Men's Hockey | 12/28/2018 10:15:00 AM

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Returning from a three-week semester break, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team steps back onto game ice this weekend with two games at Atlantic Hockey opponent American International.

Having given up just seven goals in their past six games -- four of them wins -- the Colonials will play 13 of their final 18 regular-season games away from the RMU Island Sports Center. That streak begins Saturday, when RMU will challenge a Yellow Jackets side that's won four in a row to rise to a second-place tie in the AHA standings.

ROBERT MORRIS (7-8-1, 6-5-1 AHA)
at AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL (7-7-1, 7-4-1 AHA)

Saturday, Dec. 29 (7:05 p.m.) & Sunday, Dec. 30 (3:05)
MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
AUDIO | VIDEO ($) | LIVE STATS

LAST TIME OUT
In its final game before the break, RMU suffered its second shutout defeat of the season, falling 2-0 to Holy Cross on Dec. 8 to split the series with the Crusaders. Junior goalie Francis Marotte continued his sparkling form despite the defeat, allowing two or fewer goals for the 11th time in 16 starts and the sixth game in a row. The Colonials have split five of their first eight series of the season.

HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials have an all-time record of 19-5-3 against the Yellow Jackets, with all but four of those 27 matchups occurring in the AHA. Last year, RMU played a road series against American International for the first time in four years, splitting a pair at the MassMutual Center. Overall, the Colonials are on a 11-2-2 run against the Jackets dating back to the 2012-13 season.
 
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Not only did the Yellow Jackets surge into the break with four consecutive wins -- the last two coming against Holy Cross -- they also boast the best home record in the AHA, at 4-1-1. Their only loss on home ice this season was to current No. 5 Quinnipiac back in late October. With 15 points in the standings, American International is tied with Niagara and Army for second, three back of Air Force.

AIC has sponsored men's varsity hockey since 1948, joining NCAA Division I in 1998. Last year's record of 15-20-4 was the program's best in 20 years of D-I play, and the Jackets' eighth-place finish in AHA matched their best ever. After taking over for the retired Gary Wright in 2016, third-year coach Eric Lang has a 30-47-13 record at his alma mater.

TALE OF THE TAPE













THEY SAID IT
"As long as (Marotte) is back there for us, we're pretty positive with him in net. Besides that, we're staying with our guys and not getting lost in the 'D' zone. It's working for us … now we have to capitalize on our offense and get more goals." -- Sophomore defenseman Nick Jenny on the team's defensive success in league play

"We're accustomed to being a high-flying, wide-open, goal-scoring team, but we found that we're a tight-checking (team) that's giving up very few goals. ... Every team's different, but we've got to produce a little more offense." - Head coach Derek Schooley on the nature of this year's team

KNOW BOBBY MO
• Marotte has made quite the impact in two-plus years at Robert Morris, as he holds down lofty positions in the program's record books. Entering the weekend, the junior Mike Richter Award nominee has the Colonials' all-time best goals-against average (2.42), their second-best save percentage (.921), the second-most shutouts (7) and the third-most wins (41). He's two wins from tying Terry Shafer '16 for the most in RMU history and one shutout from matching Shafer's mark.

• Senior winger Alex Tonge is the 11th Colonial to reach 100 points for his NCAA career. Tonge, who has 114 points entering the weekend, has risen to No. 7 on RMU's all-time scoring list. Tonge has passed Denny Urban '11, David Friedmann '16, Scott Jacklin '15 and Daniel Leavens '17 this season. Tonge is currently three points short of Greg Gibson '16 for sixth.

• Fifteen of RMU's 39 goals have been scored by underclassmen, with six freshmen netting their first NCAA goals so far: Justin Addamo, Geoff Lawson, Nick Lalonde, Aidan Spellacy, Grant Hebert and Kip Hoffmann. Sophomore Nick Prkusic has four goals, tying him with Addamo and junior Luke Lynch for the second-most on the team. Plus, eight of the 10 freshman skaters have at least one point.

• With his overtime goal Dec. 1 at Sacred Heart, Louria moved into a first-place tie among active Division I players with three career sudden-death strikes. The win over the Pioneers also marked the only time so far this season RMU has won after trailing through two periods. They are 1-8-1 in such situations, with the only other point gained Oct. 19 in a tie with Army.

• After going the first nine games of the season without a shorthanded goal, the Colonials have scored three in their past seven games. Lynch has two of those, giving him five for his career; that's the third-most among active Division I players. Classmate Daniel Mantenuto tossed in his first career shorty on Nov. 23 at Mercyhurst.

A CLASSIC TWIST
Robert Morris will again host the annual Three Rivers Classic, with first-timers Brown, St. Cloud State and Union joining for the seventh edition of the holiday tournament Jan. 4-5. This year, the first day of the event will take place in Cranberry at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, with the championship and third-place games returning to PPG Paints Arena as usual. Read more about the event here, including how to buy single-day tickets!

SCHOOLEY FILE
The only head coach in program history, Derek Schooley returns for his 15th season behind the RMU bench. Under his guidance, the Colonials carry an overall record of 238-233-62 and a reputation for championship-level success in Division I men's hockey.

Schooley led the Colonials to back-to-back Atlantic Hockey regular season titles in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and a postseason AHA title/NCAA tournament berth in 2013-14. Over the past six seasons, Schooley's Colonials have averaged 21 wins per year and have consistently placed 20-plus student-athletes on AHA all-academic teams.

15 YEARS OF HOCKEY
We celebrate our 15th season of Division I pucks with regular throwbacks to our 15 greatest moments. The past two in the countdown involve our two most recent Three Rivers Classic victories.

Twin upsets of ranked teams in 2015:



Quinnipiac comeback in 2016:



ON THE AIR
For the sixth straight season, all Colonials home games will be broadcast locally on 970 ESPN, or online at espnpgh.com. Tim Benz (play-by-play) and Mike Prisuta (analysis) return as the broadcast duo at Colonials Arena. Additionally, Matt Gajtka will have an audio play-by-play call for select road games on Facebook Live, with the RMU men's hockey Facebook page hosting those.

NEXT UP
RMU teams with the NHL's Penguins in putting on the annual Three Rivers Classic. The Colonials will start their hunt for a fourth Confluence Cup against Brown on Friday, Jan. 4 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Faceoff is set for 8 p.m. from Cranberry.