Men's Hockey 2/11/2016 11:04:00 AM Ashley Chase

First Place Colonials Welcome Army West Point

Pittsburgh, Pa. -- Robert Morris University men's hockey welcomes Army West Point to town for an Atlantic Hockey series this Friday and Saturday. The Colonials (17-7-4, 14-4-4 AHC) hold a three-point lead over Air Force Academy in the conference standings, with RIT and Holy Cross right behind. Robert Morris is 6-1-1 in its' last eight games while the Black Knights (9-11-7, 6-9-7 AHC) are winners of three of their last four, unbeaten in that stretch, coming off a three-point weekend against Holy Cross. The class of 2016 is one win shy of becoming the winningest class in RMU history, currently with 80 victories, tying the class of 2015's record.

GAME NOTES RMU Notes (.pdf) | Army Notes (.pdf)
Friday 7:05pm
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Saturday 7:05pm
Live Stats
Radio: Online Only
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Plenty of fun planned for Saturday night! First 400 fans take home an RMU men's hockey trading card set. Then you can Skate with the Colonials after the game! Free with your own skates or available for $3.00 rental at the front desk.

ROBERT MORRIS BASICS
Robert Morris is receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll and has been in the poll each week of the season.
The Colonials have three nominees for the Hober Baker Award: Brandon Denham, Greg Gibson and Zac Lynch.
David Friedmann was one of 18 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
Zac Lynch & Tyson Wilson are among 20 candidates from men's ice hockey for the Senior CLASS Award.
RMU sports 9 seniors who have each made an NCAA Tournament appearance and won the Atlantic Hockey regular season & conference tournament titles.

SCOUTING ARMY
Army West Point has won three of its' last four games, unbeaten in six straight including a 4-3 exhibition win over the Canadian Royal Military College.
Sophomore Conor Andrle is Army's leading scorer, with 7 goals, 17 assists and 24 points. Andrle is the only Black Knight with 20 points. More than half of Andrle's scoring has come on the power play (5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points).
It's all about the underclassmen for Army's offense. Joe Kozlak is the only senior scoring in double-digits with 4 goals & 8 assists for 12 points. The top three scorers are sophomore Andrle (24p), freshman Trevor Fidler (6g, 8a, 14p) & sophomore Tyler Pham (5g, 9a, 14p).
The Black Knights are the lowest point scoring team in Atlantic Hockey (149 points), with the second-fewest goals scored this season (Army 57, Niagara 56).
Defensively, junior Ryan Nick and freshman Nash Worden pace the Black Knights with 37 blocks apiece. Nick also contributes offensively (5g, 6a, 11p).

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Colonials hold an 8-3-4 lead in the all-time series with Army, with the previous meetings this season resulting in a 4-4 tie and 5-2 win.

LAST TIME OUT
ROBERT MORRIS
The Colonials are coming off a weekend sweep of Sacred Heart, running RMU's all-time record against the Pioneers to 16-0-1. Zac Lynch scored two goals, one shorthanded, his NCAA-high sixth of the year. Greg Gibson notched a goal and an assist. Dan Leavens scored the game-winning goal with just over three minutes remaining in Friday's win. Goaltender Terry Shafer picked up his 12th win of the season making 51 of 53 saves in the sweep.

ARMY WEST POINT
The Army hockey team scored three goals in the first period and cruised to a 3-1 win over Holy Cross last Saturday at home, a night after tying the Crusaders 2-2. Four of Army's 5 goals were scored in the first period as the Black Knights jumped out to 2-0 and 3-0 leads on back to back nights. C.J. Reuschlein, Brendan McGuire, Taylor Maruya, Tyler Pham and Conor Andrle each scored a goal. Parker Gahagen stopped 38 of 40 shots Friday, 28 of 29 Saturday.

RANKINGS
Robert Morris University men's hockey remains one of the top tier teams in the country, once again receiving votes in this week's USCHO.com Poll. The Colonials are one spot outside the Top 20, three points back of Clarkson.In the PairWise rankings, used to determine the NCAA tournament field at-large bids, Robert Morris is 19th, ahead of four teams ranked in the Top 20 in the USCHO.com Poll (Michigan Tech, Rensselaer, Minnesota State, Bowling Green). The strength of the Colonials three wins over Top 20 teams including a 4-0 shutout of No. 6 Michigan weighs favorably on the PairWise rankings.

To view the complete USCHO.com Top 20 Poll,click here.
To view the full USCHO.com PairWise Rankings,click here.

GOALIE OF THE WEEK
Robert Morris University senior goaltenderTerry Shaferis the Travel Team USA Atlantic Hockey Association Goalie of the Week. Shafer made 51 of 53 saves in a pair of one-goal victories for Robert Morris at Sacred Heart.After giving up a first period goal in Friday's game, Shafer stayed the course in a third period comeback 2-1 win for the Colonials. Saturday night, the lone Sacred Heart goal was scored on the power play and Shafer made several clutch saves in the final ten minutes of a one-goal game. The Penfield, NY native finished the weekend giving up just 2 goals and posting a 1.00 GAA and a .962 save percentage, increasing his Atlantic Hockey-leading save percentage to .933 and lowering his GAA to 2.36. Shafer is tied for the league lead in wins reaching his twelfth victory this weekend. This is the third Atlantic Hockey weekly honor for Shafer this season.

SHAFER | BY THE NUMBERS
2/5 vs. SHU, 60:00, 25 saves, .962 sv%, 1 GA, 1.00 GAA
2/6 vs. SHU, 60:00, 26 saves, .963 sv%, 1 GA, 1.00 GAA

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Colonials have 38 first period goals in 28 games, tied for the most in college hockey with #5 Providence. RMU is also tied for second in the nation in second period goals with 40 including 13 on the power play. Robert Morris has 33 goals in the first five minutes of a period, an NCAA-best mark. 15 of those 33 "first 5:00" goals have been power play goals.

ALL THEY DO IS WIN
The class of 2016 is one win shy of becoming the winningest class in RMU history, currently with 80 victories, tying the class of 2015's record.

TAG TEAM
Zac Lynch and Greg Gibson have been a dynamic duo at the top of the Atlantic Hockey and NCAA scoring charts. The linemates have combined for 40 goals and a total of 78 points this season. Lynch has scored in 26 of 28 games and Gibson in 23 of 28 games, with the Colonials going 1-2-2 when Gibson does not record a point and winless when Lynch doesn't score.

FANTASTIC FOUR
Four of the top ten scorers in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials: Lynch (1st, 40 points), Gibson (3rd, 38 points), Denham (9th, 30 points), David Friedmann (10th, 27 points)

POWER UP
RMU's power play is number three in the nation, converting 29% of chances. Robert Morris held the banner as the number one power play beginning November 21st, surrendering the lead after going 0-10 on the power play February 6 at Sacred Heart.

SQUAD (POWER PLAY) GOALS
The Colonials have more power play goals than any other team (36). Ten players have power play goals; 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, Spencer Dorowicz, David Friedmann & Tyson Wilson each have one.

TEAM SCORING
Robert Morris is the third highest goal-scoring team in college hockey, netting 115 goals and is third in goals per game (4.11). RMU is fourth in points (304) behind #3 St. Cloud State, #5 Michigan, #4 Boston College. The Colonials rank 6th nationally in goal margin, outscoring opponents by 40, a margin of 1.43 goals/per game.

WALL OF DEFENSE
The Colonials are leading the nation in blocked shots with 493 blocks, the nation's top average at 17.61 blocks per game. RMU has registered 20 or more blocks in 10 of its' 26 games and the team is 7-1-2 when blocking 20 or more shots. Rob Mann is 6th in the nation in blocks with 70 blocks in 26 games played, fourth in blocks per game (2.69). Mann is 1st in the conference in blocks & in b/pg, with three others Colonials also in the top twelve in Atlantic Hockey: Chase Golightly (T-7th with 46 blocks, 10th in b/pg with 1.64), Eric Israel (T-7th with 46 blocks, 5th in b/pg with 1.92), Tyson Wilson (12th with 42 blocks, 12th in b/pg with 1.42)

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Wilson is the second-highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 20 points (2 G, 18 A), tied for sixth most points by a defenseman nationally, tied for 2nd in assists by a defenseman. Golightly is the fourth-highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 18 points (4 G, 14 A), 16th nationally. Wilson and Golightly are 4th and 12th in scoring by free agent defenseman nationally.

MAMA SAID SHUT YOU OUT
Colonials goaltenders 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.

SHORTY GET DOWN, GOOD LORD
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 12 career shorthanded goals, also a program record. RMU is tied for the 4th-most SHG this season with 7 (6 Lynch, 1 Gibson).

CHART-TOPPING CAREERS
Robert Morris has several players ranked in the top 50 nationally in career numbers among active players.
Lynch is 3rd in points (141), 4th in goals (62), 4th in assists (79), T-12th in power play goals (17), T-34th with 7 game-winning goals.
Greg Gibson is 9th in goals (57), 24th in points (104), T-43rd in power play goals (10) and T-23rd in game-winning goals (8).
David Friedmann is 42nd in points (88), 50th in goals (34), 39th in assists (54) and 16th in GWG (9).
Brandon Denham is 48th in points (86), 41st in goals (38), 56th in assists (48) also tied for 34th in GWG (7).
Tyson Wilson is 24th in career assists with 62.

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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Players Mentioned

#28 Matt Cope: F; 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.

#44 Brandon Denham: F; 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.

#15 Spencer Dorowicz: F; 5' 11"; Sophomore; So.

#12 Brady Ferguson: F; 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.

#9 David Friedmann: F; 5' 11"; Senior; Sr.

#16 Greg Gibson: F; 5' 10"; Senior; Sr.

#4 Chase Golightly: D; 5' 10"; Senior; Sr.

#27 Zac Lynch: F; 6' 0"; Senior; Sr.

#6 Rob Mann: D; 6' 4"; Junior; Jr.

#1 Terry Shafer: G; 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.

#10 Tyson Wilson: D; 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior; R-Sr.

#8 Eric Israel: D; 5' 10"; Freshman; Fr.

Players Mentioned

#28 Matt Cope
: 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.
: F

#44 Brandon Denham
: 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.
: F

#15 Spencer Dorowicz
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; So.
: F

#12 Brady Ferguson
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.
: F

#9 David Friedmann
: 5' 11"; Senior; Sr.
: F

#16 Greg Gibson
: 5' 10"; Senior; Sr.
: F

#4 Chase Golightly
: 5' 10"; Senior; Sr.
: D

#27 Zac Lynch
: 6' 0"; Senior; Sr.
: F

#6 Rob Mann
: 6' 4"; Junior; Jr.
: D

#1 Terry Shafer
: 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.
: G

#10 Tyson Wilson
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior; R-Sr.
: D

#8 Eric Israel
: 5' 10"; Freshman; Fr.
: D