Pittsburgh, Pa. - After a one-year hiatus, Robert Morris University men's hockey re-ignites its rivalry with in-state rival Penn State as the 18th-ranked Nittany Lions come to Pittsburgh to open a home-and-home series beginning at PPG Paints Arena on Friday night.

GAME INFORMATION - Robert Morris vs. #18 Penn State

Friday, December 8, 7:05pm at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Live Stats  |  ESPN Pittsburgh Radio  |  Live Video ($)  |  TICKETS

Saturday, December 9, 7:00pm at Pegula Ice Arena, University Park, Pa.
Live Stats  |  RMU Audio Stream  |  Live Video ($)


ROBERT MORRIS GAME NOTES (.pdf)
ALL-TIME SERIES vs. PENN STATE
Robert Morris leads the all-time series 4-2, with wins in each of the last two meetings, defeating ranked PSU squads. Five of the six meetings have come in Pittsburgh, four of those at what is now named PPG Paints Arena. Saturday's game will be the Colonials first at Pegula Ice Arena, second in University Park. RMU played at Penn State's Greenberg Ice Pavilion in the Lions inaugural Division I season in 2012.

LYNCH LIGHTS IT UP
Sophomore forward Luke Lynch has been lighting the lamp to the tune of 9 goals in 13 games and is RMU's goals leader.

POWER UP
Brady Ferguson leads the Colonials in power play scoring with all but 5 of his points coming on the man advantage. The senior forward has five goals and four assists on the power play (6G-6A-12P overall). Ferguson has also scored a shorthanded goal. The Colonials are tied for the league lead in power play goals with 17 (Mercyhurst, Bentley).

PACEMAKERS
Luke Lynch & Michael Louria lead the Colonials in scoring with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Louria is scoring at a point per game pace and has recorded at least a point in all but three contests this season (at OSU 10/27 at RIT 11/11, vs. AIC 11/17). Lynch is also scoring at a point per game pace this season and has gone just three games without a point (at Canisius 10/14, vs. OSU 10/28, at Bentley 11/24).

SCOROWICZ
Senior Spencer Dorowicz is well on his way to a single-season career-high in scoring (16 points in 2015-16, 2016-17), with 6 goals & 5 assists for 11 points thus far. Dorowicz has been one of the Colonials more consistent forwards & has three game-winning goals.

BLOCK PARTY
Senior defenseman Alex Bontje is second in Atlantic Hockey with 35 blocked shots at a rate of 2.33 blocks per game (T-11th in NCAA). Junior defenseman Eric Israel is fourth in the AHC with 28 blocks at 1.87 blocks per game.

ON SECOND THOUGHT
Robert Morris has scored 39% of its goals in the second period (16), 34.14% in the first (14) and 26.82% in the third (11).

SHOOT YOUR SHOT
Luke Lynch is ranked 7th in the NCAA in shooting percentage at .290 (9 goals, 31 shots on goal). Lynch averages 2.07 shots per game.

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
Brady Ferguson was invited to Pittsburgh Penguins development camp in the summer of 2017. Three members of the Nittany Lions also attended the camp: free agents Chase Berger and Andrew Sturtz, along with 7th round draft pick Nikita Pavlychev.

SHUTOUT SHOW
Francis Marotte recorded his fourth career shutout in RMU's 4-0 win over AIC on Nov. 18, putting him in sole possession of fourth all-time at RMU. The all-time record is eight, held by 2016 graduate Terry Shafer. (2nd Dalton Izyk, 6; 3rd Eric Levine, 5)

LYNCH'S LINING UP
Through 52 games, Luke Lynch has matched the scoring rate of his older brother, Robert Morris all-time scoring leader Zac Lynch '16.

ZAC LYNCH - Freshman Season (34 GP, 5G-9A-14P)  Through 52 career games (52 GP, 14G-20A-34P)
LUKE LYNCH - Freshman Season (37 GP, 9G-10A-19P) Through 52 career games (52 GP, 18G-17A-35P)

LONE STAR LEADING SCORER
Brady Ferguson is the NCAA's active career scoring leader. After posting the fifth-highest scoring NCAA men's hockey season in 2016-17 with 58 points, Ferguson is the lone returner out of that Top 5. The Carrollton, Texas native has six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 15 games this season.

NCAA Men's Hockey Active Career Points Leaders:
Brady Ferguson, Robert Morris – 132
Jake Evans, Notre Dame (MTL) – 120
Dylan Sikura, Northeastern (CHI) – 110
Jordan Gross, Notre Dame – 108
Dylan Gambrell, Denver (SJS) – 107  

50 MISSION CAP
Brady Ferguson reached a milestone in the season opener at Niagara, scoring a pair to reach the 50 career goal mark. Ferguson is just the fifth player in RMU history to reach 50 career goals.

RMU All-Time Goals Leaders
1. Cody Wydo, 85 - 2011-15
2. Zac Lynch, 67 - 2012-16
3. Greg Gibson, 66 - 2012-16
4. Chris Margott, 64 - 2005-09
5. Brady Ferguson, 54 - 2014-2018

CLASS ACT
Brady Ferguson has been named one of twenty candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, presented to a student-athlete who excels in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

RICHTER AWARD
Sophomore goaltender Francis Marotte has been named to the Mike Richter Award watch list, the award presented yearly to the player deemed the best goaltender in men's Division I college hockey.

412 CREW
The Colonials roster contains three players who call Pittsburgh home:
Jacob Coleman (Moon Township), Alex Dagnal (McMurray) and Luke Lynch (Shaler).

PENN STATE NOTES (.pdf)
Guy Gadowsky is in his 6th season at the Penn State helm, guiding the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten Tournament title a season ago. PSU returns to the rankings this week at #18 in the USCHO.com Poll, riding the nation's third longest unbeaten-streak, at 4-0-2 in its last six games.

LAST TIME OUT
Penn State earned a 1-0 shootout victory following a 5-5 tie on Friday night before shutting out #11 Ohio State 4-0 on Saturday.

STURTZ STARS
Junior forward Andrew Sturtz was named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week, after a two-goal, three-point weekend against No. 11 Ohio State. Sturtz currently leads the Lions with 10 goals and 22 points to rank first and second in the Big Ten. His goal and point totals also rank tied for ninth and third in the NCAA. Sturtz is riding a four-game point-streak (3-3-6) and has registered at least one point in 12 of his last 15 games.

PEYTON JONES' DIARY
After recording 23 wins as a freshman a season ago, Jones is back in command of the cage with an 8-5-1 record. Jones is coming off his first shutout of the season, recording an .892 save percentage and 3.08 goals against average in 15 games this season.

NOT THROWING AWAY HIS SHOT
Senior defenseman Trevor Hamilton is second on the Nittany Lions in scoring with 16 points on 3 goals and 13 assists.


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