In the CHA Playoffs: The Colonials advanced to the CHA finals last season for the first time in the programs history before falling to Ala.-Huntsville 5-4 in overtime. RMU owns an all-time record of 2-3 in CHA playoff action losing to this seasons first round opponent, Niagara, in both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
The Niagara Series: The Colonials own an all-time record of 7-13-2 against the Purple Eagles and has lost two straight games this season giving them a record of 2-4-0 this season. They are also 1-3-0 at Dwyer Arena this season, the site of the CHA Tournament. The Colonials have faced the Purple Eagles in the CHA Tournament on two occasions and have lost both meetings.
The Ala.-Huntsville Series: The Chargers are one of only two CHA teams the Colonials have a winning record against this season as they went 3-1-2 and are unbeaten in three straight games. All-time RMU is 7-12-2 against the Chargers including an 0-1 record in the playoffs. That loss came last season as the Chargers scored five unanswered goals in the championship game to beat the Colonials, 5-4, in overtime.
The Bemidji State Series: The Colonials went 1-2-1 this season against the CHA regular-season champions, while RMU trails in the all-time series 6-10-1. The Colonials defeated the Beavers in their first ever CHA playoff meeting last season winning, 7-5.
The Wayne State Series: Before this season the series was really one sided, but with the Colonials winning all five meetings this season, including a game at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska the Colonials are now 7-7-3 all-time against the Warriors. Wayne State remains the only team that RMU has yet to meet in a CHA playoff game.
Lighting the Lamp: Robert Morris has outscored its opponents 63-26 in its 15 victories and has been outscored 23-80 in its 14 losses. There other 17 goals, for and against, of the season came against Ohio State in a 5-5 tie, Ala.-Huntsville in a 4-4 and 2-2 tie and Bemidji State in a 2-2 tie.
All-CHA Honors: Senior Ryan Cruthers was named CHA Player of the Year, marking the first player in RMU's four-year history to garner such an honor. Cruthers also became the first Colonial to be named to the All-CHA First Team. Chris Margott, Denny Urban and Nathan Longpre also garnered All-CHA honors as Margott was tabbed All-CHA Second Team, while Urban and Longpre were both unanimous selections to the All-CHA Rookie Team.
Leading the Nation: Ryan Cruthers ranks second in the nation with 1.45 points per game, behind only Michigan's Kevin Porter. His 48 points rank him tied for third with Boston College's Nathan Gerbe and St. Cloud State's Ryan Lasch. Porter leads the nation with 54 points, while RIT's Simon Lampert has 51 points.
Special Teams Are the Key: Through 33 games this season the Colonials are converting at 18.5% (33-of-178) on the power-play, while killing off 78.1% (143-of-183) of their penalties.
Record Chasing: Senior Ryan Cruthers has set new RMU single-season highs already this season for points (48) and goals (22). While both he and Chris Margott are tied with a single-season record 26 assists. Margott currently holds the RMU career record for points (89), goals (40) and assists with 50. Margott is also on pace to become the first four-year RMU player to surpass the 100-point mark. He currently has 89 points in under three years of action.
100 Point Club: With his 16th assist of the season, on the Colonials final goal against Niagara on Saturday, Jan. 12 senior Ryan Cruthers became the first player in Colonial history to tally 100 career points. Over his four-year career, he tallied 34 points at Army during the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. Cruthers recorded 37 points last season, his first as a Colonial and currently has 48 points this season for a total of 85 points as a Colonial. He currently has 119 career points.
The Award Goes To: So far this season, the Colonials have received 11 CHA Player of the Week awards and one INCH.com Player of the Week award. Senior goalie Christian Boucher has tallied a pair of CHA Defensive Player of the Week awards, while Ryan Cruthers has tallied a pair of CHA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Sean Berkstresser, Jason Towsley and Chris Margott have all tallied one CHA Offensive Player of the Week award. Chris Kaufman and Denny Urban have both tallied a pair of defensive player of the week awards. Towsley picked up the INCH.com Player of the Week award on 10/15/07.
The Magic of Four: Four has been a magic number for the Colonials in their first three-plus seasons of Division I hockey. As in scoring at least four and giving up less than four. When the Colonials reach four goals, they are 34-8-5 (.777) all-time. If they hold opponents to less than four goals, the are 42-19-9 (.664). On the other side of the coin, when RMU scores less than four, they are just 6-49-3 (.129). When opponents score four of more, the Colonials are just 3-52-4 (.085).
Talking About the Road: Robert Morris is 22-43-5 on the road all-time including 7-8-2 this season. They went 6-12-1 in 2006-07, 4-12-1 in 2005-06 and 5-11-1 in 2004-05. RMU never went more than three-games during the 2006-07 season with out picking up a victory on the road, a vast improvement over the 12-game road winless streak during the 2005-06 season that ended with a 3-2 win at Air Force (2/24/06). The Colonials will play 20 games away from the RMU Island Sports Center this coming season, including three neutral site games against Boston University, Wayne State and Ohio State.
Saturday It Is: Last season "it" was Friday, this season "it" is Saturday - as in the only day the Colonials are over the .500 mark. So far this season RMU is 7-6-1 on Saturday's. All-time however, RMU is 23-33-4 on Saturday's.
Splitting the CHA: So far during the 2007-08 season, the Colonials are 2-for-10 in sweeping conference weekend series'. They swept Wayne State on Oct. 26-27 and Feb. 8-9. The Colonials played 10 weekend series' against CHA foes last season, coming away with only two sweeps, against Niagara and Bemidji State in consecutive weekends.
