Pittsburgh, Pa. - Robert Morris University men's hockey returns to the road with a weekend series against Atlantic Hockey conference opponent Holy Cross. The Colonials are fourth in the league standings, with just two points separating RMU (22 points) from Air Force & Canisius, tied for first (24 points). Holy Cross is seventh in the conference standings but trails Robert Morris by just four points.

Robert Morris is receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll along with conference foes Air Force and Army West Point. The Colonials are 21st in the USCHO.com PairWise rankings, used to mimic the criteria for assembling the at-large portion of the NCAA tournament field.

RMU has gone 6-3-1 in its last 10 games. Robert Morris comes into the series with the top 3 scorers in Atlantic Hockey in Brady Ferguson (14G-22A-36P), Daniel Leavens (9G-23A-32P) & Alex Tonge (13G-15A-28P). Freshman goaltender Francis Marotte is second in the nation in save percentage with a .943 mark. Eric Israel is the leading scoring defenseman in Atlantic Hockey (7G-15A-22P), tied for 4th among all NCAA defensemen.

GAME NOTES
Robert Morris (.pdf)  |  Holy Cross (.pdf)

GAME INFORMATION
Friday, January 27, 7:05pm, Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
LIVE STATS  |  LIVE VIDEO
Saturday, January 28, 7:05pm, Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
LIVE STATS  |  LIVE VIDEO

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SERIES HISTORY
The Colonials lead the all-time series with Holy Cross 7-4-1, dating back to when the series began with a 4-2 win for RMU on Nov. 5, 2010. Robert Morris has played eight of the 12 games in the series on the road at the Hart Center, holding a 5-2-1 road record versus the Crusaders. RMU and Holy Cross split last season's two-game series with the Colonials taking the opener 5-4 and the Crusaders winning 5-2 the next night. Robert Morris had won four straight games in the series leading up to that loss on Jan. 16, 2016.

POWER UP
RMU's power play is 6th in the nation & 1st in Atlantic Hockey (24.2 %). Robert Morris leads in the league in power play goals with 30, 3rd in the NCAA, and is averaging 1.25 PPG per game. RMU's 30 power play goals account for 40.0% of the team's goals.

FERGY FIREPOWER
Ferguson is 5th in the NCAA in power play goals with 8, 4th in power play points with 19. The Lewisville, TX native is two goals shy of tying the Colonials single-season record of 10 power play goals (Chris Margott - 10, 2008-09 season).

THE KILLERS
RMU's penalty kill is 26th in the nation at 84.0%. After allowing 10 power play goals in the first 4 games of the season, the Colonials have only allowed 10 power play goals since. RMU has successfully killed 89.5% of penalties in the last 20 games (85-for-95), second-best in the NCAA.

SECOND TO NONE
Robert Morris leads the nation in second period goals with 35 (tied with Denver). The Colonials average 1.46 goals per second period and have scored 46.7% of their total goals in the second frame.

TOP TRIOS (Most Points in NCAA)
113 – Zach Aston-Reese, Dylan Sikura, Adam Gaudette (Northeastern)
108 – Mike Vecchione, Spencer Foo, Sebastian Vidmar (Union)
 96  – Brady Ferguson, Alex Tonge, Daniel Leavens (Robert Morris)
 91  – Tyler Kelleher, Patrick Grasso, Matias Cleland (New Hampshire)

FRESHMAN FIRSTS
The latest freshman to record their first career point was Sean Giles. The defenseman from Colorado Springs picked up his first point on an assist in the Colonials win over Air Force last Saturday. Seven of the nine freshman have recorded points (Forwards: Coleman, Graham, Lynch, Mantenuto; Defenseman: Giles, Robert; Goaltender: Marotte)

FRANKY FACTS
Freshman goaltender Francis Marotte is 2nd in NCAA men's hockey with a .943 save percentage. Marotte held the number one save percentage nationally from December 1st through January 19th, keeping his mark between .943 and .950. During that stretch, Marotte posted a .951 sv% with a 1.61 GAA, going 6-1-1 with 2 shutouts.

MAMA SAID SHUT YOU OUT
Marotte has two shutouts in the last six games. Marotte earned his first career shutout vs. Ferris State on December 29th and picked up his second shutout January 6th vs. AIC.

NATION'S TOP TENDIES
Atlantic Hockey is stacked with the nation's top goaltenders. Canisius senior Charles Williams leads the nation with a .945 save percentage, while RMU's Marotte is 2nd (.943) and Army West Point's Parker Gahagen is 6th (.938). The same trio is ranked 5th-6th-7th in goals against average, Gahagen (1.77), Marotte (1.81), Williams (1.91). Only the WCHA also has three goalies in the top ten in save percentage, with only two in the top ten in GAA.

RETURN TO ACTION
Senior goaltender Dalton Izyk saw his first action since a November 5th injury against Ohio State, entering the game in relief of Marotte on Friday, January 20th vs. Air Force. Izyk played 34:56 allowing 2 goals and making 14 saves on 16 shots.


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