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Men's Hockey 1/22/2016 8:30:00 AM

First Place Colonials Host Series vs.Mercyhurst

Friday is Military Appreciation Night, Saturday night replica jersey giveaway to first 600 fans

Pittsburgh, Pa. -- Robert Morris University men's hockey is in first place in the Atlantic Hockey conference heading into this weekend's series against Mercyhurst at 84 Lumber Arena. The Colonials (14-7-3, 11-4-3 AHC) are coming off a road split with second-place Holy Cross, while the Lakers (11-11-0, 9-7-0 AHC) split a home weekend with Sacred Heart.

Friday 7:05pm Military Appreciation Night with "It's About the Warrior" Foundation
Saturday 7:05pm First 600 Fans Receive White Replica Jerseys

Live Stats | Radio ESPN Pittsburgh 970 AM 106.3 FM Live Audio | Live Video ($)
Download RMU Game Notes (.pdf) | Download Mercyhurst Game Notes (.pdf)

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ROBERT MORRIS QUICK HITS
•   Robert Morris is receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll and has been in the poll each week of the season.
•   Robert Morris is in first place in Atlantic Hockey, with a two-point lead over second place Holy Cross.
• The Colonials have three nominees for the Hobey Baker Award: Brandon Denham, Greg Gibson and Zac Lynch.
•      David Friedmann is a nominee for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
•   RMU sports 9 seniors who have each made an NCAA Tournament appearance and won the Atlantic Hockey regular season & conference tournament titles.
•   The Colonials captain is redshirt-senior defenseman Tyson Wilson. Alternate captains are defenseman Evan Moore and forward Brandon Denham.
•   Robert Morris is the highest goal-scoring team in college hockey, netting 103 goals and is second in goals per game (4.29). RMU is tied for 2nd in points (276) with Michigan.
•   Zac Lynch was the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Month for November. Greg Gibson took home the honor in October and Dalton Izyk was goaltender of the month as well.
•   Junior goaltender Dalton Izyk has been named to the Mike Richter Award watch list for the NCAA's top goaltender.
•   RMU was picked to win Atlantic Hockey in preseason coaches & media polls. Zac Lynch a preseason all-star.

SCOUTING MERCYHURST
•     Head Coach Rick Gotkin has guided the Lakers to nearly 500 wins, six NCAA tournament appearances and five league championships and is in his 28th season at the helm.
• The Lakers leading goal-scorers are Jonathan Charbonneau, Kyle Dutra and Josh Lammon who each have 8.
• Jack Riley leads Mercyhurst in points with 22 on 7 goals and 15 assists. Derek Barach has 7 goals, 13 assists and 20 points.
• Along with Riley and Barach, Lester Lancaster and Phillippe Drouin are both in double-digits in the assist colum with 11 and 10 apiece.
• Mercyhurst is second in Atlantic Hockey in power play goals with 19, behind RMU's nation-best 35. Riley leads the Lakers with 5 PPG. Lancaster has 3, Dutra and Anthony Mastrodicasa each have 2.
•   Charbonneau has the magic touch for Mercyhurst, netting 3 game-winning goals this season. Wes Baker has 2. Kyle Cook has scored a pair of shorthanded goals this season as well
•   Mercyhurst has used a goaltending tandem of freshman Adam Carlson and sophomore Brandon Wildung.
•   Wildung has a 6-7-0 record and last played on January 2-3 in the Lakers home-and-home series with RIT dropping both games. Wildubg has a 3.45 GAA and .906 save percentage.
•   Carlson has a 5-4-0 record, starting each of the Lakers last four games going 3-1-0. Carlson has a 3.14 GAA and .909 save %

ROAD TO REVOLUTION
Follow the Colonials with an all-access look at the program with weekly episodes on Thursday nights. This week's episode features Kurt Wright, a captain in the inaugural season of Robert Morris men's hockey. Wright visited the team on the road and spoke about both hockey and the value of a Robert Morris education.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Colonials have 33 first period goals in 24 games, the most in college hockey. RMU also leads the nation in second period goals with 38. Robert Morris has 31 goals (84 points) in the first five minutes of a period, both NCAA-best marks. 15 of those 31 "first 5:00" goals have been power play goals.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Colonials are 7-1-1 this seas at 84 Lumber Arena, 5-5-2 on the road and 2-1-0 at neutral sites.

FAB FIVE
Five of the top ten scorers in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials: Lynch (1st, 36 points), Gibson (2nd, 33 points), Denham (4th, 28 points), David Friedmann (T-6th, 27 points), Brady Ferguson (T-10th, 22 points).

NATION'S BEST
RMU's power play is the NCAA's best, converting 34.0% of chances. The Colonials have more power play goals than any other team (35). Nine players have PPG; Brandon Denham has 7, Brady Ferguson & Greg Gibson have 6, Dan Leavens has 5, Zac Lynch has 4, Matt Cope has 3, Chase Golightly 2, David Friedmann & Tyson Wilson each have one.

ROAD WARRIORS
Robert Morris is the nation's 2nd highest road scoring team, scoring 44 goals in road games. RMU is 7th in road goals/pg (1.83).

TEAM SCORING
Robert Morris is the highest goal-scoring team in college hockey, netting 103 goals and is second in goals per game (4.29). RMU is tied for 2nd in points (276) with Michigan and third in points per game at 11.50, behind only Michigan and St. Cloud State. The Colonials rank 7th nationally in goal margin, outscoring opponents by 33, a margin of 1.38 goals/per game (8th).

WALL OF DEFENSE
The Colonials are leading the nation in blocked shots with 440 blocks, the nation's top average at 18.33 blocks per game. RMU has registered 20 or more blocks in 9 of its' 24 games and the team is 7-1-1 when blocking 20 or more shots. Rob Mann is 4th in the nation in blocks with 58 blocks in 22 games played, fourth in blocks per game (2.64). Mann is 1st in the conference in blocks & in b/pg, with three others Colonials also in the top ten in Atlantic Hockey: Chase Golightly (4th with 44 blocks, 10th in b/pg with 1.83), Eric Israel (T-8th with 40 blocks, 6th in b/pg with 2.00), Tyson Wilson (T-8th with 40 blocks, 12th in b/pg with 1.74)

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Wilson is the highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 18 points (2 G, 16 A), tied for 5th most points by a defenseman nationally, tied for 2nd in assists by a defenseman. Golightly is the second highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 17 points (3 G, 14 A), 7th nationally. Wilson and Golightly are 4th and 6th in scoring by free agent defenseman nationally.

MAMA SAID SHUT YOU OUT
The Colonials have posted four shutouts so far this season, three by senior goaltender Terry Shafer, pushing him to the top of the Robert Morris recordbook for career shutouts with seven.

RECORD SETTER
In the month of November, Zac Lynch put together a streak of four consecutive games with shorthanded goals, an NCAA record. Lynch leads all active college hockey players with a total of 11 career shorthanded goals, also an program record. RMU is tied for the 2nd-most SHG this season with 6 (5 Lynch, 1 Gibson).

LYNCH LEAVING HIS MARK
Lynch is number one in the nation in career points among active players with 137 and is averaging 1.0 point per game for his career. Lynch is currently second in the nation in points this season with 36. The senior forward also has career marks ranking 4th in goals (59) and 3rd in assists (78). Lynch is also T-9th in career power play goals (17), T-30th with 7 game-winning goals.

CHART-TOPPING CAREERS
Robert Morris has several other players ranked in the top 50 nationally in career numbers.
Greg Gibson is 7th in goals (55), 24th in points (99), T-39th in power play goals (10) and T-30th in game-winning goals (7).
David Friedmann is 36th in points (88), 45th in goals (34), 30th in assists (54) and 14th in GWG (9).
Brandon Denham is 40th in points (84), 39th in goals (36), 51st in assists (48) also tied for 30th in GWG (7).
Tyson Wilson is 21st in career assists with 60.

THAT'S A PLUS
Four of the top 10 +/- leaders in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials. 1st is Tyson Wilson (+21), 2nd Zac Lynch (+16), T-3rd Greg Gibson (+15), T-6th Matt Cope (+11). Wilson is tied for 6th nationally, tied for first among all defenseman and is the top free agent defenseman.

BETTER WITH AGE
RMU has the oldest team in college hockey with an average age of 22 years, 121 days (as of 10/1).

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