Category: Robert Morris Colonials

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Posted on Posted in Atlantic Hockey, Augustana Vikings, Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Boston University Terriers, CCHA, Clarkson Golden Knights, Colgate Raiders, Denver Pioneers, ECAC, Hockey East, Michigan Wolverines, NCHC, Ohio State Buckeyes, Robert Morris Colonials, Wisconsin Badgers
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The content of this recap is also available in the 2020s page of our U.S. College Hockey History section of the site.

The 2023-24 season saw the return of Robert Morris to Division I men’s and women’s hockey. The program had been on hiatus since the end of the 2020-21 season. The university announced it was eliminating both hockey programs May 26, 2021, just months after the women’s team won its conference title. The school reversed the decision December 17, 2021, due in large part to the efforts from the hockey community, students, alumni, and men’s head coach, Derek Schooley, to raise funds to revive the program.

For the fourth season in a row, a new school added Division I men’s hockey. On October 5, 2021, Augustana University formally announced a new Division I hockey program to begin play in the 2023-24 season. The following May the CCHA announced Augustana would be its ninth conference member. The Vikings would start off with two seasons of a transitional schedule followed by a full schedule beginning in the 2025-26 season. Augustana’s first game was in Madison, Wisconsin, against the Badgers October 7, 2023. It was official: Augustana was the first Division I hockey team from the state of South Dakota.

The 2024 men’s Frozen Four included four college hockey blue bloods with a combined 96 Frozen Fours and 28 NCAA titles between them heading into the final weekend of the season. It was the 11th time Minnesota hosted a men’s Frozen Four and seventh time in Saint Paul. Denver defeated Boston University 2-1 in overtime in the first semifinal game. It was the first time these teams played one another in the Frozen Four since 1971. Boston College faced Michigan in the nightcap. These two teams met in the semifinals of the very first national tournament in 1948. Michigan won the game 76 years ago by a score of 6-4 but the Eagles would win this contest 4-0. This set the stage for the first championship game to be played between Boston College and Denver. The two teams have been around since 1917 and 1949, respectively, yet had never met in the championship game until 2024. In this final game of the season, Denver shut out Boston College 2-0 to put the Pioneers in the sole Division I championship lead with its 10th NCAA title. With Denver’s win, this was the third Minnesota city where the Pioneers were crowned NCAA champions (Minneapolis in 1958, Duluth in 1969, and Saint Paul in 2024). Of the 11 times Minnesota hosted the men’s Frozen Four, only one Eastern team has won (Harvard in 1989). This also meant the first time the Xcel Energy Center has hosted a Frozen Four where a team not based in Minnesota won. Previous teams to win the championship trophy at the arena include Minnesota in 2002 and Minnesota Duluth in both 2011 and 2019.

Seventeen-year-old freshman phenom Macklin Celebrini of Boston University won the 2024 Hobey Baker Award and became the youngest player to do so. Celebrini was the fourth freshman to win it and second in a row. In his freshman season, he broke the record for most college goals by a 17-year old with 32. He also added 32 assists. Celebrini was the first freshman to record at least 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season since 2005-06.

The Women’s Frozen Four took place in Durham, New Hampshire, for the fourth time. A Minnesota-based team was crowned champion at the Whittemore Center in each of the three previous title games New Hampshire hosted. The field in 2024 ensured that wouldn’t happen this time. Two teams represented the WCHA and two represented the ECAC. The championship game became an all-WCHA affair after Ohio State defeated Clarkson 4-1 and Wisconsin defeated Colgate 3-1 in the semifinals. It was the Buckeyes third title game in a row. This set the stage for the first championship rematch since 2007-2008 when Wisconsin met Minnesota Duluth back to back. The 2024 title game was scoreless until Joy Dunne of Ohio State netted a goal a little over halfway through the third period. The Buckeyes held on to win 1-0 and secured the program’s second NCAA title in three seasons. This was the 21st women’s hockey championship for the WCHA.

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In Division III men’s hockey, the Dubuque Spartans debuted in Dubuque, Iowa. This marked the first NCAA hockey program based in the state of Iowa. In the national tournament, Hobart defeated Curry College 4-3 in 4OT within the quarterfinals to win the second longest Division III men’s hockey game of all time. Curry College may have lost the game but its goalie, Shane Soderwall, made 98 saves to tie the all-time record for most saves in a game. This overtime thriller propelled the Hobart Statesman throughout the playoffs and ultimately to the program’s second NCAA title in a row after Hobart defeated Trinity 2-0 in the championship game in Hartford, Connecticut.

In Division III women’s hockey, the Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons won its first NCAA hockey championship in impressive fashion. The Falcons finished the season undefeated at 31-0-0 and set the Division III women’s hockey record for most wins in a season.

Posted on Posted in Atlantic Hockey, Big Ten, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Robert Morris Colonials
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In part two of our series about the Robert Morris Colonials, we’re going to take a look back at the season where the program reached the national tournament for the first time in its history: 2013-14.

Looking to build upon a successful 20-14-4 campaign from the previous season, the Colonials had high hopes heading into the fall of 2013. However, it didn’t start out exactly how the team had planned with Robert Morris going winless in the first four weeks of the season with a 0-5-1 record. Tough interconference games against Lake Superior State, Ohio State and Penn State put the team in an early hole. In fact, it set the tone for the first half of the season. By the time the calendar flipped to 2014, the Colonials were staring down a 2-12-2 record. The Colonials even ended up in fourth place out of four teams in the Three Rivers Classic; a Pittsburgh holiday tournament RMU hosted in December that the team had won just the year before.

If the Colonials were going to dig themselves out of the hole they created, the schedule makers didn’t do them any favors. The second half of the season saw RMU begin play with four away games in seven days. Perhaps the team felt it had nothing to lose and played loose or Coach Derek Schooley made the necessary adjustments but no matter what it was, the team won three of the four games. This began a run of games that resembled what the team expected to do at the onset of the season. The Colonials ended up going 11-4-3 in the second half.

This impressive second half pushed the Colonials to a 5 seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. With an automatic bid to the national tournament on the line, 8 of the 12 teams faced off during the first weekend of March in best-of-three series. The top four seeds received byes. Robert Morris hosted Army and easily won 8-4 in the opening game. Army bounced back to win the second game to force a deciding game three. In this third game, Army scored first but the Colonials rallied for three unanswered goals to advance to the next round. Robert Morris traveled to UConn to take on the Huskies in the best-of-three Quarterfinals. The Colonials blanked the Huskies in game one 3-0 and swept the series 3-2 the following night to earn a spot in the semifinals in Rochester, New York.

It would be single elimination from here on out for the four remaining teams in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament with the victor earning a bid to the national tournament. The Colonials squandered a 4-2 lead to Niagara late in the third period and the game ended up going to overtime. Scott Jacklin was the hero as he scored with five minutes left in overtime, sending RMU to the championship against 7 seed Canisius. The Colonials took home the hardware by defeating the Golden Griffins 7-4 behind a hat trick from Cody Wydo. It was the first (and only) AHA Tournament title for RMU. Four Colonials made the All-Tournament Team with Wydo receiving the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

Robert Morris received a tough draw for the national tournament. During the tournament selection show, the team learned they were going to face the number one overall seed, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, in their backyard in St. Paul on March 29, 2014. The Colonials put up a good fight for the majority of the first period but three Gophers goals in three minutes and thirty seconds late in the first period proved to be too much. Wydo put RMU on the board in the second period. Goals by Zac Lynch and David Friedmann later in the game weren’t enough to overcome the early deficit as the Gophers won 7-3. In the accompanying photo, goalie Dalton Izyk makes a sprawling save while losing his stick in the second period at the Xcel Energy Center.

Looking back seven years later, it can be considered a successful season for the Colonials. The team overcame a very rough first half of the season and could have easily packed it in after winter break. Instead, the team went on a very impressive run of games and won the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. The Colonials made it to the national tournament for the first (and only) time in school history and eventually lost to the national runner-up in their home state. All involved should be proud about what they accomplished during the 2013-14 season.

Posted on Posted in Atlantic Hockey, ECAC, Quinnipiac Bobcats, Robert Morris Colonials
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The 2016 Three Rivers Classic was held in Pittsburgh during the final weekend of the year. The four college teams vying for the Confluence Cup were host Robert Morris, Quinnipiac, Boston College and Ferris State. This was the first time this combination of teams participated in the holiday tournament since it began four years prior. Robert Morris was defending its tournament title after defeating Massachusetts Lowell in 2015. The opening round in 2016 between Robert Morris and Ferris State was a nail biter as the Colonials won 1-0 on a goal from Daniel Leavens. Robert Morris freshman goalie Francis Marotte earned the shutout. In the other opening round game, 13th ranked Quinnipiac defeated Boston College 3-1.

The Bobcats jumped on the board first during the tournament’s championship game with a goal from Chase Priskie. The Colonials evened the score and then pulled away for good on a goal from Rob Mann with 46 seconds left in the second period. In the above photo, Daniel Mantenuto of Robert Morris handles the puck against Kevin McKernan in the third period.

Robert Morris went on to defeat Quinnipiac 5-2 to win the Confluence Cup; a trophy provided to the winner of the annual tournament. It was the Colonials third Confluence Cup in five years. After surrendering just two goals throughout both games, Francis Marotte earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award. Earlier in the day, Boston College defeated Ferris State in overtime to win the consolation game.

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Robert Morris again hosted the Three Rivers Classic the following two seasons with Providence and Brown each winning one. With the recent news that Robert Morris has discontinued its men’s and women’s hockey programs, it doesn’t look promising that this tournament will come back without the host school. In fact, the tournament wasn’t held in 2019-20 because the organizers took a year off to reevaluate strategy. The Colonials still played a game at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena against Penn State on January 4, 2020. And the tournament didn’t have a chance of reappearing this past season because of reduced schedules due to COVID protocols. If a weekend college hockey tournament is to happen again in Pennsylvania, then the responsibility falls to Penn State to act as the host due to the Nittany Lions being the only remaining Division I program in the state. It’s worth noting Penn State was a fixture in the first four Three Rivers Classics. No matter what happens with the Robert Morris program or future tournaments in Pennsylvania, it appears this era of the Three Rivers Classic is designated for the history books.