Men's Hockey | 1/17/2019 10:05:00 AM

PITTSBURGH -- The Robert Morris University men's hockey team enters a particularly challenging stretch of the season this weekend, traveling to Buffalo, New York, for a two-game series against Atlantic Hockey foe Canisius.

After dropping a pair to Bentley on Neville Island, RMU is looking for its first win since Dec. 30, a 3-1 victory at American International in Springfield, Massachusetts. While Pittsburgh ice hasn't been kind lately, the Colonials have won three of their past five on the road, including triumphs at Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst during the fall semester.

This will be RMU's only two games against Canisius this regular season. The Golden Griffins have experienced a mixed bag since the holiday break, sweeping No. 14 North Dakota in a two-game set and tying No. 13 Union on the road, but also getting swept by Mercyhurst in a home-and-home last weekend.

COLONIAL HOCKEY PREVIEW
ROBERT MORRIS (8-13-1, 7-8-1 AHA - 7th)
at CANISIUS (8-11-2, 5-9-1 AHA - T-9th)

Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:35 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 19 at 4:35 p.m.
@ HarborCenter, Buffalo, N.Y.

AUDIO via Facebook Live
VIDEO via Stretch Internet ($) 
LIVE STATS via Sidearm

LAST TIME OUT
The Colonials were swept in an AHA series for the first time this season, falling to Bentley by a 5-1 score Saturday evening. Sophomore defenseman Nick Jenny scored a goal for the second consecutive game, but RMU allowed five goals for the fourth straight outing. Freshman Nick Lalonde earned an assist; his four-game point streak is RMU's second-longest of the season behind Alex Tonge's six-game run in the fall.

HISTORY LESSON
RMU has played a two-game set at Canisius in each of the past three seasons, going 2-3-1 in Buffalo over that stretch. In the program's most recent trip to the HarborCenter facility, senior winger Michael Louria scored a goal in each game as the Colonials split a pair in October 2017.

All-time, the Colonials have a 17-9-3 mark against the Golden Griffins, including 2-0 in the AHA playoffs. RMU's most significant victory in 15 years of Division I hockey came against Canisius, a 7-4 result in the 2014 AHA title game. The Colonials also went through the Griffins in the 2017 AHA semifinal round, trouncing the nation's 20th-ranked team 6-2 in Rochester, New York.
 
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Canisius sits in 10th place in Atlantic Hockey, but due to the bunched nature of the current standings, the Griffs are just six points out of fifth place. (The top five seeds in the AHA receive a first-round playoff bye.) That fact won't take the sting out of last weekend's two losses to Mercyhurst, especially Saturday's defeat, when Canisius scored the first two goals before falling 6-2. Senior forward and leading scorer Dylan McLaughlin stayed on track, though, scoring a goal in each game against the Lakers.

Canisius was an original founding member of Atlantic Hockey in 2003, but didn't collect a league title until 2013, when the Griffs claimed the AHA tournament for the first and only time to date. Canisius also won the AHA regular-season crown in 2016-17, then followed that up with a second-place finish last season, Trevor Large's first behind the bench as head coach.

TALE OF THE TAPE













THEY SAID IT
"We've built our reputation this season on being good in our own end. I have confidence we can get back to it." - Associate head coach Kody Van Rentergem

  

"That's my game. I don't do it because I have to. I do it because I love hitting people and getting in the tough area in front of the net. I really enjoy this." - Freshman winger Justin Addamo

   

KNOW BOBBY MO
• Twenty-two of RMU's 54 goals have been scored by underclassmen, with 15 of those scored by freshmen. Six of the Colonials' 10 freshmen skaters -- Justin Addamo, Geoff Lawson, Nick Lalonde, Aidan Spellacy, Grant Hebert and Kip Hoffmann -- have scored their first NCAA goals, while eight of 10 have at least a point. Also, Hebert and sophomore Nick Prkusic have five goals each, tying them for third on the team.

• Penalty killing has been a strong suit of RMU all season, with a conversion rate that's held steady in the top third of Division I since Day 1. The Colonials have allowed just nine power-play goals over their past 16 games, and they've shut out the opposing man-advantage unit in 11 of 22 games overall. With an 85 percent kill rate, RMU currently ranks 16th out of 60 in D-I and second in Atlantic Hockey.

• Don't miss the opening minutes of an RMU game, because so often this season the tide has turned at the start. While the Colonials have scored the first goal just six times in their first 22 games, they are 4-2 in those games. Otherwise, RMU has four wins and a tie (4-11-1) in the 16 times they've conceded the game's first tally

• Senior defenseman Eric Israel continues to be among the most dangerous blue-line playmakers in the nation. With 77 points in his career, Israel ranks eighth among active Division I defenders. The Michigander is also eighth among his blueline peers in career assists (60) and ranks 15th in career goals (17). Also, his 11 power-play goals at Robert Morris place him seventh among nationwide D-men.

• Starting with a home-and-home split with No. 20 Bowling Green, the Colonials have collected at least one win in seven of 11 weekends so far. However, they've only been able to sweep one opponent in a two-game set, that being Mercyhurst on Nov. 23-24. All told, they've split six of 10 weekend series, not counting the Three Rivers Classic.

• Junior goalie Francis Marotte has made quite the impact in two-plus years at Robert Morris. Entering the weekend, the reigning AHA Goalie of the Month has the Colonials' all-time best goals-against average (2.55), along with the fourth-best save percentage (.917), second-most shutouts (7) and second-most wins (42). He's one win from tying Terry Shafer '16 for the most in RMU history and one shutout from matching Shafer.

• Senior winger Alex Tonge is the 11th Colonial to reach 100 points for his NCAA career. Tonge, who has 118 points entering the weekend, has risen to sixth place on RMU's all-time scoring list. Tonge has passed Greg Gibson '16, Denny Urban '11, David Friedmann '16, Scott Jacklin '15 and Daniel Leavens '17 this season. Tonge is currently the No. 8 active scorer in NCAA Division I.

• After going their first nine games without a shorthanded goal, the Colonials have scored four in their past 13. Lynch has two of those, giving him five for his career; that's the third-most among active Division I players. Daniel Mantenuto netted his first career shorty Nov. 23 at Mercyhurst; Moon Township's Jacob Coleman added one Dec. 29 at American International.

• The Colonials have come up aces at the faceoff dot, and it's been a team effort. RMU ranks eighth in the country in faceoff win rate at 53.6 percent, with five of the its six qualifying centers converting at a rate of 53 percent or better. Mantenuto, Hebert, Michael Coyne, Lynch and Spellacy are all above that line individually.

SCHOOLEY FILE
The only head coach in program history, Derek Schooley is in his 15th season behind the RMU bench. Under his guidance, the Colonials carry an overall record of 239-238-62 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.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF HOCKEY
We celebrate our 15th season of Division I pucks with regular throwbacks to our 15 greatest moments. This week, we remember the win that keyed the Colonials' first-ever trophy, back in 2007 against a star-studded Boston University squad:



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 RMU Island Sports Center. 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
The Colonials will keep their bags packed next weekend, flying out to Colorado to face Air Force in a two-game Atlantic Hockey set. Faceoffs are scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern on Jan. 25 and 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 26.