Colorado Springs, Co. -- The top two teams in Atlantic Hockey face off this weekend as first place Robert Morris University visits Air Force Academy. The Colonials can clinch the regular season title with a sweep this weekend and have already locked up a first round bye. RMU can seal home ice for the second round of the playoffs with at least one point in the standings. The Colonials took three of four points from the Falcons in RMU's season opening series in Pittsburgh in October. Air Force had a 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3), that ended with a loss last Friday at Holy Cross. During the streak, Air Force outscored its opponents 31-10 and outshot them by an average of 32 to 20. Goaltender Shane Starrett had a 0.85 GAA and a .962 save percentage during the streak. The Falcons are 8-1-3 in the last 12 games. Robert Morris is 7-2-1 in the last ten games and goaltender Terry Shafer has a 1.60 GAA and .954 save percentage in that same stretch.

FRIDAY            9:05pm EST   |   Live Stats   |   Video ($)
SATURDAY     7:05pm EST   |   Live Stats   |   Video ($)
GAME NOTES     RMU Notes (.pdf)   |   Air Force Notes (.pdf)

ROBERT MORRIS BASICS
•  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 three-point lead over second place Air Force.
•  Robert Morris is the fourth highest goal-scoring team in college hockey, netting 119 goals, fourth in goals per game (3.97) and fourth in points (316) behind #3 St. Cloud State, #5 Michigan, #4 Boston College. The Colonials goal margin is +41, averaging 1.37 g/pg
•  The Colonials are tied for 7th most wins in NCAA hockey with 18, tied for tenth in win percentage .667
•  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 10 finalists 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.
•  The Colonials captain is redshirt-senior defenseman Tyson Wilson. Alternate captains are defenseman Evan Moore and forward Brandon Denham.
•  RMU was picked to win Atlantic Hockey in preseason coaches & media polls; Zac Lynch a preseason all-star.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE
•  The Falcons are in second place in Atlantic Hockey with 31 points, three points back of first place Robert Morris.
•  Air Force is 8-1 in games decided by one goal this season.
•  Air Force has just one player with 20 or more points, but has 10 with 11 or more points.
•  Five of Air Force's top seven scorers are sophomores.
•  Senior Ben Carey leads the team with 20 points.
•  Air Force has taken two or more points in nine straight league series
•  Air Force has held its opponents to 29 shots or less 22 times in 30 games.
•  The Falcons rank first in the conference and 12th in the nation at 85.1 percent on the penalty kill.
•  AFA leads the league in shots allowed per game at just 25.7 (eighth in nation) and in scoring defense at 2.39 goals per game (17th in nation).
•  The Falcons seniors have won 69 games and have never lost to Army, posting 6-0-2 record against the Black Knights. This class has held the Pikes Peak Trophy for three straight seasons, earning a 3-1 record the last three years. The class also owns two wins over top five teams, beating No. 4 Providence as sophomores and No. 5 Denver earlier this season.

SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series between Robert Morris and Air Force is even at 13-13-2. RMU is unbeaten in the last four vs. Air Force going 3-0-1. RMU is 5-1-2 vs. the Falcons since 2013. The Colonials took three points from Air Force in the season-opening series. Robert Morris is 7-8 vs. the Falcons in Colorado but swept them last season.

LAST TIME OUT
ROBERT MORRIS
The Colonials split last weekend's home series with Army, falling 3-1 on Friday but shutting out the Black Knights 3-0 Saturday. Brandon Denham scored the lone goal in Friday's loss. Greg Gibson broke a scoreless tie in the third Saturday and Timmy Moore followed up with a goal just 67 seconds later. Chase Golightly & Zac Lynch each had two assists. Terry Shafer earned his 4th shutout of the season Saturday making 40 saves.
AIR FORCE
The Falcons split their series with Holy Cross with a 4-2 loss on Friday and 4-2 victory on Saturday. Air Force pushed hard for the win on Friday, outshooting the Crusaders 16-6 in the third, 33-24 in the game. The persistence paid off Saturday as the Falcons scored two third period goals to snap a 2-2 tie. Ben Carey (2g, 1a) and Jordan Himley (1g, 2a) each had 3 point weekends. Matt Serratore had 2 goals. Shane Starrett was pulled late in the second period Friday, but bounced back for the win Saturday.

ROAD TO REVOLUTION
This week's episode shows the physical weekend series with Army West Point triggers a stretch run mentality, heading into a battle of #1 vs. #2 at Air Force. Featuring interviews with Timmy Moore, Alex Bontje and Alex Dagnal.



FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Colonials have 38 first period goals in 30 games, third most in college hockey behind Providence & Boston College. RMU is also sixth 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, tied for second in NCAA. 15 of those 33 "first 5:00" goals have been power play goals, #1 in the nation.

ALL THEY DO IS WIN
The class of 2016 is the winningest class in RMU history, currently with 81 victories, surpassing the class of 2015's record of 80.

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 42 goals and a total of 82 points this season. Lynch has scored in 28 of 30 games and Gibson in 24 of 30 games, with the Colonials going 1-3-2 when Gibson does not record a point and winless when Lynch doesn't score.

BIG THREE
Three of the top ten scorers in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials: Lynch (1st, 42 points), Gibson (T-2nd, 40 points), Denham (9th, 31 points). In addition, David Friedmann is 10th (27 pts), Matt Cope 16th (24 pts) and Brady Ferguson 20th (23).

POWER UP
RMU's power play is number four in the nation, converting 28% 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 (37). Ten players have power play goals; Brandon Denham has 8, 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.

SAVING THE DAY
Terry Shafer climbed one rung up the ladder in the RMU record book, surpassing Eric Levine '12 (2181) for 3rd all-time in career saves, now at 2,207. Shafer took third with 40 saves against Army on February 13, recording his 4th shutout of the season, incresing his RMU record with 8 for his career. Shafer is two wins shy of tying Brooks Ostergard '11 for 2nd most wins (39) and five away from tying Christian Boucher '07 (42). Colonials goaltenders have combined for five shutouts so far this season.

WALL OF DEFENSE
The Colonials are second in the nation in blocked shots with 520 blocks and blocks per game (17.33). RMU has registered 20 or more blocks in 10 of its' 30 games and the team is 7-1-2 when blocking 20 or more shots. Rob Mann is 5th in the nation in blocks with 75 blocks in 28 games played, fourth in blocks per game (2.68). Mann is 1st in the conference in blocks & in b/pg, with three others Colonials also in the top eight in Atlantic Hockey: Eric Israel (6th with 50 blocks, 5th in b/pg with 1.92), Tyson Wilson (7th with 49 blocks, 8th in b/pg  with 1.69) Chase Golightly (8th with 48 blocks, 11th in b/pg with 1.64)

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Wilson is the second-highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 21 points (2 G, 19 A), tied for 11th most points by a defenseman nationally, tied for 2nd in assists by a defenseman. Golightly is the third-highest scoring defenseman in the conference with 20 points (4 G, 16 A), 14th nationally. Wilson & Golightly are 7th & 9th in scoring by NCAA free agent defenseman.

GO SHORTY
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 5th-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 1st in points (143), 5th in goals (62), 4th in assists (81), 13th in power play goals (17), T-35th with 7 game-winning goals.
Greg Gibson is 6th in goals (59), 25th in points (106), T-48th in power play goals (10) and T-17th in game-winning goals (9).
David Friedmann is 47th in points (88), 53rd in goals (34), 42nd in assists (54) and 17th in GWG (9).
Brandon Denham is 49th in points (87), 40th in goals (39), T-48th in power play goals (10) also tied for 35th in GWG (7).
Tyson Wilson is 24th in career assists with 62.

THAT'S A PLUS
Five of the top 10 +/- leaders in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials. 1st is Tyson Wilson (+27), 2nd Zac Lynch (+20), 3rd Greg Gibson and Matt Cope (+18), 5th Eric Israel (+15). Wilson is 4th nationally, first among all 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).