PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team embarks on its 17th NCAA Division I season this weekend when it hosts non-conference foes Alabama-Huntsville for a pair of games at Clearview Arena on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. 

ROBERT MORRIS (0-0-0) vs. ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE (0-0-0)

Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 22 at 4:05 p.m.

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CATCHING UP

The Colonials won their tenth consecutive best-of-three playoff series last March after taking down Holy Cross in the AHA Tournament opening round for the fourth consecutive year despite a regular season marred by injuries up and down the RMU lineup. 

While their date with Sacred Heart in the second round was ultimately canceled before it could be played, the Colonials will have the chance this season to extend their streak of consecutive AHA Final-Four appearances to seven straight seasons, a run that includes a 2014 championship and NCAA tournament appearance. 

KNOW BOBBY MO

• The Colonials return 19 players from last year's squad in 2021, a unit that consists of three seniors, nine juniors, eight sophomores and eight true freshmen.  They retain two of their top three scorers from 2020, including senior winger Nick Prkusic who led the Colonials in both goals (11) and total points (28) as well as junior Justin Addamo whose 13 helpers were second-most on the team. 
• While over half the rosters is made up of underclassmen, seasons past suggest a possibly heavy workload for some of the Colonials newest players in their first season in Moon Township.  Current sophomores Santeri Hartikainen, Darcy Walsh, and Roman Kraemer each played in at least 30 games a year ago for RMU, while blueliners Tyler Love and Quinn Warmuth saw the ice in 18 of a possible 20 games after joining RMU in December from junior. Hartikainen led all freshmen in scoring in 2020 with ten points. 
• The Colonials were picked to finish sixth overall in the Atlantic Hockey Conference Preseason Coaches Poll in 2021.  RMU received one second-place vote as well as one fourth-place vote, tying them with Air Force for sixth in the polls with 49 points. 2020 regular season champs AIC took the top spot with seven first-place votes. They also received votes in the USCHO Preseason Poll as an honorable mention outside the Top-20. 
• Due to restrictions of the COVID-19 virus, Atlantic Hockey will be split into two pods for the 2021 campaign. Robert Morris will play in the newly-formed western pod, along with Canisius, Mercyhurst, RIT and Niagara, playing five games a piece against each opponent as well as a two-game series against geographic outlier Air Force. RMU was undefeated a season ago against the Griffins and posted a winning record against Mercyhurst. 
• Goaltending is perhaps the most interesting spot in the lineup heading into the 2020-21 season.  Freshman tender Noah West joins the program for his first season of NCAA hockey along side upperclassmen Dyllan Lubbesmeyer and Reid Cooper. While the duo played mostly in relief last season, Cooper made four starts and earned the first win of his career in a dramatic performance over Holy Cross on 2/15. 
• The Colonials will play a slightly truncated schedule in 2020-21 consisting of 28 games, including 24 AHA matchups.  Non-conference competition will see them face the UAH Chargers for the first time in nearly a decade in a rematch of two former CHA rivals. They will also square off in two games against WCHA foe Bowling Green, who RMU last defeated in 2018. 
• Nine newcomers will be making their Colonials debut this season, including eight true freshman as well as junior transfer Jordan Timmons.  Defenseman David Lafrance is the lone Canadian in a group that features American players from Indiana (2), Florida (2), Pennsylvania (2), New York, and New Jersey. 
• Kramer (Wexford) and Timmons (Bridgeville) add to RMU's long legacy of recruiting and training players from Western Pennsylvania.  Both are alumni of the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program and join Tyler Love and Roman Kraemer in playing their college hockey in their own backyard. 
• RMU replaces seven seniors from last year's squad, including former 100-point scorer Luke Lynch and defensive rocks Alex Robert and Sean Giles.  Lynch signed a pro deal last spring with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers, joining Giles (Cincinnati), Jacob Coleman (Worcester), and Justin Kapelmaster (Kansas City) in the 'Coast', while Daniel Mantenuto signed with Asiago Hockey 1935 of the Italian Hockey League Serie A.  
• Head Coach Derek Schooley returns behind the bench for his 17th season as head coach flanked by a pair of new faces in assistants Mike Corbett and Ryan Durocher.  Durocher joins Robert Morris after two seasons as an assistant with the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League, while Corbett brings nearly two decades of college coaching experience  with him having spent seven seasons as the head coach of the Chargers as well as another ten as an assistant at Air Force. 

SERIES HISTORY

Formerly bitter rivals in the old CHA, RMU and UAH will reignite a rivalry that has been dormant for nearly a decade when they open up the season against each other this weekend.  The two teams last squared off on the weekend of December 11, 2010, when RMU swept UAH with back-to-back 4-3 and 2-1 wins in Huntsville. The Chargers last trip to Moon Township was on January 16, 2010, a 4-2 RMU win. 

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS

UAH has had a highly-publicized offseason, initially being hit with the news that the program would be terminated back in May, however a fundraising drive led by NHL goaltender and Chargers alum Cam Talbot endowed the program with an extra $17 million dollars, enough for the University to announce their plans to continue the program "on a long term basis". 

Alabama-Hunstville finished 2-26-6 a season ago, including a 2-20-6 mark in conference play. First year head coach Lance West will ice a squad with 13 newcomers on it, all of whom will be making their NCAA debuts when they head to Clearview Arena this weekend. 

THE SCHOOLEY FILE

One of the longest-tenured coaches at RMU, Schooley is entering his 17th season at the Robert Morris helm in 2020-21, carrying an overall record of 260-266-68 and a proud record of championship-level 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 eight-season span from 2012-20, Schooley's Colonials have averaged nearly 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 75 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 taking part in two camps for the Toronto Maple Leafs. On top of that, 19 RMU alums have taken part in NHL development/rookie camps.

ATTENDANCE NOTE

In coordination with the advisory from the Allegheny County Health Director regarding social gatherings, RMU Athletics announced Thursday that it has paused fan attendance at contests through November 30, 2020.

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.

ON THE HORIZON

The Colonials will jump into Atlantic Hockey action next weekend, taking on Canisius for a home-and-home on Friday night in Pittsburgh and Saturday evening in Buffalo.