RMU Men’s Hockey Notebook – Flying With The Purple Eagles This Weekend

The sweep was not meant to be, last weekend, as the Robert Morris University men’s hockey team split a pair of Atlantic Hockey Association games with the RIT Tigers at 84 Lumber Arena.

On Friday, the Colonials’ senior goaltender Eric Levine turned away 34 shots to lead Robert Morris to a 3-0 victory over RIT. Sophomore left wing Cody Wydo and freshman center David Friedmann, each found the back of the net against Tigers’ sophomore goaltender Jordan Ruby, while senior center Zach Hervato was able to cash in on an empty-netter late in the third period.

The Colonials recorded 22 blocked shots against the Tigers. RMU also killed off all six RIT power plays.

On Saturday, it was RIT freshman right wing Dan Schuler who scored last at the 11:04 mark of the third period that allowed the Tigers to finish the comeback and escape with a 4-3 win over the Colonials. Robert Morris junior left wing Colin South has two powerplay goals on the evening.

PUCK POINTS: Robert Morris is 15-11-2 overall, and the Colonials are in seventh place in the AHA standings with a 10-10-1 record and 21 points. Only seven points seperate second thru eighth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings. After this weekend, only four games remain on the Colonials schedule, a home-and-home series with Canisius on February 22-23, and a home-and-home series with Mercyhurst on March 1-2.

Robert Morris is 11-1-0 and 39-2-3 since joining the Atlantic Hockey Association in 2010 when leading after two periods.

Cody Wydo leads the Colonials with 13 goals this season that include three power-play goals, a short-handed goal, and five game-winning goals. Cody is tied for third place on the roster with 18 points with Colin South.

Eric Levine currently has 1,866 saves in his goaltending career with the Colonials. He trails Brooks Ostergard, who has 2,776 career saves, and Christian Boucher, who has 3,244 career saves. Levine is averaging 30 saves per game in his career, so it is still possible he could break the 2,000 barrier by the end of this season.

On Thursday, 02/14/13, senior defenseman and captain Brendan Jamison was named a finalist for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award in college hockey. The award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communites. Fans can vote for one of the ten finalists at seniorCLASSaward.com or on the Senior CLASS Award’s Facebook fan page through March 25.

NEXT UP: Robert Morris has a home-and-home series with the Niagara University Purple Eagles tonight and Saturday. Tonight, the Colonials will be at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY to take on the AHA first place Purple Eagles at 7:05 PM. Then, on Saturday night, at 7:05 PM, both teams will come back to 84 Lumber Arena in the RMU Island Sports Center for a rematch.

Niagara is 18-5-5 overall, and 17-2-2 with 36 points in the AHA. This will be the 46th meeting between the two programs in a series that dates back to January 28, 2005. The Purple Eagles have a 26-11-8 advantage over RMU.

In their one previous meeting this season, back on Saturday, November 17, the Purple Eagles shutout the Colonials at Niagara, 3-0.