Men's Hockey | 11/7/2019 2:53:00 PM

PITTSBURGH -- Off to its best four-game start in Atlantic Hockey play since 2014-15, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team challenges longtime rival Canisius in an old-fashioned home-and-home series, starting Friday in Buffalo and concluding Saturday at the RMU Island Sports Center.

ROBERT MORRIS (3-4-0, 3-1-0 AHA)
at CANISIUS (1-4-0, 0-0-0 AHA)
Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:35 p.m.
LECOM HarborCenter, Buffalo, N.Y.
LIVE VIDEO ($) | LIVE STATS 

vs. CANISIUS
Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:05 p.m.
RMU Island Sports Center
LIVE VIDEO ($) | LIVE STATS

PROMOTION
Saturday is Hockey For Heroes night at the Island, with active military, veterans and first responders getting free admission. Also, there will be a Skate With The Colonials event after the game. For more details on the evening's events, click here. 

CATCHING UP
Prior to taking last weekend off, the Colonials challenged No. 12 Penn State in State College, Pa., dropping a 2-1 final. Sophomore Grant Hebert scored his second goal of the season, tying him for the team lead, while senior goalie Justin Kapelmaster denied 34 shots to give the Colonials a chance to win at Pegula Ice Arena for the first time. 

At 3-1 in league and one point out of first place, the Colonials will now return to AHA play for six consecutive weekends, closing out the fall semester with Canisius, Bentley, Air Force, Mercyhust, Sacred Heart and Army, in that order. RMU's next trip out of conference will be a single game against Penn State on Saturday, Jan. 11 at PPG Paints Arena.

HISTORY LESSON
With 31 previous matchups against Canisius, the Golden Griffins are the Colonials' fourth-most-frequent opponent all-time. The teams split a pair last year in Buffalo, with RMU getting a 7-2 win in the opener before dropping the rematch 6-4. Then-sophomore Nick Prkusic led RMU with four points (1g, 3a) in the series, which was the Colonials' highest-scoring two-game set of the season.

Turning the calendar back 15 years, the first two games in the history of the RMU program were also a home-and-home against Canisius. The Colonials won their debut, 3-1 on the campus of Buffalo State University, before falling 5-4 on Neville Island the next night. Jeff Gilbert '08 scored two goals in the opener, while Brett Hopfe '08 netted RMU's first hat trick in the rematch.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Canisius makes its season debut in the AHA after an interesting opening month. The Griffins started with an intrasquad scrimmage, then traveled to North Dakota (two games) and RPI (one game) in the first two weeks of the regular season. An exhibition against the U.S. National Team Development Program followed, then Union visited Buffalo for a pair last weekend.

Although they earned their first win against the Dutchmen last Saturday by a 4-0 margin, head coach Trevor Large's Griffs have been outscored 23-7 at this early juncture. Junior foward Austin Alger leads Canisius in goals (two) and points (three), while sophomore goalie Matt Ladd (.843 SV%, 4.57 GAA) has seen the majority of the minutes between the pipes, including last weekend's shutout.

KNOW BOBBY MO
• Senior transfer Kapelmaster has been a revelation in his first six RMU games, boasting a .961 save percentage that ranks first among all qualifying Division I goalies. Starting with three seasons at Ferris State University in Michigan, Kapelmaster has 53 games of NCAA experience under his belt, with a career save percentage of .922 that ranks among the top 20 active D-I netminders.

• Due to the graduations of two of the program's top-20 scorers last spring, this year's team will need more varied offensive contributions. So far, so good, as 10 players have multiple points over the first seven games, led by sophomore Justin Addamo's six. Four Colonials have two goals apiece: Junior wing Nick Prkusic, junior defender Nick Jenny, sophomore center Aidan Spellacy and Grant Hebert.

• The Colonials return 19 players from last year's squad, 10 of those sophomores. The leading returning scorer is Pittsburgh native Luke Lynch, whose 90 career points rank 14th in program history. Lynch shares the captaincy with fellow senior Daniel Mantenuto (48 points in his first three years) and junior Prkusic (23 points as a sophomore), marking the first time in more than a decade that three players have worn the 'C.'

• RMU sports 16 underclassmen on the roster, the fifth-most in D-I. Winger Nick Lalonde led all freshman scorers with nine assists and 16 total points, while French-born Addamo led the class with eight goals. Spellacy (11 points) and Grant Hebert (10) also chimed in up front, while defenders Nolan Schaeffer (37 games), Brendon Michaelian (28) and Geoff Lawson (23) were no strangers to game action.

• In addition to the 28-game AHA slate, the Colonals' six non-league games will be highlighted by another home-and-home against Penn State, with RMU hosting the Big Ten's Nittany Lions at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, Jan. 11. Also, Robert Morris will travel to the Valley of the Sun to face Arizona State's fifth-year program on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. Both Penn State and Arizona State made the NCAA tournament last spring.

• Six freshmen highlight the team's developing recruiting base, from western Canadians Garrett Clegg (Alberta) and Bradley Stonnell (British Columbia), to Ontario-born Walsh and Hebert, to Finnish forward Santeri Hartikainen, to Pittsburgh's own Roman Kraemer. Each of the six has played in at least two games so far, and Hartikainen (goal) and Clegg (assist) have already recorded their first NCAA points.

• Led by seniors Lynch and Jacob Coleman (Moon Township), the Colonials continue to showcase local talent. Sophomore Aiden Beck (Coraopolis) returns, joined by freshman Kraemer, who played for Serra Catholic in McKeesport before developing his talent at the Predators and Penguins Elite club programs. Also, Kraemer co-starred with Cameron Hebert in Johnstown with the junior-level Tomahawks.

• Familiar faces return behind the bench, led by 16th-year bench boss Derek Schooley, the only head coach the program has known since its inception. Michael Gershon is back for his fourth as an assistant coach, while RMU captain and leading scorer Ryan Cruthers '08 re-joins the team as an assistant following stints in America's top two junior leagues. Cruthers' 1.26 points per game remains the best mark in RMU history.

• The Colonials have added two-time U.S. Olympian and former RMU women's hockey star Brianne McLaughlin-Bittle to the staff as a volunteer assistant. A Cleveland native, McLaughlin-Bittle runs her goaltending school and camps out of the RMU Island Sports Center and has been coaching at USA Hockey camps for multiple years. She is believed to be the first woman to coach with an NCAA men's hockey team.

• According to a preseason coaches poll, the Colonials were picked to finish seventh in the 11-team AHA, with defending regular-season champion American International receiving 10 of 11 first-place votes. RMU has finished fifth or better six times in nine previous AHA seasons, headlined by back-to-back banner years in 2014-15 and 2015-16. The top five teams at the end of the season receive first-round playoff byes.

• Two former Colonials have become high-level pro referees, with Brandon Blandina and Sewickley native Furman South both reaching the National Hockey League in recent seasons. South made his NHL officiating debut two seasons ago and has reached the 40-game plateau, while Blandina first stepped on NHL ice last spring. Both members of the Class of 2012 officiate American Hockey League games as well.

THE SCHOOLEY FILE
One of the longest-tenured coaches at RMU, Schooley is entering his 16th season at the Robert Morris helm in 2019-20, carrying an overall record of 247-247-63 into the season, plus a record of championship success in Division I men's hockey. The native of St. Louis 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 2014. In the seven-season span from 2012-19, Schooley's Colonials have averaged 20 wins per season and have consistently placed 20-plus student-athletes on the AHA All-Academic team.

Schooley has spent the past two decades coaching college players, starting with assistant roles at Cornell and the Air Force Academy. During his time at Robert Morris, Schooley has had 70 players go on to play professionally, from the AHL and ECHL to various leagues across Europe. Nine former Colonials have participated in NHL training camps, with the most recent being all-time top RMU scorer Brady Ferguson at the past two Toronto Maple Leafs camps. On top of that, 19 RMU alums have taken part in NHL development/rookie camps.

HONOR ROLL
The following players have been honored by Atlantic Hockey for their performance this season ...
Justin Kapelmaster - Goaltender of the Week (Oct. 15)

MARCH WITH THE COLONIALS
In addition to reports and videos on RMUColonials.com, check out Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for news and updates throughout the season.

NEXT UP
The Colonials travel east next weekend for a two-game set at frequent playoff foe Bentley on Nov. 15-16 in Waltham, Massachusetts.