PITTSBURGH – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team closes out their regular season schedule this weekend when they head to Lewiston, N.Y. for a showdown with Niagara University on Friday and Saturday night.
ROBERT MORRIS (11-16-5, 11-10-5-1 AHA / 5th)
vs. NIAGARA (10-18-4, 10-12-4-2 AHA/7th)
Friday, February 28 at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, February 29 at 7:05 p.m.
LEWISTON, N.Y. | DWYER ARENA
STATS VIA purpleeagles.com
VIDEO via FloHockey ($)
CATCHING UP
Robert Morris picked up five of a possible six points last weekend in their home-and-home with Canisius, earning a shootout victory in game one on Friday night before a dramatic 4-3 win at home on Senior Day Saturday.
Aidan Beck snagged the extra point for RMU Friday in the shootout, while a last-minute goal from Daniel Mantenuto on Senior Day helped RMU come away with three points and five of six on the weekend.
After the pair of games, the Colonials currently sit fifth overall in the Atlantic hockey standings with 41 points. Although they can climb no higher than fifth, RMU could still drop as low as seventh overall following the upcoming series against the Purple Eagles. Just three points up on sixth-place Air Force and five up on Niagara, this weekend's games could have some serious implications on the Atlantic Hockey playoff structure seeding moving forward as all three schools will be vying for a fifth-place finish and first-round bye.
HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials will be facing the Purple Eagles for the first time this season in a clash of closely-matched teams to conclude the 2020 regular season campaign.
Robert Morris owns a 22-29-10 overall record against Niagara in a rivalry that dates back to 2005, with their last victory coming back on November 2nd, 2018 when they earned a 3-1 victory at Colonials Arena.
The Robert Morris/Niagara rivalry has been one of streaks, with both squads owning unbeaten streaks of at least seven straight games over one another in recent memory.
While the Purple Eagles have been tough to beat at home (9-19-3 all time vs. RMU at Dwyer Arena), the Colonials have enjoyed one of their better runs against them recently, owners of a 7-2-1 overall record in their last 10 matchups.
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
At seventh overall in the Atlantic Hockey Standings, Niagara is in a similar spot to Robert Morris heading into the weekend. With 36 points, the Purple Eagles can finish anywhere from fifth overall to tenth overall depending on the outcome of this weekend's games.
Statistically, the Robert Morris and Niagara have been remarkably similar this year, with both teams among the top-half of Atlantic Hockey in goals-against per game (2.69 for RMU, 2.47 for Niagara) and near the bottom in goals scored (2.34 vs. 2.25). Special teams are also operating at similar clips, with both power play (13.6% vs. 12.9%) and penalty kill (81% vs. 80%) coming in about the same rate.
Offensively, Niagara is led by senior forward Jack Billings, who paces them in points with 22 and is tied for the team lead in goals with Ben Sokay at 10 apiece.
Freshman goalie Chad Veltri has arguably been Niagara's most valuable player this season, as his save percentage of .927 leads all of Atlantic Hockey, albeit with a decreased workload of just 17 games so far this year.
PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
With much of the Atlantic Hockey playoff structure still to be decided this weekend, there are several possibilities for outcomes the Colonials could face as they head into the post-season.
Two wins this weekend would lock up the #5 overall seed and give RMU a first-round bye before playing their first series on the road the following weekend against the #4 seed. A sixth or seventh-place finish would see them hosting the 11th or 10th seed at Colonials Arena on the weekend of March 6th.
Of teams that can tie Robert Morris, the Colonials hold the tiebreaker over Bentley by winning the season series, and will lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Air Force after going 0-1-1 against them in November. There is a scenario where Robert Morris, Air Force, and Bentley are tied at 41 points after the conclusion of Saturday's games. If this is the case, the three-way tie separates Air Force first, followed by Robert Morris, then by Bentley.
KNOW BOBBY MO
• The RMU penalty kill looks to be returning to its previously dominant form from earlier this year after going 7-9 against Canisius last weekend, including a perfect 4-4 effort Friday. They have blanked the opposing power play in 16 of their 32 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 in his first 19 RMU games, boasting a .926 save percentage that ranks 9th 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 (25), equalling last year's total of with two games still to play. Senior Jacob Coleman is next with 19, while Sophomore Justin Addamo sits third with 17. Senior Luke Lynch ranks fourth with 16
- 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 eight (4g, 4a).
• 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)
Daniel Mantenuto - Player of the Week (Feb. 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.
