Men's Hockey | 2/21/2019 1:47:00 PM

HENRIETTA, N.Y. -- Having ended a five-game losing streak last weekend at Holy Cross, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team stays on the road this week, challenging third-place R.I.T.

This weekend will mark the third of four straight rematch series to close the regular season. The Colonials came up a goal shy of sweeping a two-game home set against the Tigers back in late October. With four games to play in the regular season, RMU needs to make up a two-point deficit to eighth-place Army West Point if it wants to host a first-round Atlantic Hockey playoff series. 

R.I.T. has stagnated this month after losing just once in their first eight games (5-1-2) of the spring semester. Following consecutive losses to independent Arizona State, the Tigers have split their past two AHA series, alternating wins and losses against Holy Cross and Sacred Heart on the road. Despite the inconsistency, R.I.T. is in position for the first-round playoff bye that goes to the top five AHA finishers.

COLONIAL HOCKEY PREVIEW
ROBERT MORRIS (10-19-1, 9-14-1 AHA - T-9th)
at R.I.T. (14-13-3, 12-9-3 AHA - T-3rd)

Friday, Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:05 p.m.
Gene Polisseni Center, Henrietta, N.Y.

LIVE VIDEO via Stretch Internet ($) 
LIVE STATS via Sidearm

LAST TIME OUT
Following their first multi-goal comeback win of 2018-19 last Friday at Holy Cross, the Colonials were shut out the next night for the third time this season. The result marked RMU's seventh 1-1 split in 12 AHA series. Despite the quiet end to an otherwise uplifting weekend, senior wing Alex Tonge picked up four points (1g, 3a) to claim AHA Player of the Week honors, and senior blueliner Eric Israel buried two goals.

HISTORY LESSON
With his 19-save victory last Friday, junior Francis Marotte became the all-time winningest goalie in program history, surpassing Terry Shafer '16 with his 44th 'W.' Also last weekend, Tonge became the sixth Colonial to reach 50 goals and Israel joined RMU Hall of Famer Denny Urban '11 as the only Colonial defensemen to reach the 20-goal plateau for a career.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
The Tigers wiped out Sacred Heart in the opener of last weekend's series at Sacred Heart, but the Pioneers nipped R.I.T. last Saturday in overtime. Will Calverley picked up two points in the 4-3 loss; his extra-attacker goal tied the game with 1:10 to go in regulation. Goalie Logan Drackett stopped 65 shots over the weekend, including a 39-save shutout in the series opener.

Back in October, R.I.T. snatched a split at the RMU Island Sports Center. After getting shut down by the Colonials and Marotte (28 saves) on Oct. 26, the Tigers rebounded with an overtime victory the next night. Gabe Valenzuela picked up the game-winning power-play goal with 23 seconds left in sudden death, giving him a two-point night. R.I.T. has won nine of the past 11 in the all-time series.

RANDOM FACT OF NOTE
RMU freshman defenseman Aidan Girduckis is the younger brother of Tigers senior Abbott Girduckis. Three Colonials in all have brothers playing in NCAA Division I hockey, as Tonge's younger sibling Colin plays for Princeton and Brendon Michaelian's twin Justin skates for Ferris State.

TALE OF THE TAPE














THEY SAID IT
"We hadn't been out-chancing teams lately, so to do it on back-to-back nights shows you how well we played." - Head coach Derek Schooley on why he liked the weekend at Holy Cross

  

"I think you learn every year. When you think you've gotten it figured out, you learn again. I've had ups and downs, but it's made me grow." - Marotte on what he's picked up during his junior season



KNOW BOBBY MO
• Senior winger Tonge is the 11th Colonial to reach 100 points for his NCAA career. With 127 points, he's 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.

• Junior goalie Marotte has made quite the impact in two-plus years at Robert Morris, already establishing himself as the winningest goalie in program history, with 44 NCAA victories to his name. Entering the weekend, the Montreal-area native also has the Colonials' all-time best goals-against average (2.57), along with the fifth-best save percentage (.916) and second-most shutouts (7), one behind Terry Shafer '16.

• Senior defenseman Israel continues to be among the most dangerous blue-line playmakers in the nation. With 84 points in his career, Israel ranks eighth among active Division I defenders. The Michigander is seventh among his blueline peers in career assists (64) and ranks 15th in career goals (20). He is the second RMU defenseman to reach 20 goals, trailing only RMU Hall of Famer Denny Urban '11, who had 28.

• Twenty-nine of RMU's 75 goals have been scored by underclassmen, with 21 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. Lalonde and sophomore Nick Prkusic have six goals each, tying them for third on the team.

• The Colonials have come up aces at the faceoff dot, and it's been a team effort. RMU ranks 11th in the country in faceoff win rate at 53 percent, with five of the its six qualifying players converting at a rate of 50 percent or better. Daniel Mantenuto, Hebert, Luke Lynch, Spellacy and Michael Coyneare all above that line individually.

• After going their first nine games of the season without a shorthanded goal, the Colonials have scored six since, the sixth-most in NCAA D-I. Lynch has two of those, giving him five for his career; that's the third-most among active Division I players. Mantenuto has his first two NCAA shorties this season, with Jacob Coleman and Israel accounting for the other two.

• Don't miss the opening minutes of an RMU game, because so often the tide has turned at the start. While the Colonials have scored the first goal just eight times in their first 30 games, they are 5-3 in those games. Otherwise, RMU has four wins and a tie (5-16-1) in the 22 times they've conceded the game's first tally.

• With his overtime goal Dec. 1, Mike Louria moved into a first-place tie among active Division I players with three career OT strikes. The win marked the only time so far this season RMU has prevailed after trailing through two. They are 1-19-1 in such situations, although they rallied from two goals down in the first to beat Holy Cross on Feb. 15.

• RMU's opening-night defeat of No. 20 Bowling Green marked the program's 22nd victory against ranked opponents in 56 tries. The 3-2 home win also ended a four-game losing streak versus ranked foes, giving the Colonials their first such victory on the Island since February 2013, when they downed No. 15 Niagara in overtime.

• Robert Morris welcomes 11 freshmen, making up the second-biggest first-year group in program history (12 - 2008-09). The last time RMU reached double digits in newcomers, with the 2012-13 team, that class of 10 went on to average 22 wins per season.

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 241-244-62 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.

HONOR ROLL
The Colonials have earned six Atlantic Hockey awards this season:
• Marotte (Goalie of Week - Nov. 19-25)
• Israel (Defensive Player of Week - Nov. 19-25)
• Israel (Defensive Player of Week - Dec. 24-30)
• Marotte (Goalie of Month - December)
• Lalonde (Rookie of Week - Jan. 14-20)
• Tonge (Player of Week - Feb. 10-16)

HALL PASS
Denny Urban '11 has become the third men's hockey player to be inducted into the Robert Morris Athletics Hall of Fame. Urban, who scored an incredible 112 points (28 goals, 84 assists) from the RMU blue line, joined Chris Margott '09 and Nathan Longpre '11 in achieving this prestigious all-sport honor.

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 wrap up their 15th Division I regular season with a home-and-home series against Mercyhurst. The weekend starts Friday night in Erie, Pa., then finishes Saturday, March 2, at the RMU Island Sports Center.