RMU Hockey: Colonials Could Claim Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Crown This Weekend
By Larry Snyder
Coming off a bye week, the Robert Morris University Colonials are on the road this weekend in Atlantic Hockey action at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, N.Y. to take on the RIT Tigers.
RMU has gone 8-1-1 in their last ten contests, and are on an eight-game win streak. They are in first place in the conference with a seven point lead over the Bentley University Falcons and the Mercyhurst University Lakers, who are tied for second-place.
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Bentley (16-11-3 / 14-7-3 in AHC, 31 points) is also on the road at Tate Rink this weekend to face off against the Black Knights of Army (7-19-2 / 7-15-2 in AHC, 16 points). The Falcons are 7-2-1 in their last 10 matchups, and have won five in a row.
Mercyhurst (16-10-4 / 14-7-3 in AHC, 31 points) has a home-and-home series this weekend with the third-place Canisius College Golden Griffins (13-10-7 / 12-6-6 in AHC, 30 points). The Lakers are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, and have claimed four consecutive victories.
Tonight is the second weekend series between the two programs. Robert Morris swept the Halloween weekend series 6-3 and 4-2 against the Tigers. Matt Gajtka will be behind the microphone with the Colonials audio feed at Google Hangouts. It can also be seen for a fee online at AtlanticHockeyTV.
RMU has played 30 games overall this season and 24 in the Atlantic Hockey Conference. Here is our Tale of the Tape for Derek Schooley’s squad:
Robert Morris Overall Record: 20-5-5
Colonials At Home: 12-4-2 / On The Road: 8-1-3
Goals Scored: 110 / Goals Allowed: 71
Overall Power Play Percentage: 21.5 (2nd in AHC) / Penalty Kill Percentage: 85.8 (2nd in AHC)
Atlantic Hockey Conference Record: 17-3-4
AHC Goals Scored: 96 / AHC Goals Allowed: 56
AHC Power Play Percentage: 23.7 (1st in AHC) / AHC Penalty Kill Percentage: 85.0 (6th in AHC)
RMU, who is ranked at No. 19 in the United States College Hockey Online poll, could capture its first regular-season conference title in 11 years of Division-1 hockey. The Colonials can seal the deal on the AHC’s top slot by gaining two points in its final four contests, or if Bentley and Mercyhurst do not collect two points each over that same interval.
In a season of excellence, the Colonials 20 victories has already matched its previous best for wins in a season, set during the 2012-2013 campaign. Over the past five seasons, Robert Morris owns the 13th-best winning percentage at .576 among 59 NCAA Division 1 teams. It is also the best mark in Atlantic Hockey.
With 18 goals each, Robert Morris senior left wing Cody Wydo is tied for second in the conference for the most scores with Canisius junior right wing Ralph Cuddemi. RMU junior right wing Zac Lynch is fourth with 15 goals.
Colonials’ junior goaltender Terry Shafer is second in the conference with a .933 save percentage going into this weekend while sophomore netminder Dalton Izyk is fifth with a .924 save percentage.
Time to fire up the zamboni, and take a look at what the experts in college hockey around the internet are saying about Robert Morris.
Along The Boards‘ Nick Phelan continues to have the Colonials No. 1 in his weekly Atlantic Hockey Power Rankings.
Mike Prisuta in his weekly column feels that a decision needs to be made in RMU’s outstanding goaltending duo of Shafer and Izyk.
In honor of USA Hockey’s eighth Hockey Weekend Across America, the writers at CollegeHockeyInc.com chose their state-by-state Most Valuable Players and selected RMU’s Zac Lynch as Pennsylvania’s best.
Chuck Curti of the Tribune Review also likes Lynch’s contributions in the Colonials last eight contests.
Over at USCHO.com, Chris Lerch predicts a Robert Morris sweep this weekend in his Atlantic Hockey picks while Dan Rubin is going with a split between RMU and RIT.
Up Next: Robert Morris concludes the 2014-2015 season with a home-and-home series the last weekend in February against the Niagara University Purple Eagles. The puck is set to drop at 7:05 p.m. both nights. Saturday’s contest will be on 970 AM – ESPN.