2020–21 Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey season

2020–21 Robert Morris Colonials
men's ice hockey season
Conference3rd Atlantic Hockey
Home iceClearview Arena
Rankings
USCHO.comNR
USA Today/
US Hockey Magazine		NR
Record
Overall15–9–0
Conference10–5–0–2–1–0
Home11–4–0
Road4–5–0
Neutral0–0–0
Coaches and captains
Head coachDerek Schooley
Assistant coachesMike Corbett
Ryan Durocher
Captain(s)Nick Jenny
Nick Prkusic
Alternate captain(s)Brendon Michaelian
Aidan Spellacy
Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey seasons
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The 2020–21 Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey season was the 17th season of play for the program and the 11th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Colonials represented Robert Morris University and were coached by Derek Schooley, in his 17th season.

Season

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Canisius' players would lose a season of play.[1] However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.[2]

Robert Morris began the season well and continued their strong play for most of the year. The team was buoyed by the addition of two freshman, Randy Hernández and Noah West, who made major contributions to the offense and defense respectively. By mid-January RMU found themselves ranked in the top 20 with an 11–3 record and a chance to make the NCAA Tournament without having to win their conference tournament, a rarity for Atlantic Hockey. Unfortunately, the team was hit by several COVID cancellations and ended up losing 4 of their final 7 games entering the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. It was still possible for the Colonials to make the tournament without an Atlantic Hockey Championship, but any chance the team had was washed away when the offense faltered against Niagara and the team was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

On May 26, 2021, it was announced that Robert Morris University would be ending both its men and women's varsity hockey programs, effective immediately.[3]

Departures

Player Position Nationality Cause
Jake Coleman Forward  United States Graduation
Mike Coyne Forward  United States Graduation
Sean Giles Defenseman  United States Graduation (Signed with Knoxville Ice Bears)
Aidan Girduckis Defenseman  Canada Transferred to Chatham
Kip Hoffmann Forward  United States Transferred to Illinois
Justin Kapelmaster Goaltender  United States Graduation (Signed with Allen Americans)
Luke Lynch Forward  United States Graduation (Signed with Wheeling Nailers)
Daniel Mantenuto Forward  Canada Graduation (Signed with Asiago Hockey 1935)
Alexander Robert Defenseman  United States Graduation

Recruiting

Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Matthew Guerra Forward  United States 21 Sanford, FL
Gavin Gulash Forward  United States 21 Red Bank, NJ
Kyler Head Forward  United States 21 Malone, NY
Randy Hernández Forward  Canada 21 Miami, FL
Matt Hutton Forward  United States 21 Carmel, IN
Brian Kramer Defenseman  United States 20 Wexford, PA
David Lafrance Defenseman  Canada 19 Ottawa, ON; returned to juniors (Rockland Nationals)
Jordan Timmons Forward  United States 21 Bridgeville, PA; transfer from Connecticut
Noah West Goaltender  United States 19 Pittsboro, IN

Roster

As of December 31, 2020.[4]

No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
2 Michigan Brendon Michaelian Junior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 172 lb (78 kg) 1997-12-07 Wixom, Michigan Amarillo (NAHL) —
3 Minnesota Nolan Schaeffer Junior D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1997-07-15 Marshall, Minnesota Fairbanks (NAHL) —
4 Pennsylvania Tyler Love Sophomore D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2000-03-16 Moon Township, Pennsylvania Corpus Christi (NAHL) —
5 Ontario David Lafrance Freshman D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 2001-05-17 Ottawa, Ontario Rockland (CCHL) —
6 Ontario Darcy Walsh Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1999-02-06 Gloucester, Ontario Ottawa (CCHL) —
7 Ohio Nick Jenny Senior D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1996-06-23 Strongsville, Ohio Aberdeen (NAHL) —
8 Ohio Aidan Spellacy Junior D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-06-13 Lakewood, Ohio Lone Star (NAHL) —
9 Pennsylvania Jordan Timmons Junior F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1998-10-25 Bridgeville, Pennsylvania Connecticut (HEA) —
10 Ontario Nick Lalonde Junior F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-01-30 Brooklin, Ontario Ottawa (CCHL) —
11 Pennsylvania Brian Kramer Freshman D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 177 lb (80 kg) 2000-07-20 Wexford, Pennsylvania Fargo (USHL) —
12 Alberta Garrett Clegg Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 2000-01-13 St. Albert, Alberta Sherwood Park (AJHL) —
14 Ontario Grant Hebert Junior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1997-05-22 St. Andrews West, Ontario Fargo (USHL) —
15 Pennsylvania Roman Kraemer Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1998-01-09 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Johnstown (NAHL) —
16 Alberta Nick Prkusic (C) Senior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1996-11-10 St. Albert, Alberta Brooks (AJHL) —
17 Pennsylvania Aiden Beck Junior F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1998-08-28 Coraopolis, Pennsylvania Springfield (NAHL) —
18 New Jersey Gavin Gulash Freshman F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-01-11 Red Bank, New Jersey New Jersey (NAHL) —
19 Florida Randy Hernandez Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 188 lb (85 kg) 1999-01-12 Miami, Florida Brooks (AJHL) —
20 Ontario Cameron Hebert Sophomore F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1999-03-17 St. Andrews West, Ontario Johnstown (NAHL) —
21 France Justin Addamo Junior F 6' 6" (1.98 m) 227 lb (103 kg) 1998-05-27 Clermont-Ferrand, France Lone Star (NAHL) —
22 Florida Matthew Guerra Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 181 lb (82 kg) 1999-05-21 Sanford, Florida Lone Star (NAHL) —
23 Ontario Geoff Lawson Junior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1997-05-15 Metcalfe, Ontario Wellington (OJHL) —
24 New York (state) Kyler Head Freshman F 6' 4" (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1999-07-13 Malone, New York New Jersey (NAHL) —
25 British Columbia Bradley Stonnell Sophomore D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1998-07-22 Surrey, British Columbia Drumheller (AJHL) —
26 Finland Santeri Hartikainen Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-01-05 Helsinki, Finland Corpus Christi (NAHL) —
27 Indiana Matt Hutton Freshman F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-04-01 Carmel, Indiana Shreveport (NAHL) —
30 Saskatchewan Reid Cooper Junior G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1998-07-01 Corman Park, Saskatchewan Salmon Arm (BCHL) —
31 Indiana Noah West Freshman G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 2000-11-25 Pittsboro, Indiana Jamestown (NAHL) —
35 Minnesota Dyllan Lubbesmeyer Senior G 6' 0" (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1996-12-06 Burnsville, Minnesota Shreveport (NAHL) —
44 Ohio Quinn Warmuth Sophomore D 6' 4" (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1999-09-22 Olmsted Falls, Ohio Johnstown (NAHL) —

Standings

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OW OL SW PTS PT% GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#15 American International †* 12 11 1 0 1 0 0 32 .889 47 18 19 15 4 0 67 40
Army 15 10 4 1 3 1 1 30 .667 42 33 22 15 6 1 71 48
Robert Morris 15 10 5 0 2 1 0 29 .644 58 48 24 15 9 0 85 69
Canisius 13 8 5 0 1 1 0 24 .615 42 34 17 11 6 0 59 46
RIT 13 7 5 1 0 0 1 23 .590 43 40 20 9 9 2 68 70
Sacred Heart 13 6 6 1 1 2 0 20 .513 35 38 18 6 10 2 43 59
Mercyhurst 16 7 8 1 1 1 1 23 .479 54 50 21 8 12 1 64 67
Bentley 15 4 11 0 1 5 0 16 .356 35 48 16 5 11 0 42 51
Niagara 15 3 9 3 0 2 1 15 .333 39 53 22 7 12 3 57 70
Air Force 13 3 9 1 2 1 0 9 .231 32 49 14 3 10 1 35 56
Holy Cross 12 3 9 0 2 0 0 7 .194 22 38 16 4 12 0 30 52
Championship: March 20, 2021
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and Results

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Regular Season
November 21 7:05 PM vs. Alabama–Huntsville* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer W 5–2  0 1–0–0
November 22 4:05 PM vs. Alabama–Huntsville* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Cooper W 4–3  0 2–0–0
November 27 5:05 PM vs. Canisius Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   West L 2–5  0 2–1–0 (0–1–0)
November 28 4:05 PM vs. Canisius Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer W 5–4  0 3–1–0 (1–1–0)
December 1 7:00 PM vs. #18 Bowling Green* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer L 3–6  0 3–2–0
December 4 9:05 PM at Air Force Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado   West W 4–1  0 4–2–0 (2–1–0)
December 5 6:05 PM at Air Force Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado   West W 4–2  0 5–2–0 (3–1–0)
December 29 3:07 PM at #7 Bowling Green* Slater Family Ice Arena • Bowling Green, Ohio   West L 1–2  0 5–3–0
December 31 2:00 PM at Niagara Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York   West W 6–1  0 6–3–0 (4–1–0)
January 2 7:30 PM vs. RIT Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   West W 3–1  0 7–3–0 (5–1–0)
January 3 4:00 PM vs. RIT Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   West W 4–3  0 8–3–0 (6–1–0)
January 7 5:00 PM at Niagara #20 Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York   West W 3–2 OT 0 9–3–0 (7–1–0)
January 9 7:35 PM vs. Niagara #20 Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer W 5–4 OT 0 10–3–0 (8–1–0)
January 10 4:00 PM vs. Niagara #20 Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   West W 6–2  0 11–3–0 (9–1–0)
January 19 4:30 PM at Mercyhurst #17 Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   West L 2–3 OT 127 11–4–0 (9–2–0)
January 20 4:35 PM at Mercyhurst #17 Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer L 5–7  75 11–5–0 (9–3–0)
January 30 7:30 PM vs. Mercyhurst Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer W 5–3  0 12–5–0 (10–3–0)
February 4 7:30 PM vs. Long Island* #19 Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Lubbesmeyer W 4–1  0 13–5–0
February 5 3:00 PM vs. Long Island* #19 Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   West W 4–0  0 14–5–0
February 20 7:05 PM at RIT #19 Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York   West L 1–6  0 14–6–0 (10–4–0)
February 21 5:00 PM at RIT #19 Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York   West L 3–4  0 14–7–0 (10–5–0)
Atlantic Hockey Tournament
March 12 7:00 PM vs. Niagara* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania (Quarterfinal Game 1)   West W 3–2 OT 0 15–7–0
March 13 7:05 PM vs. Niagara* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania (Quarterfinal Game 2)   West L 2–3 2OT 0 15–8–0
March 14 7:05 PM vs. Niagara* Clearview Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania (Quarterfinal Game 3)   West L 1–2  0 15–9–0
Robert Morris Lost Series 1–2
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

[5]

Scoring Statistics

Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Randy Hernández RW 24 11 14 25 2
Nick Prkusic F 24 7 18 25 12
Grant Hebert C 24 8 15 23 18
Nick Jenny D 24 6 13 19 4
Justin Addamo RW 21 8 7 15 53
Brendan Michaelian D 24 4 11 15 8
Santeri Hartikainen C/RW 21 5 9 14 6
Nick Lalonde RW 24 6 7 13 6
Brian Kramer D 22 0 12 12 32
Jordan Timmons F 13 9 2 11 4
Aidan Spellacy F 24 5 6 11 6
Matthew Guerra F 16 3 4 7 12
Nolan Schaeffer D 24 2 5 7 12
Cameron Hebert RW 15 3 3 6 6
Kyler Head F 23 2 4 6 17
Gavin Gulash F 22 1 4 5 12
David Lafrance D 14 1 3 4 0
Tyler Love RW 24 0 4 4 4
Roman Kraemer F 22 2 1 3 6
Geoff Lawson D 15 0 3 3 4
Darcy Walsh C 15 2 0 2 19
Bradley Stonnell D 6 0 2 2 0
Garrett Clegg RW 10 0 2 2 19
Reid Cooper G 2 0 0 0 0
Matt Hutton F 2 0 0 0 0
Quinn Warmuth D 3 0 0 0 0
Dyllan Lubbesmeyer G 7 0 0 0 0
Noah West G 19 0 0 0 0
Bench - - - - - 10
Total 85 149 234 272

[6]

Goaltending statistics

Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Noah West 19 1082 9 7 0 48 520 1 .915 2.66
Dyllan Lubbesmeyer 7 313 5 2 0 14 131 0 .903 2.68
Reid Cooper 2 71 1 0 0 4 22 0 .846 3.35
Empty Net - 14 - - - 3 - - - -
Total 24 1480 15 9 0 69 673 1 .907 2.80

Rankings

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings
Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 (Final)
USCHO.com NR NR NR NR NR 20 NR NR 20 17 17 NR 19 19 19 NR NR NR NR NR - NR
USA Today NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.[7]

Awards and honors

Player Award Ref
Nick Prkusic Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year [8]
Randy Hernández Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year [8]
Nick Jenny Atlantic Hockey Best Defenseman [8]
Nick Jenny Atlantic Hockey Individual Sportsmanship Award [8]
Derek Schooley Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year [8]
Nick Jenny Atlantic Hockey First Team [9]
Nick Prkusic
Noah West Atlantic Hockey Second Team [9]
Brendan Michaelian
Randy Hernández
Noah West Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team [9]
Brian Kramer
Randy Hernández

References

  1. ^ "NCAA approves blanket waiver for 2020 fall sports athletes to retain year of eligibility". CBS Sports. August 21, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "DI Council grants waiver to allow transfer student-athletes to compete immediately". NCAA. December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  3. ^ Benz, Tim. "Robert Morris hockey players mourn loss of men's and women's teams, lash out at administration". Trib Live. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  4. ^ "2019–20 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". RMUColonials.com. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  5. ^ "Robert Morris Colonials (Men) 2020-2021 Schedule and Results". College Hockey Stats. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  6. ^ "Robert Morris Univ. 2020-2021 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  7. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Atlantic Hockey Names 2020-21 Regular Season Award Winners". Atlantic Hockey. March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Atlantic Hockey Announces All-Conference and All-Rookie Winners". Atlantic Hockey. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.