Men's Hockey | 2/28/2019 9:00:00 AM

PITTSBURGH -- With Atlantic Hockey postseason positioning and venue still up for grabs, Robert Morris ends its 15th regular season with a home-and-home against Mercyhurst. 

The 10th-place Colonials cannot catch the seventh-place Lakers no matter what, but they can rise as high as eighth, which would ensure they'd open the playoffs at home for the ninth consecutive season. RMU needs to earn at least three points in the standings to have a shot at hosting a first-round series. (For more playoff contingencies, check out this week's Press Box Blog.)

COLONIAL HOCKEY PREVIEW
ROBERT MORRIS (10-20-2, 9-15-2 AHA - 10th)
at/vs. MERCYHURST (13-16-5, 11-11-4 AHA - 7th)

Friday, March 1 at 7:05 p.m.
Mercyhurst Ice Center, Erie, Pa.
LIVE VIDEO via Stretch Internet ($) 
LIVE AUDIO via Facebook Live
LIVE STATS via Sidearm

Saturday, March 2 at 7:05 p.m.
RMU Island Sports Center
LIVE VIDEO via Stretch Internet ($) 
LIVE AUDIO via ESPN Pittsburgh
LIVE STATS via Sidearm

LAST TIME OUT
The Colonials put themselves in position to make a move up the standings last weekend at R.I.T., as they were even with the third-place Tigers in the final 10 minutes of both games. However, they had to settle for a loss and a tie in suburban Rochester. Freshman Justin Addamo snapped a 17-game goal drought with a tally in each game, while junior Luke Lynch earned three assists.

HISTORY LESSON
RMU swept MU in a two-game home-and-home set back in November, still the only time this season the Colonials have earned four points in a single weekend. The second of those games, a 7-1 RMU win in Erie, is the Colonials' largest margin of victory this season. The visitors triggered the rout with a four-goal output from the power play, with Addamo netting a pair.

Since joining the AHA for the 2010-11 season, RMU has hosted at least one playoff game every March, starting with a preliminary-round play-in game against eight years ago. The Colonials have earned three bye weeks over that span as well, but they are mathematically eliminated from that possibility after last weekend's results. RMU could still face five possible opponents in the first round.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Although Mercyhurst started the month of February with a home win over Canisius, the Lakers list into March on a five-game winless streak, tying three games over that span. The downturn has likely cost 'Hurst a first-round playoff bye, but it needs to earn just one point in its final two games to secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the AHA playoffs.

Mercyhurst held its own in a tight two-game home set against Air Force last weekend, but it squandered a third-period lead in a 3-3 Friday tie, followed by a 4-2 loss. Senior Josh Lammon kept up his recent scoring pace, accounting for a goal and three assists. Junior D-man Joseph Duszak rose to second in the nation in scoring, netting a goal and an assist to raise his total to 43 points.

FACT OF NOTE
RMU's five-man Class of 2019 -- Brandon Watt, Alex Tonge, Eric Israel, Kyle Horsman and Michael Louria -- have participated in 74 wins to date, including three consecutive appearances in the AHA championship game.

TALE OF THE TAPE















THEY SAID IT
"Some of the bounces aren't going our way, but we're just going to battle through it and hopefully they start going our way come postseason." - Tonge on the team's struggle to string together results lately



"We've just got to go out and play. Obviously, we'll keep an eye on it, but we put ourselves in this position. We want to make sure we do the best we possibly can." - Derek Schooley on the Colonials' playoff positioning



KNOW BOBBY MO
• Tonge is the 11th Colonial to reach 100 points for his NCAA career. With 128 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 Francis 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 (2.58), 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.

• Thirty-one of RMU's 80 goals have been scored by underclassmen, with 24 of those scored by freshmen. Six of the Colonials' 10 freshmen skaters -- 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. Addamo, 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, Lynch, Spellacy and Michael Coyne are 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 nine times in their first 34 games, they are 5-3-1 in those games. Otherwise, RMU has five wins and a tie (5-17-1) 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 1-20-1 in such situations, although they rallied from two goals down in the first to beat Holy Cross on Feb. 15.

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 241-245-63 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.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF HOCKEY
Twelve years ago, a determined Colonials team skated into South Bend, Indiana, seeking revenge against No. 2 Notre Dame. The result that day ranks as No. 4 on our greatest 15 games countdown:



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 open their ninth Atlantic Hockey postseason with a first-round three-game series next Friday, with site and opponent to be determined.