: Goalie Shafer healthy, ready to go
RMU Sentry Media: What to expect from Colonials in 2014-15

FUN FACT 
RMU is 4-6-0 all-time in season openers, although home openers have been more kind, with the Colonials going 5-4-1.

No Shame In It: The Colonials weren't alone with their preseason loss to Ryerson last Saturday. Five NCAA teams fell to Canadian schools in exhibition play: RMU, Notre Dame, Northeastern, New Hampshire and Quinnipiac. Last year, three of the four NCAA teams to lose to CIS opponents went on to winning seasons.

Onward and Upward: The Colonials have finished with a record of .500 or better in four consecutive seasons, going 74-61-19 over that span for a .542 points percentage. Prior to the 2010-11 season, RMU won just 69 of its first 208 games (.379 points percentage) at the NCAA Division I level.

National Recognition: Following its scintillating finish to the season, RMU broke into the final two USCHO Top-20 polls of 2013-14. The Colonials collected 55 votes in the last poll, just five behind Ohio State for 20th in Division I.  They followed that up by earning votes in the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason polls, ranking an unofficial 26th in both surveys.

Respect From Their Peers: The Colonials were tabbed to finish second in the Atlantic Hockey Association this year in the annual preseason coaches' poll, six points behind league favorite Mercyhurst. The Colonials accumulated three first-place votes as well, helping them to their highest preseason ranking in five AHA campaigns.

Lynch Leads Brainy Bunch: Lynch not only won RMU's Most Improved Player award, he also was named to the Capital One Academic All-America Third Team, a first for the men's hockey program. The engineering major posted a 4.0 grade-point average in 2013-14. As a team, the Colonials placed a league-leading 25 players on the AHA all-academic team, the third year in a row they led the league.

Cody Is King of the Hill: Wydo enters his senior season as the active Division I leader in goals with 65 - and he's got a healthy lead on runner-up Alex Grieve of AHA rival Bentley (50). Also, Wydo's 107 career points place him fifth on the active D-I scoring list, with Miami's Austin Czarnik (124 points) leading the way.

Scoring in the New Year: From Jan. 3 through the end of the 2013-14 season, RMU scored 101 goals in 26 games, the highest goal total in the NCAA during that timeframe.  The Colonials also held the top spots in assists (173), points (274), shots on goal (944), and blocked shots (406) during the calendar year.

Video Preview: Head coach Derek Schooley sat down with Matt Gajtka to talk about what the Colonials learned from the exhibition game and what we can expect from Lake Superior State