PITTSBURGH – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team returns to action this weekend for a home-and-home Friday and Saturday night against Canisius. The Colonials will take on the Griffins Friday night in Buffalo before a Saturday night showdown on the Island for Senior Day.
ROBERT MORRIS (10-16-4, 10-10-4-1 AHA / 5th)
vs. CANISIUS (8-17-5-0, 7-12-5-0-3 AHA/10th)
Friday, February 21 at 7:35 p.m.
BUFFALO, N.Y. | HARBOR CENTER
Saturday, February 22 at 7:05 p.m.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. | COLONIALS ARENA
STATS via GoGriffs.com
STATS via RMUColonials.com
VIDEO via FloHockey ($)
CATCHING UP
The Colonials earned a road split last weekend in Worcester against Holy Cross, dropping game one 5-3 before roaring back for a 4-2 win Saturday night at the Hart Center.
A disastrous first period Friday night saw the Colonials go down 3-0 in the first period before the crusaders pushed it to 4-0 early in the second. Although RMU would find it's legs and mount a comeback with power-play goals from Justin Addamo and Jacob Coleman as well as Garrett Clegg's first career tally, it was not enough to bring them all the way back.
They conceded the opening goal again on Saturday as well, but the Colonials were able to muster a much stronger response, rattling off three straight goals before Coleman iced things with a shorty to make it 4-2 with just over six minutes to play.
Sophomore Reid Cooper earned his first career collegiate victory between the pipes Saturday night, turning aside 29 of 32 shots to help the Colonials earn three points.
HISTORY LESSON
RMU squared off against Canisius twice already this season, sweeping both games of a home-and-home back on November eighth and ninth of 2019.
The Colonials raced out to a 4-0 lead in game one in Buffalo, scoring twice on the power play as well as another shorty from Coleman in the second to seal things off for a victory.
Game two played out much like the first, with RMU earning a 4-0 lead before holding out against a late push from Canisius for the 4-2 victory. Grant Hebert scored twice, while a two-point night from Brendon Michaelian and a late PP goal from Luke Lynch helped the Colonials to their second series sweep of the season.
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
While the Griffins currently sit second from the bottom of the Atlantic Hockey standings with 29 points, there is just seven points separating them from No. 5 RMU going into the weekend.
Coming off of a sweep last weekend to AIC, Canisius will be hungry to for a rebound and the opportunity to make some significant headway in what is a very tight Atlantic Hockey race this season, and with just two series left on their schedule, you can expect to see a hungry and determined group come to play this weekend.
Offensively, the Griffins are led by senior forward Matt Hoover, who paces them in total points (28) and is second in total goals with 12. Canisius currently features eight players who have cracked double-digit points, as well as three who have cracked at least 20.
Blueliner Matt Stief leads what is a very mobile defense corps with 23 points in 30 games. Despite the scoring depth, Canisius has struggled at times to keep the puck out of their own net this season, having given up the second most goals per game in AHA at 3.40 per game. While their PK has been solid for most of the year, they also lead the conference in penalty minutes per game, so the RMU power play should have plenty of opportunities to make a difference this weekend.
YOUTH DAY
All children under the age of 12 are eligible to purchase a discounted ticket for $5 for both the women's game at 3:05 p.m. and the men's game at 7:05 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and can be done so by following the link to Ticketmaster. An RMU rally towel is also free to the first 250 kids in attendance for both the men's and women's games Saturday.
In addition, Saturday is also Scout Day. All members of the Boy and Girl Scouts of America are encouraged to attend, and discounted tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster by using the special offer code SCOUTS.
KNOW BOBBY MO
• The RMU penalty kill looks to be returning to its previously dominant form from earlier this year after going 6-7 against Holy Cross last weekend, including a perfect 4-4 effort Saturday. They have blanked the opposing power play in 15 of their 30 games to date, including a stretch of three consecutive goose eggs from Nov. 22-30. Among Atlantic Hockey teams, only Army, American International, and Sacred Heart have better PK rates than RMU.
• Senior transfer Kapelmaster has been a revelation this season for RMU, boasting a .926 save percentage that ranks ninth among Division I starting goalies. Formerly of Ferris State University, Kapelmaster has played 74 NCAA games, with a career .920 SV% that's 14th 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 (nine) and total points (23) and is closing in on last year's total of 25. Senior Jacob Coleman is next with 18, while Sophomore Justin Addamo sits third with 16. Senior Luke Lynch ranks fourth with 15 after netting his 100th career point vs. Arizona State.
• The Colonials return 19 players from last year's squad, 10 of those sophomores. The leading returning scorer is Pittsburgh native Luke Lynch, who earlier this season recorded his 100th career point for RMU. 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 have played in at least 12 games and all have at least one point; Hartikainen leads the way with seven (4g, 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)
Sean Giles - Defensive Player of the Week (Jan. 21)
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 close out their regular season slate next weekend in Lewiston, N.Y. when they take on Niagara for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
