Clarke and Cruthers make their AHL Debuts

Aaron Clarke has been called up by the Binghamton Senators and will dress in tonite’s game against the Syracuse Crunch.  Clarke has signed a 25 game AHL Tryout with the Senators, after lighting up the ECHL with 31 points (9g/22a) in 26 games with a +13 rating as a Wheeling Nailer.

Read it here: Senators News

A source close to Ryan Cruthers has also slated that he will be moving up tonite to play for the Lake Erie Monsters in his AHL debut as well.  Ryan had 35 points (18g/17a) in 29 games with a +8 rating with Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL.  News of Ryan’s call up should be available shortly.

Lake Erie’s game is available on television tonite on Fox Sports Ohio.

RMU takes on Niagara in Evening Rematch

GAME TIME IS AT 7:35PM, December 13, 2008

Listen to tonight’s broadcast here: Yahoo!

Watch the live stats here: Niagara vs RMU

From RMU Colonials.com

After dropping six out of the last seven games, Robert Morris (3-9-2 1-1-1) looks to get back on track after two tough losses last weekend. With the disappointing loss to Niagara (6-6-1; 2-1-0), the Colonials are now tied with Alabama-Huntsville for third place in the CHA. RMU has not returned victorious from Dwyer Arena since January 12, 2008 when they exploded with a 7-2 win. ““We have not had much success at Dwyer Arena and they [Niagara] always play well there,” said head coach Derek Schooley. “We need to be ready from the drop of the puck. We need to play a full sixty minutes and start right away… not forty or twenty but sixty full minutes. This is our last game in 2008 and we want to make it a good one.”

Last Time Against Niagara

Last weekend, the Colonials held a 2-1 leading going into the final period against Niagara, however the team dropped a disappointing decision, giving up three goals in the third period. The Robert Morris Colonials picked up a season high 12 penalties for a total of 32 minutes. RMU also struggled to put the puck on net, recording a season low of only 20 shots on goal.

Series History

The Colonials will play the Niagara University Purple Eagles for the 23^rd time in program history tonight. RMU has faced Niagara more than any other opponent in the program’s five year history. Although the Purple Eagles own the series, Robert Morris and Niagara are tied at 5-5-1 when playing at the Island Sports Center.

Scouting the Purple Eagles

After playing only one game in two weeks, the Purple Eagles will match up against the Colonials in their fourth CHA contest of the year. In its first CHA series, Niagara split a pair with Bemidji State; winning the first game, 3-1, and falling, 1-3, in the second. During October, Niagara nearly upset nationally ranked #5 Michigan in a close, 2-4 loss. In 2007-08, Niagara won the CHA Tournament, earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Longpre Once Again POTW:

For the second time this season, sophomore forward Nathan Longpre has been named CHA’s Offensive Player of the Week. Longpre picked up five points in two games over the weekend.  On Friday night against CHA foe, Niagara, Longpre had a hand in both goals, scoring one and assisting on the other. In Saturday’s contest against Ohio State, Longpre tallied his second goal of the weekend and added a pair of helpers to round out the weekend.

Leading the Pack

After last weekend, two Robert Morris players lead the point standings for the CHA. Sophomore Nathan Longpre has tallied five goals and 10 assists in the Colonial’s first 14 games of the 2008-09 season. Senior forward Chris Margott follows closely behind Longpre with six goals ands eight assists for 14 points. Last season, Margott finished fourth in the CHA for his scoring total of 11 goals and 14 assists.

First Blood

So far in the 2008-09 season, Robert Morris has yet to score the first goal in any match up. The Colonials have been outscored 32-54 in the first 13 games and outscored 7-18 in the first period. RMU allowed two goals in the first period while playing Ohio State at Quicken Loans Arena. However, Colonial goaltending has been strong early, making 137 total saves in all first periods throughout the season.

Towsley is Tops

In last Friday’s contest against Niagara, senior forward Jason Towsley recorded his third goal and fourth point in just two games.  He picked up Robert Morris’ first score of the night to tie the game at one late in the first period. Also, On November 24, 2008, Towsley led the Colonial scoring efforts in both games at LSSU tallying three points.  For his efforts, Towsley was named CHA Offensive Player of the Week.  In Friday’s contest, Towsley recorded an assist on the Colonial’s lone goal of the night.  On Saturday, Towsley notched two goals against the Lakers.  His first score gave Robert Morris its first lead of the weekend, putting the Colonials ahead 2-1.  Just over a minute later, Towsley struck for a second time to extend the lead to 3-1 in favor of RMU.

Word from the Coach

“On Friday, we played hard for two periods and we had a very youthful third period by our team. The mature team won the game. Niagara played a good road game and had a well deserved league road win. On Saturday, Ohio state had rested team you can’t afford to make mental mistakes against good hockey teams. They knew we were tired and they jumped on us. We made some mental mistakes against a good offensive team and they capitalized. ”

Hervato Commits:

Derek Schooley has announced that Zach Hervato signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his hockey career at RMU. Hervato is the first addition to the Class of 2013. A member of the bronze medal winning Team Canada East, he currently is a forward for the Smiths Falls Bears of the CJHL. While playing for Team Canada at the World Jr. A Challenge, Hervato picked up one goal and two assists.

CHA Accolades

On November 3, 2008 two RMU players, Chris Margott and Denny Urban were recognized for their outstanding play by the CHA. This was the third consecutive week Colonials earned awards from the CHA. Margott picked up his 100th career point as he scored RMU’s first goal against UAH on Friday night. He also would go on to pick up the game tying goal with less than two minutes remaining. On Saturday, Margott put forth another strong performance when he tied the game at two all in the Colonials come from behind victory over the Chargers. He now is the leading scorer in the CHA with ten points. Urban had a solid four point weekend as he notched a helper on four of the six Robert Morris’ goals. He also was +2 on the weekend, playing physical defense and breaking up numerous Charger scoring opportunities. Urban is currently the top scoring defenseman in the CHA.

Buckeyes take rematch 7-4

I watched the live stats from the start of the game and things didn’t look good, as the first real update 0:34 was the second shot by Ohio State that went for a goal.  Not shortly after, they scored again.  Things didn’t look good.  Final score 7-4 OSU.

The Colonials were able to cut the score close in the beginning of the 2nd period as they inched closer with a score of 3-2, off Nathan Longpre’s 5th goal on the season.  Brooks Ostergard replaced Wes Russell in goal at about the 2:29 mark of the 2nd period and played the entire 3 period for the Colonials.

Russell: 21 saves – 5 goals against

Ostergard: 12 saves – 2 goals against

It’s tough to say where things could have gone wrong for the Colonials, and I am certainly not going to point fingers at the goaltenders (since one may think to do since we saw a change in net).  When you look at the stat sheet a few things pop out:

-2nd period shots limited to 6 for the Colonials, but increased that number to 16 in the 3rd

-Only 4 penalties for RMU – a much better stat, but they did give up one power play goal

-2 of 8 on the PP – getting better, but need to convert those chances

-Seems that OSU Goaltender Dustin Carlson is continuing to be on fire, he faced 31 shots

*in OSU’s last 8 games (7-1) he has faced an average of 33.62 shots per game, RMU scored the most in that tilt (Streak against Nebraska-Omaha [9-4-2], Northern Michigan [3-10-2] and Michigan State [4-10-3])

Some Bright Spots:

3 point night for Sophomore Nathan Longpre, 1 goal and 2 assists.  Senior Chris Margott had a 2 point night, 1 goal and 1 assist.  Both are now tied with 15 points on the season at the top of the College Hockey America Conference.

Gary Heeman of USCHO.com was in attendance of tonite’s game, I will keep and eye out for an article from him to link to for more information regarding the game.

Lady Colonials add 3 for ‘09-’10

From RMU Colonials.com

Moon Township, Pa. Dec. 1, 2008

Third-year head coach Nate Handrahan of the Robert Morris University women’s ice hockey team announced the signings of three players to National Letters of Intent, as forward Cobina Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / Ottawa Raiders)Kelsey Thomas (Hamilton, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) and goaltender Kristen DiCiocco (Stoney Creek Sabres) will join the Colonials for the 2009-10 campaign.

Thomas, a 5-3 forward currently leads her junior Hawks team with six goals and six assists for 12 points in just 11 games played this season, which averages 1.1 points per game. In her first year with the Hawks (2007-08), Thomas recorded 12 goals and five assists for 17 points, which was third on the team and also captured the 2007 Silver Stick MVP honor.

“Kelsey is a skilled player who has a knack for finding the back of the net,” said Handrahan. “We are excited she is joining us next year.

Delaney, a 5-5 forward, will join her older sister Brianna Delaney on the Colonial squad next season, who presently leads RMU with seven goals and five assists for 12 points. The younger Delaney, Cobina, currently has four goals and nine assists playing for the Ottawa Raiders. In her three years with the Raiders she has accumulated seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points. She has been playing hockey for 12 years and earned a league championship in 2005 with the team Kanata AA and was named captain of the Ottawa 67’s AAA for two years. In 2006 she was named H.S. Junior Athlete of the Year.

“Having Cobi join her sister Bri is a great thing for the Delaney family and a great thing for our family,” said Handrahan. “She brings hockey knowledge and a competitive spirit that will go a long way in college hockey.”

DiCiocco, a 5-7 goalie, has accumulated 24 wins in her three years playing for the Stoney Creek Sabres. In 2006-07 she was 8-4-3 with a 2.34 GAA and in 2007-08 she tallied a 12-1-1 record, 247 saves and a 1.99 GAA. So far this season, she has an undefeated 5-0-0 record and has captured a 1.40 GAA, a .917 save percentage and one shutout. She has led her team two OWHA Provincial Championships in 2006-07 and 2008, while also guiding her team to a 2007-08 PWHL Championship. In 2006-07 her team was awarded the PWHL Bronze Medal and in 2003-04 her squad was awarded with the Provincial Silver Medal. DiCiocco was awarded back-to-back most dedicated athlete awards in 2002-03 and 2003-04 and has earned multiple tournament MVP honors throughout her career.

“Kristen is a very capable goal tender and has played in a winning program for many years,” said Handrahan. “She will have the opportunity to grow as a player here at RMU. She will add to our already solid goal tending corp.”

With the graduation of nine seniors after this season, Thomas, Delaney and DiCiocco will join a squad of 13 returning letterman for the 2009-10 season.

Ohio State Preview – December 6th

Coming off a deflating loss to Niagara at home, it doesn’t help to turn around 50 minutes after your game ends to head out to Cleveland Ohio to play at Quicken Loans Arena (the home of the NBA’s Cavilers/LeBron James) to face the surging Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes are 8-6-1 this season, having one of their best season’s yet, they’re playing so well that Sophomore Goaltender Dustin Carlson has been named the CCHA Player of the Month (for November) with a record of 6-1, a 1.47 goals against average, and a .954 save percentage with 3 shutouts….my head hurts already…this guy, pretty good.  On the season he’s not too far from those numbers, just a few clicks to the north.

This game is a homecoming for a few of the Buckeyes, so what really, I listened to their online press conference, the guys don’t even care.  They’re ready for hockey.

Ohio State expects to see poor quality shots based on what they saw at Mellon Arena a few weeks back, that’s what they saw in their look back.  If RMU can get out of the gates early and possibly catch the Buckeyes on their heels, there is a good chance they can pull out of Quicken Loans Arena with a big win.

I would expect to see Wes Russell to start in net again, but don’t be surprised if he were to be pulled if the game dictates a need for a change.  Don’t also be surprised if Russell keeps this team in the game early, he’s been doing that a lot lately, his defense needs to reward him by clearing out the traffic in front of the net.

Ohio State’s Game Notes

RMU Colonials – “The Rematch”

Watch the Live Stats Here

Niagara soars in 4-2 win

Things looked good, then the third period started, then things looked bad.  I can’t say it any more simple than that.  I do have to agree with Coach Schooley in his post game comments that this is the sign of a young, immature team made up of 21 Freshman and Sophomores.  Sure, that may sound like an excuse, but Coach is 100% right, this team will learn and we will see improvements as the season goes on, maybe even tomorrow night against Ohio State.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the game. 

First Period, Colonials came out storming, on fire, but the Purple Eagles didn’t look flat or on their heels, they skated right with RMU, even scoring first.  That put a little sag in our game for a minute, but the tempo quickly got back up.

Great offensive attacks and getting players to the front of the net lead to goals, Jason Towsley (4) knows all about that, as he scored off a great centering pass from Nathan Longpre (8), with under two minutes to go in the first period.

Second Period, again things looked strong, especially from the start, putting up a great fight on the Penalty Kill early off of a Matt Krug interference call, then turning the power play on when Niagara’s Derek Foam went into the box, this time it was Nathan Longpre getting his 4th goal of the season off a Chris Margott/James Lyle setup.  showing great patience and timing to get the goal infront of the net.

Third Period, well to put it fairly bluntly, RMU looked bad.  It was apparent that Niagara was able to get very aggressive, even taking penalties, to make RMU lose their cool and turning their focus off the game and onto getting retaliation.

RMU eventually calmed down, but it was too late after Wes Russell was beat for the second goal of the game by Niagara, he had no idea where the puck had gone.  Russell left the ice briefly due to an equipment problem with his left skate and pad, and was replaced by Freshman Brooks Ostergard.

Ostergard saw a little over 7 minutes, giving up 1 goal on 2 shots.  To Ostergard’s defense, he did come on the ice during a Penalty Kill, so he didn’t get off to a good start to warm up.

Looking Past Tonite:

The key is to win the battles in the Third Period, and keeping their composure, these guys know this, and they will continue to get better at it.  RMU was embarrased last time against Ohio State at Mellon Arena, look for these guys to skate hard and fight all the way to the end to get their due against the Buckeyes in their version of the College Hockey Showcase out in Cleveland.

Pappas and Delaney take CHA Weekly Honors

From RMU Colonials.com

Moon Township, Pa. – Dec. 1, 2008 – The Robert Morris University women’s hockey team grabbed a pair of CHA honors, as sophomore Whitney Pappas (Evergreen, Co. / Belle Tire) earned defensive player of the week and freshman Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) was named rookie of the week. The duo helped lead the Colonials to back-to-back wins over the Maine Black Bears with scores of 4-2 and 5-4, respectively. This marks Pappas’ and Delaney’s second CHA award each of the season.

Pappas was a key factor on both ends of the rink in RMU’s two victories over the Maine Black Bears and was +1 in both victories. In the Colonials 5-4 triumph over the Black Bears she scored a pair of goals. The Colorado native tallied her first goal at 10:06 in the second period to knot the score at 2-2. She tied the score for a second time, 4-4 with a goal early in the third period. Pappas now has two goals and five assists on the season for seven points.

Delaney contributed impressive performances in both contests against Maine, racking up one goal and three assists in two wins. She started off the weekend with a goal against the Black Bears at 7:36 in the third period to put the score up 4-1. On night two against Maine, she recorded assists in three out of the Colonials’ five goals. She captured her first assist at 11:29 in the first period to close in on the Black Bear’s 2-0 lead. Her second assist tied the game 3-3 at 14:20 in the second period and her final assist came on another tying goal at 5:18 in the third period, knotting the score 4-4. She finished the weekend with nine shots on a goal and a plus/minus rating of +4. The rookie currently leads the Colonials with seven goals and five assists for 12 points.

The Colonials will take off the next couple of weeks, but return to action on Dec. 16-17 in Fairfield, Conn. against Sacred Heart at 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., respectively.

Colonials get back to Conference play

Listen Live to tonight’s game on Yahoo!

It’s only one game, but it can start the rush the Colonials need going into January.  With only three games this month, two against Niagara and one against Ohio State, there is plenty of time for the Colonials to put in a great push with some time off before they get back to play on January 3rd at home versus American International.

So far we’ve seen a few surprising things this season, the tempo and style at which this team is playing at (compared to previous teams), the poise of the young freshmen on this team, as well as outstanding play in net.  You can’t discount how well Wes Russell has played for the Colonials this year, he is very strong with a young team in front of him.

We can’t knock this team too bad, sure their record may lead you to believe they aren’t very good, but this isn’t true.  Finishing these games and staying in them until the last minute has killed the Colonials as teams have sneaked by with close goals to win games late.  They are skating stronger as the season progresses, and tonight will be a true testament to that.

A few things to watch for from RMU Colonials.com

Series History:The Colonials will play the Niagara University Purple Eagles for the 22^nd time in program history tonight.  RMU has faced Niagara more than any other opponent in the program’s five year history. Although the Purple Eagles own the series, Robert Morris holds a 5-4-1 lead when playing at the Island Sports Center.

Scouting the Purple Eagles: After a week off from play, the Purple Eagles will match up against the Colonials in their third CHA contest of the year. In its first CHA series, Niagara split a pair with Bemidji State; winning the first game, 3-1, and falling, 1-3, in the second. During October, Niagara nearly upset nationally ranked #5 Michigan in a close, 2-4 loss. In 2007-08, Niagara won the CHA Tournament, earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

First Blood: So far in the 2008-09 season, Robert Morris has yet to score the first goal in any match up.  The Colonials have been outscored 26-43 in the first 12  games and outscored 6-15 in the first period.  RMU allowed three goals in the first period during the Lake Superior State series.  However, Colonial goaltending has been strong early, making 114 total saves in all first periods throughout the season.

Towsley Tabbed CHA POTW:  On November 24, 2008, senior forward Jason Towsley led the Colonial scoring efforts in both games at LSSU tallying three points.  For his efforts, Towsley was named CHA Offensive Player of the Week.  In Friday’s contest, Towsley recorded an assist on the Colonial’s lone goal of the night.  On Saturday, Towsley notched two goals against the Lakers.  His first score gave Robert Morris its first lead of the weekend, putting the Colonials ahead 2-1.  Just over a minute later, Towsley struck for a second time to extend the lead to 3-1 in favor of RMU.

Home Sweet Home: In both two-game series that Robert Morris has hosted at the Island Sports Center this year, the team has yet to be beaten. Against Ferris State, the Colonials defeated the Bulldogs on Friday night and tied them on Saturday. When playing CHA foe Alabama-Huntsville , the Colonials came from behind to skate to a 4-4 deadlock on Friday and rallied to win 3-2 on Saturday.

Hervato commits for next season

It wasn’t set in stone, but rumors were flying south from Canada about the Smiths Falls Bears forward Zach Hervato committing to the Robert Morris Hockey program.

No longer is this a rumor.

Friday after Thanksgiving, Coach Schooley had much to to be thankful for, not only coming off a huge win at Lake Superior, but Hervato’s official commitment to RMU only continue to solidifies the growing expansion of Colonial hockey.

The 5′8” forward is currently ranked 16th in the CJHL in scoring with 15 points in 20 games, and not only that but Hervato made the roster of 20 players for Team Canada East, which won a bronze medal competing in the World Junior A Challenge, where Hervato played 4 games scoring 1 goal and 2 assists.