Pittsburgh, Pa. - Robert Morris University men's hockey will play a home-and-home series with Mercyhurst this weekend, traveling to face the Lakers in Erie, Pa. on Friday before returning home to celebrate Senior Night on Saturday.
The Class of 2017 seniors have 83 wins to their credit entering the weekend, needing only four wins to match the class of 2016's record-setting mark. The quartet of seniors --
Dalton Izyk,
Daniel Leavens,
Rob Mann and
Ben Robillard -- have won three Atlantic Hockey conference crowns (two regular season, one postseason) as well as a pair of Three Rivers Classic titles. The four seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday night.
Read more on the Colonials seniors in this week's
Prisuta on Pucks.
The Colonials are currently in fourth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings, with 27 points in 24 AHC games. Canisius and Air Force are vying for first and second place, while most of the rest of the conference finishes are up for grabs, with just five points separating third and eighth place.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday, February 17, 7:05pm
LIVE STATS |
VIDEO STREAM
Saturday, February 18, 7:05pm
LIVE STATS |
RADIO ESPN Pittsburgh |
VIDEO STREAM
PROMOTIONS
Saturday night, the first 800 fans receive a free Colonials mini hockey stick, presented by Peoples Natural Gas. Sign up in the arena to take the Clearview FCU Skill Shot Challenge for a chance to win $500. Last weekend, two fans each took home the $500 prize.
Saturday's game is a doubleheader with the nationally ranked #8 Colonials women's hockey team. The women play at 3:05pm prior to the men's contest. Tickets to each game sold separately.
TAKE IT OUTSIDE
Robert Morris will close the regular season with an outdoor game at Heinz Field against Niagara University at 7:05pm on Sunday, February 26. Admission to the game is free.
More information here.
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS
Lewisville, Texas native
Brady Ferguson is the NCAA's second highest junior in career scoring, behind only UMass Lowell's C.J. Smith. Ferguson ranks 6th in the NCAA in scoring this season with 45 points in 30 games.
TOP FORWARD TRIOS (Most Points in NCAA)
146 – Zach Aston-Reese, Dylan Sikura, Adam Gaudette (Northeastern)
134 – Mike Vecchione, Spencer Foo, Sebastian Vidmar (Union)
116 –
Brady Ferguson,
Alex Tonge,
Daniel Leavens (Robert Morris)
111 – Tyler Kelleher, Michael McNicholas, Jason Salvaggio (New Hampshire)
KEEPIN' IT 100
Junior forward
Brady Ferguson reached 100 career points in his 99th career game (Jan. 28 at Holy Cross), the fastest player to reach 100 points in RMU history (surpassing Chris Margott '09, 102 games played). Senior forward
Daniel Leavens is just five points shy of the 100 career points mark.
HE'S THE MANN
Senior defenseman
Rob Mann is 10th in the NCAA (1st in AHC), averaging 2.32 blocked shots per game, 8th among free agent defensemen. Mann is 12th (2nd in AHC) overall making 65 blocks in 28 games played.
THE KILLERS
RMU's penalty kill is 16th in the nation at 84.9%. After allowing 10 power play goals in the first 4 games of the season, the Colonials have only allowed 13 power play goals since. RMU has successfully killed 89.3% of penalties in the last 24 games (109-for-122), third-best in the NCAA. The Colonials have also tallied seven shorthanded goals, tied for fifth nationally.
MAMA SAID SHUT YOU OUT
Robert Morris is the first team since the 2011-12 season to have three goaltenders each record a shutout in a single season. Freshman
Francis Marotte posted two shutouts (Dec. 29 vs. Ferris State, Jan. 6 vs. AIC), junior
Andrew Pikul recorded his career first on November 26 vs. Dartmouth, and
Dalton Izyk made his 6th career shutout at Holy Cross Jan. 28. RMU is the 6th program since 2000 to have all three goalies record a shutout.
TOP TENDIES
Atlantic Hockey is stacked with the nation's top goaltenders. Canisius senior Charles Williams leads the nation with a .942 save percentage, while RMU's Marotte is 2nd (.939) and Army West Point's Parker Gahagen is 4th (.934). The same trio is 4th-5th-6th in goals against average, Marotte (1.90), Williams (1.92), Gahagen (1.92).
POWER UP...OR DOWN
RMU's power play is 7th in the nation & 1st in Atlantic Hockey (23.2 %). Robert Morris leads in the league in power play goals with 35, tied for 5th in the NCAA and average 1.17 PPG per game. RMU's 35 power play goals account for 39.3% of the team's goals. However, the Colonials have just one PPG in their last four games.
ONE-TWO PUNCH
Alex Tonge is tied for 6th in the NCAA in power play goals with 9, while Ferguson is tied for 9th with 8. Ferguson is also 4th nationally in power play points with 23 and Tonge is tied for 8th with 19 power play points. Tonge is one shy of tying the Colonials single-season record of 10 power play goals (Margott, 2008-09).
SECOND TO NONE
Robert Morris scores more goals in the second period than in the first or third, ranked 5th in the NCAA in second period goals with 38. The Colonials have scored 42.7% of their total goals in the second frame. RMU is tied for 3rd in goals scored when trailing (36).
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