PITTSBURGH – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team returns to action this weekend when they head back up north to Erie, Pa. for another meeting with Mercyhurst University before returning home for a home clash against the Lakers Saturday evening at the RMU Island Sports Center.
ROBERT MORRIS (8-9-3, 8-5-3 AHA / T-4th)
vs. MERCYHURST (4-15-1, 2-11-1 AHA / 11th)
Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:05 p.m.
MERCYHURST ICE CENTER
Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7:05
RMU ISLAND SPORTS CENTER
TICKETS via Ticketmaster
RADIO on ESPN Pittsburgh
with Tim Benz & Mike Prisuta
STATS via RMUColonials.com
VIDEO via FloHockey ($)
CATCHING UP
The Colonials have already done battle with Mercyhurst once this week, earning a 4-1 victory Tuesday evening at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in a game that was a scheduled make up game from November.
Freshman Roman Kraemer opened the scoring Tuesday, finishing off a beautiful end-to-end rush late in the first period to erase an early 1-0 deficit and tie things up at one before a pair of quick goals from Alex Robert and Jacob Coleman in the final minutes of the second increased the RMU lead to 3-1.
Luke Lynch added the empty netter to seal the win, capping off the second consecutive game in which RMU cracked the 40-shot threshold.
HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials and Mercyhurst have played 36 times in their history, with RMU holding a 15-12-9 overall mark in those games. RMU is undefeated in its last seven matchups against Mercyhurst with a 6-0-1 record dating back to their last loss on February 17, 2018.
Earlier this season, RMU earned an extra point in overtime against Mercyhurst on November 30 in a game that will officially go down as a 2-2 tie.
In the Colonials' first game of the season against the Lakers, they led 2-1 in the third before conceding a late equalizer to Khristian Acosta that sent the game to overtime before senior Michael Coyne eventually earned RMU the extra point with the 3-on-3 overtime winner. Coyne, Aidan Spellacy and Nolan Schaeffer all scored to help earn the win.
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
The Lakers are winless in their last ten contests since their last victory, a 4-3 overtime win over American International College back on November 16. The Lakers are 0-9-1 overall during that stretch.
Despite ranking third from the bottom in the AHA in total goals scored with 41, the Lakers lead the AHA in both total power-play goals with 27 in 20 games, as well as power play goals per-game at 1.35. Sophomore forward Steven Ipri leads Mercyhurst in both goals (9) and total points (17).
KNOW BOBBY MO
• The Colonials' penalty kill has shined this season, currently ranking 13th of 60 Division I teams with an 86.0 percent success rate. RMU has blanked the opposing power play in 11 of its 20 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 17 RMU games, boasting a .937 save percentage that ranks seventh among Division I starting goalies. Formerly of Ferris State University, Kapelmaster has played 64 NCAA games, with a career .922 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.
• Junior co-captain Nick Prkusic leads the Colonials in goals (five) and total points (13) and is over halfway to last year's total of 25. Sophomore Justin Addamo is next with 11 points after scoring 15 as a freshman. Senior Coleman is next at 10, and sophomore Aidan Spellacy has nine. 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 247-248-63 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 remain at home through the following weekend when they play host to American International College next Friday and Saturday night at the RMU Island Sports Center.
