PITTSBURGH – The Robert Morris University men's hockey begins its bid for another championship banner this weekend when they kick off the 2020 postseason with a showdown against Holy Cross in a best of three series in the opening round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament at the RMU Island Sports Center.
The games will take place on Friday, March 6 and Saturday March 7 at 7:05 PM EST, with a third game taking place Sunday night at 7:05 if necessary.
ROBERT MORRIS (11-18-5, 11-12-5-1 AHA / 7th)
vs. HOLY CROSS (10-19-5, 9-16-3-2 AHA/10th)
Friday, February March 6 at 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, March 7 at 7:05 p.m.
Sunday, March 8 at 7:05 p.m.
PITTSBURGH, PA. | COLONIALS ARENA
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CATCHING UP
Robert Morris finished the 2020 regular-season campaign at 11-18-5 overall, including a 11-12-5-1 mark in Atlantic Hockey play that has them situated as the #7 overall seed heading into the first round of the tournament this weekend.
While they managed a win over Canisius in the last regular-season home game at the Island two weeks ago, the Colonials are coming off of a two-game sweep at the hands of Niagara in Lewiston that saw them concede four goals in the second period in both games.
It is the second straight year the Colonials will host Holy Cross in the first round of the playoffs and the fourth straight season in which the two programs have squared off in the AHA tournament, with RMU emerging victorious each of the last three matchups.
HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials battled the Crusaders less than a month ago in Worcester, earning a split against Holy Cross with a 4-2 win on Saturday after dropping the opening game of the series 5-3. The Colonials are 18-8-2 all-time against the Crusaders in all competitions.
The past few seasons has seen this series develop into one of the best rivalries in all of Atlantic Hockey, and with so much familiarity between the two squads in the post-season, this weekend's games are guaranteed to be fiercely competitive.
The Colonials have had the Crusaders' number when it comes to tournament play recently, knocking them out of the postseason three straight years, all of which were two-game sweeps for RMU.
The Crusaders have won just one of their previous nine matchups at Colonials Arena in all competitions dating back to 2013, and have never won a playoff game in Pittsburgh.
OPPOSITION RESEARCH
Holy Cross finished the season in 10th place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 32 points, nine behind seventh-place RMU in the table. Since taking down the Colonials in the first meeting on February 14, Holy Cross has dropped five straight to close out the season including back-to-back sweeps against AIC and Bentley.
RMU played one of their most complete periods of the season in the third in their win over the Crusaders, limiting Holy Cross to just five shots over the final frame before Jacob Coleman sealed it with a short-handed goal with under ten minutes to play. They will need to bring that same defensive intensity to start the series this weekend, as Holy Cross will be looking to finally average their post-season demons on the Island.
The duo of Neil Robinson and Logan Ferguson lead Holy Cross with 22 points apiece, while Connor Jean and Pete Kessel have each cracked the double-digit goals threshold this season. An active defense that includes Dalton Skelly (4G, 9A) and Will Brophy (3G, 6A) will also play a major factor in the Crusaders' bid to end RMU's dominance over them in the post-season.
KNOW BOBBY MO
• The Colonials are searching for their second ever AHA Tournament Championship, and their first since 2014. They hold a 27-15 (.643) win-percentage all-time in the tournament.
• The Colonials have never lost a first-round playoff series in their history, owning a 9-0 mark in the opening round since 2005.
• RMU is riding a streak of six consecutive AHA tournament semi-final appearances, and has won at least two rounds each of the last five years. They have failed to win at least one series just four times in 14 years and have won at least a round each of the last eight postseasons.
• The RMU penalty kill ended the season on a rocky note after a usually strong showing for much of the season, conceding three power-play goals to Niagara last Saturday. They have blanked the opposing power play in 17 of their 34 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 26 RMU games, boasting a .923 save percentage that ranks 10th among Division I starting goalies. Formerly of Ferris State University, Kapelmaster has played 75 NCAA games, with a career .919 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 (11) and total points (27), a new career best. Senior
Jacob Coleman is next with 20, 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, 5a).
• 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.
