Program History
The history of Robert Morris University’s Division I men’s hockey team truly began more than a year before its inaugural season of 2004-05, when a confluence of events sparked the program into existence.
In the span of 15 days in August of 2003, RMU’s athletic department — led by late former athletic director Susan Hofacre — both hired its first men’s hockey coach in Derek Schooley and purchased the Island Sports Center on Neville Island. The Colonials had found a leader and a home.
There was still much work to be done, but by the time former RMU president Edward Nicholson dropped the puck at center ice of what is now called Colonials Arena on Oct. 23, 2004, it was official. The growing hockey market in and surrounding Pittsburgh had a bona fide college team to call its own.
The first group of varsity players to take the Island Sports Center ice in RMU red, white and blue laid the foundation for what has become one of the most consistently successful men’s hockey programs in Division I.
Since the start of the 2010s in particular, there are few peers for the Colonials’ standards of success. Even though 2017-18 and 2018-19 saw RMU fall below .500 in the regular season, the Colonials surged at playoff time in both seasons, including a clutch run last March that set up their sixth consecutive appearance in the AHA semifinal round, tying a league record.
All in all, Schooley’s team has reached four AHA title games and raised three championship banners since the start of the decade. After making the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament via an AHA postseason title in 2013-14, the Colonials ruled the league during the grueling regular season in 2014-15 and 2015-16, winning 24 games in each of those years.
With the winning has come something else: A reputation for offense. From 2013-18, the Colonials ranked in the top half of Division I in goals per game, with an average ranking of 11th and a high water mark of third in 2015-16. During that time, RMU has featured five players who have finished seasons as top-20 scorers in D-I men’s pucks: Brady Ferguson (twice), Cody Wydo (twice), Greg Gibson (twice), Zac Lynch and Adam Brace.
Despite a 2020 campaign affected deeply by injury as well as a global pandemic, the Colonials still found a way to continue their legacy of excellence in the post season, earning a first-round playoff win winning their tenth consecutive three-game series in as many attempts since the 2013-14 campaign and advancing to the AHA quarterfinal against Sacred Heart before the matchup was eventually canceled due to COVID-19.
The Colonials got off to their best start in program history in 2021 at 11-3 and saw themselves ranked within the USCHO Top 20 for much of the season, reaching a program-best #17 in January. At 15-9 overall and 10-5-0 in AHA play, the Colonials earned a West Division title while boasting the AHA Coach of the Year as well as conference MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Defenseman of the Year. The top offensive team in AHA and one of the most prolific in all of college hockey, RMU’s 85 goals was one of the highest totals in all of NCAA DI, and their 25% success rate on the power-play was tops in the conference.
But, as is always the case in college hockey, contributions will be necessary from all positions and classes. At this point, a decade and a half past its inception, RMU men’s hockey has a hard-earned reputation in this sport, but the proving ground is renewed every season.
The Colonials have experienced adversity in their history but the bar has been steadily rising every season since that humble start in 2003, and they have continued to persevere no matter the circumstances. That’s both a credit to those who’ve come before, and a challenge to those who continue to carry the flag.
