Men's Hockey | 1/10/2020 9:04:00 AM

PITTSBURGH – Returning from its longest winter break in program history, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team faces strong opposition this Saturday when it welcomes No. 6 Penn State in its annual showcase at PPG Paints Arena. This marks the 10th straight season the Colonials will play at the NHL facility.

ROBERT MORRIS (7-8-3, 7-5-3 AHA / 4th) 
vs. #6 PENN STATE (15-6-0, 8-4-0 B1G / 1st)

Saturday, Jan. 11 at 7:05 p.m.
PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh
TICKETS via Ticketmaster

RADIO on ESPN Pittsburgh
with Tim Benz & Mike Prisuta
STATS via RMUColonials.com
VIDEO via FloHockey ($)

CATCHING UP
The Colonials haven't taken the ice for an NCAA Division I game since Jan. 14-15 against Army West Point. That weekend, RMU went 0-1-1 against the Black Knights at the Island Sports Center, including a 1-1 tie in the rematch that went down as the first shootout in the 16-year history of the program. (The Colonials fell in the tiebreaker, 1-0.)

Junior defender Nick Jenny scored the lone goal of the series for the Colonials, who stand in fourth place in the 11-team Atlantic Hockey Association as the second half of the season begins. Playing against Army in place of injured starting goalie Justin Kapelmaster, junior Dyllan Lubbesmeyer performed well, stopping 81 of 85 shots across his first two NCAA starts.

Last weekend, the Colonials faced Ontario Tech in an exhibition game at historic War Memorial in Johnstown, Pa. Aidan Spellacy and Darcy Walsh scored goals in a 4-2 setback to the Ridgebacks.

HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials and Penn State have played 11 times since the advent of the Nittany Lions' D-I program in 2012-13, with RMU holding a 3-2 mark in games played at PPG Paints Arena, the home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. However, after losing four of the first six matchups with RMU, the Lions have taken the past five since the rivalry was renewed in 2017-18.

This season, RMU fell 2-1 to Penn State up in State College, Pa., on Oct. 25. In the Colonials' third game ever at Pegula Ice Arena, sophomore Grant Hebert scored early in the second period to tie the game, but Kapelmaster's 34 saves weren't enough to prevent the defeat. Brandon Biro netted the third-period winner for the Lions, who killed all four RMU power plays.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Starting with a 3-1 win at Big Ten rival Michigan on Dec. 7, Penn State has rattled off four wins in its past five games, climbing to a USCHO.com national ranking of No. 6. The Lions returned to the ice last weekend following winter break, scoring a two-game sweep of Atlantic Hockey foe Niagara in State College, outscoring the Purple Eagles 5-2.

The Lions have seven NHL draft picks on their roster -- including Penguins picks Nikita Pavlychev and Clayton Phillips -- and they continue to be one of the most potent offenses in Division I, ranking third in the nation at 3.9 goals per game. They've also dropped their goals-against average from last year by more than a full goal, to 2.3. Senior goalie Peyton Jones has a career-best .924 save percentage.

KNOW BOBBY MO 
• The Colonials' penalty kill has shined this season, currently ranking 11th of 60 Division I teams with an 86.2 percent success rate. RMU has blanked the opposing power play in 10 of its 18 games to date, including a stretch of three consecutive goose eggs from Nov. 22-30. Among Atlantic Hockey teams, only Army and American International have better PK rates than RMU.

• Senior transfer Kapelmaster has been a revelation in his first 15 RMU games, boasting a .941 save percentage that ranks third among Division I starting goalies. Making his start even more impressive is that he's faced the 17th-most shots in the nation (526). Formerly of Ferris State University, Kapelmaster has played 60 NCAA games, with a career .925 SV% that's 13th among actives.

• RMU started its Atlantic Hockey schedule with seven regulation wins in its first 11 games, the third time the program accomplished that feat. The only teams in Colonials hockey history to begin with better 11-game league records than this year's 7-2-2 start were the 2014-15 and 2015-16 editions, both of which started 7-1-3 en route to regular-season championships.

• SJunior co-captain Nick Prkusic (pictured above) leads the Colonials in goals (five) and total points (12) and is nearly halfway to last year's total of 25. Sophomore Justin Addamo is next with 10 points after scoring 15 as a freshman. Senior Coleman and sophomore Aidan Spellacy have nine points each, and both are close to setting new single-season bests with two months to play.

• The Colonials return 19 players from last year's squad, 10 of those sophomores. The leading returning scorer is Pittsburgh native Luke Lynch, whose 94 career points rank 13th in program history. Lynch shares the captaincy with fellow senior Daniel Mantenuto and junior Prkusic, marking the first time in more than a decade that three Colonials have worn the 'C.'

• Six freshmen join from across the hockey world, from western Canadians Garrett Clegg (Alberta) and Bradley Stonnell (British Columbia), to Ontario-born Darcy Walsh and Cameron Hebert, to Finnish forward Santeri Hartikainen, to Pittsburgh's own Roman Kraemer. Five of the six has played in at least 12 games and all have at least one point; Hartikainen leads the way with five (2g, 3a).

• RMU sports 16 underclassmen on the roster, the fifth-most in D-I. Winger Nick Lalonde led all freshman scorers last year with 16 total points, while Addamo paced 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) got plenty of experience.

• 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 before developing his talent at the Predators and Penguins Elite club programs. Kraemer co-starred with Cam Hebert in Johnstown, Pa., with the NAHL's Tomahawks.

• In addition to the 28-game AHA slate, the Colonials' six non-league games will be highlighted by another home-and-home against Penn State, with RMU hosting the 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.

• According to a preseason coaches' poll, the Colonials were picked to finish seventh in the 11-team AHA. 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.

• Familiar faces return behind the bench, led by Derek Schooley, the only head coach the program has known. Michael Gershon is back for his fourth as an assistant, while former RMU leading scorer Ryan Cruthers '08 re-joins the team as an assistant following head coaching 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 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 an NCAA men's hockey team, regardless of division.

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)
Brendon Michaelian – Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 12)

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 will leap back into Atlantic Hockey action next week in a big way, as they'll take on in-state foe Mercyhurst three times in five days. The set starts Tuesday night in Erie, Pa., at 7:05 p.m., followed by another game there Friday, Jan. 17. The series ends next Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7:05 p.m. at the RMU Island Sports Center.