Men's Hockey | 1/11/2024 4:00:00 PM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – RMU will travel north for their first road contest of 2024, taking on #12 Minnesota. Games will be streamed on the Big Ten Network (B1G+). The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday, January 12 at 7:00 p.m. and then the series will wrap up the following day at 5:00 p.m.
RMU LATELY
RMU (6-13-3 / 3-9-2 #AHA20) are in preparation for their second series of 2024 and final non-conference battle of the season. The Colonials are coming off one of their most dominating performances as they swept Stonehill this past weekend, winning 8-1 and 7-3. Their 15 goals combined are the most scored by an Atlantic Hockey team in a series this season. Across the two games, graduate forward
Dallas Tulik dished out five assists and led all players in assists and points. He posted two multipoint efforts against the Skyhawks. Freshman defenseman
Michael Craig distributed three assists on the first night, earning his first career three-point game. He also finished the weekend with a +6, leading all players in +/-. Goaltender
Chad Veltri won both games and has now helped the Colonials win four of their last games. In total, 17 players registered a point in the series.
WALTER WINS A WEEKLY AWARD
Freshman
Walter Zacher was named AHA Rookie of the Week for his performances against Stonehill. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Zacher scored two goals and one assist on January 5 and added in another goal the following day. He now owns three, multipoint efforts in his career. Through his first 16 games, he's registered four goals, nine assists and 13 points. He's currently tied with
Tanner Klimpke to lead all freshmen on the roster in points. Zacher is riding a four-game point streak as RMU heads to Minnesota. The freshman produced three goals and four assists totaling seven points in his last four contests. Going back to the last 10 games, Zacher's averaged over a point-per-game registering four goals and eight assists reaching 12 points.
RMU LEADERS
Goals:
Tanner Klimpke,
Rylee St. Onge (6)
Assists:
Dallas Tulik (12)
Points:
Dallas Tulik (15)
PPG:
Rylee St. Onge,
McKay Hayes (3)
SHG:
Cade Townend (1)
GWG:
Rylee St. Onge (2)
Blocks:
Mitch Andres (43)
SV%:
Chad Veltri (.922)
ALL-TIME VS. MINNESOTA
RMU has only played Minnesota one time in their history. Winning the AHA Playoff Championship back in 2014, the Colonials qualified for the NCAA Playoff Tournament. In the first, Minnesota hosted the Colonials and won 7-3. For RMU, Zac Lynch, Scott Jacklin and Cody Wydo all recorded a two-point game.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
Currently ranked #12, the Gophers are 10-6-4 overall and 5-4-3-1 in Big Ten play. Playing an intense schedule, Minnesota has played a ranked team 16 times out of 20 contests. They're coming off splitting a series against #17/18 Colorado College. As a team, Minnesota is ranked 13
th in the nation in goals-per-game, averaging 3.50. In their program history, the Gophers have won five NCAA Championships and were the runner-up this past season. They've been to seven Frozen Fours since 2000. They have four players (Oliver Moore, Jimmy Snuggerud, Ryan Chelsey and Sam Rinzel) who all played for Team USA at the World Junior Championships and won the gold medal against Sweden the other week.
MINNESOTA LEADERS
Goals: Jimmy Snuggerud (16)
Assists: Sam Rinzel (13)
Points: Jimmy Snuggerud, Rhett Pitlick (22)
PPG: Jimmy Snuggerud (5)
SHG: Rhett Pitlick (1)
GWG: Jimmy Snuggerud, Brody Lamb (3)
Blocks: Ryan Chesley, Cal Thomas (43)
SV%: Justen Close (.915)
NCAA LEADER
Still in 2024, graduate goaltender
Chad Veltri remains #1 in saves across the nation. His 701 saves rank first across all of Division I hockey. From Pittsburgh, Pa., the hometown talent also ranks seventh in save percentage (.922). That number is third best in the Atlantic Hockey conference.
ON THE ROAD BUT RETURNING HOME
RMU has three players on the roster from Minnesota. Freshman
Jackson Reineke (Faribault, Minn.), defenseman
Mitch Andres (Brainerd, Minn.) and defenseman
Luke Johnson (Edina, Minn.) all grew up in the northern state. Reineke, in his first year, has scored five goals and four assists. Andres recently dressed up for his 100
th career game and is the team leader in blocks with 43. Johnson has appeared in all 22 games for the Colonials, posting one goal and four assists.
UP NEXT
After playing their last non-conference series of the campaign, the Colonials will return home to play an Atlantic Hockey series, hosting RIT on January 19-20 at Clearview Arena.
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