Robert Morris hockey looks like old times again
The Colonials have picked up where they left off after a long hiatus.
By Lily Morgan ·
Residents of Allegheny County may notice a shift in the local hockey scene, as the Robert Morris Colonials have begun to return to form. Following an unexpected hiatus during the Covid years, the team is starting to pick back up where it left off.
The Colonials’ recent victory over Penn State, 5-2, marked a return to familiar territory. This win was especially satisfying for the team, as it was a game they were not supposed to win. It was the kind of game the team used to win all the time, but it had been long enough since they’d actually won one that they could have been forgiven for beginning to wonder if it would ever win such a game again.
This was not just a win, but a grudge match, given the nature of the on-again, off-again commonwealth rivalry between the two schools. The two schools hadn’t even played each other since 2020.
The win was especially satisfying because this wasn’t a game they were supposed to win. Still, it was familiar if they squinted. There was a time when RMU hockey made a habit out of punching up, out of consistently beating nationally ranked and/or brand-name, blue blood programs.
The Colonials had one, center Ryan MacPherson, a sixth-round selection of Philadelphia in 2023. This was NIL vs. SOL.
RMU opened at No. 6 Wisconsin, which had played in college hockey’s national championship game last April, and dropped a couple of highly competitive decisions, 4-2 and 1-0, in Madison. Then came a home-and-home with Miami (unranked this time although the RedHawks will be again soon) that resulted in a 7-1 blowout and a 3-2 battle that, as the Wisconsin series had, suggested the Colonials were close.
Frustratingly so. It finally came together against Penn State, but is it tangible evidence that Robert Morris hockey is indeed finally back? Was it a breakthrough? A statement game? It’s still a little too early for such declarations, but the Colonials can now be forgiven for wondering if it’s once again time to at least begin clearing their throats.
Source: Pittsburgh Magazine · original report published
