Moon Township, Pa. - In what turned out to be a strange evening in New York, the Colonials Division I club ice hockey team wrapped up their third consecutive Eastern Collegiate Hockey League (ECHL) regular season championship with a convincing win against the University of Rochester on Jan. 16.
It's been a season of milestones for the Colonials: Coach Jason Evans, a 2007 graduate of Robert Morris University, captured his 100th victory, and the team has been ranked ninth in the nation by the American Collegiate Hockey Association coaches' poll -- its highest rank in the program's six-year history.
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The team plowed through several white-outs and snow storms to arrive at the rink in Rochester to learn their game would be delayed an extra hour because a high school team set to play a game that evening was delayed in arriving from Syracuse. |
Colonials Division I club hockey team
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The 45-minute delay did not seem to affect the Colonials, who controlled the game from the opening face-off, outshooting their opponent 83-17. Freshman goaltender Brent Baburich (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler Area High School) won his second game of the season and kept his goals against average at an anemic 1.
The next night, the Colonials topped the Niagara University Purple Eagles, 7-2. With a win over the University of Pittsburgh on Monday, RMU improved its record to 22-3, the most wins in team history.
The ECHL playoffs will begin Thursday, Feb. 19 with the Colonials holding the No. 1 seeding and a game on Friday, Feb. 20 against the lowest remaining seed in the tournament.