Men's Hockey 2/26/2016 12:32:00 AM

Colonials Can Clinch Conference in Season Finale Series

RMU Celebrates nine seniors on Senior Night, Saturday prior to the game

Pittsburgh, Pa. -- Robert Morris University men's hockey can clinch the Atlantic Hockey conference regular season title by earning two points in this weekend's home-and-home series with Canisius. The regular season finale series starts in Buffalo on Friday night at 7:35pm and wraps in Pittsburgh where the Colonials will honor nine seniors on Senior Night, prior to the 7:05pm puck drop.

FRIDAY 7:35pm HarborCenter, Buffalo, NY
Stats | Radio | Video ($)
SATURDAY 7:05pm 84 Lumber Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
Stats | Radio | Video ($)
GAME NOTES RMU Notes (.pdf) | Canisius Notes (.pdf)

PLAYOFF PICTURE
Robert Morris (36 points) - Can finish between 1st and 4th
If the Colonials win one game or tie both games against Canisius this weekend, they are the regular season champions and the number one seed in the AHC Tournament. RMU holds the tiebreaker over Air Force & RIT regardless of point total, but only hold it over Holy Cross if RMU & Holy Cross are tied at 36 points.

SENIOR NIGHT
Saturday, prior to puck drop (approximately 6:45 pm), the Colonials will recognize the nine seniors that are the winningest class in program history, reaching the NCAA tournament as sophomores and winning a regular season Atlantic Hockey title in their junior campaign. Individually, these seniors are scattered across the record books, leaving a significant mark here at Robert Morris.
For more on the Colonials seniors, read the latest Prisuta on Pucks: Raising the Compete Level

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 three-point lead over second place Air Force, RIT and Holy Cross.
Robert Morris is the fourth highest goal-scoring team in the NCAA, netting 127 goals, fourth in goals/pg (3.97) and fourth in points (316) behind #3 St. Cloud State, #5 Michigan, #4 Boston College. The Colonials goal margin is 41, 1.28 g/pg above opponents
The Colonials are tied for 7th most wins in NCAA hockey with 19, tied for tenth in win percentage .656
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 CANISIUS
The Griffs are in sixth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings after being swept last weekend by Sacred Heart.
Shane Conacher leads the team with 40 points, 19 goals and 21 assists, while Ralph Cuddemi is a close second with 35 points.
Rookie Simon Hofley has started the last 13 games and in 18 starts overall, he has a 2.54 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
Cuddemi is within striking distance of the program's Division I goals record, scoring 59 times during his career, just three shy of the record of 62, held by Cory Conacher (2007-11).
Rookie defender Jimmy Mazza has a point in each of his last four games with five points on two goals and three assists.
The Griffs own an 8-6-2 record(.563 winning percentage) against the top seven teams in the AHC standings
Canisius averages 26.2 shots per game to the Colonials 35.
Special teams haven't been the Griffins' strength, with a power play converting 11.6 percent and 77.3 percent on the penalty kill.

SERIES HISTORY
Robert Morris holds a 13-7-2 advantage in the all-time series with the Griffs. The December series between schools resulted in big wins for each team in its' home rink. Robert Morris opened the series with a 6-0 victory before Canisius earned a 6-2 win at the HarborCenter. The home team has dominated the series with the road team only recording two wins in each of the 16 meetings since the Colonials joined AHC.

ROAD TO REVOLUTION
This week's all-access episode "Finish Strong" recaps the Colonials trip to Air Force and previews the regular season finale.

NOMINATED
Friday afternoon, Terry Shafer was announced as one of 20 nominees for the Mike Richter Award, presented to the nation's most outstanding goaltenders.
Complete list of nominees

ALL THEY DO IS WIN
The class of 2016 is the winningest class in RMU history, currently with 82 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 44 goals and a total of 84 points this season. Lynch has scored in 29 of 32 games and Gibson in 25 of 32 games, with the Colonials going 1-4-2 when Gibson does not record a point and winless (0-3) when Lynch doesn't score.

BIG THREE
Three of the top ten scorers in Atlantic Hockey are Colonials: Lynch (1st, 43 points), Gibson (2nd, 41 points), Denham (9th, 34 points). In addition, David Friedmann is 11th (29 pts), Dan Leavens, Brady Ferguson & Matt Cope tied for 18th (25 pts).

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Colonials have 41 first period goals in 32 games, 2nd in college hockey behind Providence & Boston College. 14 of those came on the power play, 6 of those goals were unassisted. RMU is fourth in the nation in second period goals with 42 including 13 on the power play. Robert Morris has 36 goals in the first five minutes of a period, tied for second in NCAA. 15 of those 36 "first 5:00" goals have been power play goals, #1 in the nation. RMU has 16 goals in the first five minutes of second periods.

POWER UP
RMU's power play is third in the nation, converting 27.7% 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. The Colonials got back on track with two power play goals in nine attempts at Air Force.

SQUAD (POWER PLAY) GOALS
The Colonials have more power play goals than any other team (39) and leads the nation with 111 power play points. Ten players have power play goals; Brandon Denham has 8 (tied for 2nd in NCAA), Brady Ferguson, Greg Gibson and Dan Leavens each have 6, Zac Lynch and Matt Cope have 4, Chase Golightly 2, Spencer Dorowicz, David Friedmann & Tyson Wilson each have one. Denham has 15 power play points, while Friedmann has 14 (13 are assists, 2nd in the conference).

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 2,252. 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 one win shy of tying Brooks Ostergard '11 for 2nd most wins (39) and four 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 563 blocks and blocks per game (17.33). RMU has registered 20 or more blocks in 11 of its' 32 games and the team is 8-1-2 when blocking 20 or more shots. Rob Mann is 5th in the nation in blocks with 78 blocks in 30 games played, 5th in blocks per game (2.60). Mann is 1st in the conference in blocks & in b/pg, with three others Colonials also in the top seven in Atlantic Hockey: Eric Israel (4th with 55 blocks, 4th in b/pg with 1.96), Tyson Wilson (7th with 52 blocks, 8th in b/pg with 1.68) Chase Golightly (7th with 52 blocks, 11th in b/pg with 1.62)

OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Wilson and Golightly are tied as the second-highest scoring defensemen in the conference with 21 points apiece, tied for 13th most points by defensemen nationally. Wilson is tied for 3rd in NCAA in assists by a defenseman (2G, 19A). Wilson & Golightly are tied for 8th in scoring among free agent defenseman.

GO SHORTY
Zac Lynch leads the nation in shorthanded goals, adding one to his highlight reel last weekend at Air Force. In the month of November, Lynch put together a streak of four consecutive games with SHG, an NCAA record. Lynch leads all active college hockey players with 13 career shorthanded goals, an RMU record. RMU is 2nd in SHG this season with 8 (7 Lynch, 1 Gibson).

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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.

#5 Evan Moore: D; 5' 11"; Senior; Sr.

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

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

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

#5 Evan Moore
: 5' 11"; Senior; Sr.
: D

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

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