RMU Men's Hockey Weekend Preview

Friday Oct 29th

RMU (4-0-0 Overall, 3-0-0 AHA) at Rochester Institute of Technology (0-4-1 Overall, 0-0-0 AHA)

All Time Series: RMU leads 1-0-1 (1-0-1 Home, 0-0-0 Away)

Last meeting: 11/12/2005, 5-5 Tie ; 11/13/2005, 4-2 RMU

Game Notes:

This will be Robert Morris' first trip to Ritter Arena to face the RIT Tigers. RMU has started out the season with a 4-0 record for the first time in school history, defeating American International (twice), Ohio State, and Air Force. Defenseman Denny Urban leads the team in scoring with 6 points (1 g, 5 a). Forwards Nathan Longpre and Trevor Lewis lead the team with 3 goals each. Senior Forward Nathan Longpre scored the 100th point of his career in RMU's 3-2 win over Air Force, making him the 2nd RMU player to reach that mark, trailing only Chris Margott. Junior Goaltender Brooks Ostergard has started all 4 games of the season, with a 2.25 GAA and .927 SvPct. The Colonials are ranked 19th this week in the Inside College Hockey poll and are just outside of the Top 20 in the USCHO poll. The Colonials were off last weekend.

RIT is the defending Atlantic Hockey regular season and tournament champions and have won the AHA regular season championship 3 of the last 4 seasons. RIT was the NCAA East Regional champions last season, defeating Denver (2-1) and New Hampshire (6-2) to qualify for their first NCAA Frozen Four. RIT lost to Wisconsin in the NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals 8-1. Forwards Tyler Brenner and Andrew Favot lead the team with 6 points each. All 3 goalies have started at least 1 game for the Tigers, with Senior Jan Ropponen leading the team with a 3.01 GAA, and .906 SvPct. RIT has struggled defensively this season, giving up an average of 4.6 goals per game, all non-conference games. RIT lost to RPI (4-2) and Union (7-2) on the road last weekend.

Saturday Oct 30th

RMU (4-0-0, 3-0-0) at Niagara University (0-2-2, 0-0-0)

All Time Series: Niagara leads 20-8-6 (5-7-4 Home, 3-11-2 Away, 0-2-0 Neutral)

Last Meeting: 3/5/2010, 3-1 Niagara; 3/6/2010, 4-2 Niagara

Game Notes:

RMU and Niagara both left College Hockey America at the end of the 09-10 season to join Atlantic Hockey. Niagara finished tied for 3rd in College Hockey America last year and lost to Alabama-Huntsville in the CHA tournament final. Defenseman Ryan Annesley leads the Purple Eagles in scoring with 5 points, while Freshman Carsen Chubak has made 3 starts in net with a 3.77 GAA and .896 SvPct. The Eagles are very young defefensively, with 6 of their 8 defenseman being Freshmen or Sophomores. Niagara lost to Union (6-2) and RPI (4-3 OT) last weekend.