“I’ve talked to you a lot of times here when I wasn’t in a good mood, so I’ll talk to you now,” said Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley upon entering the pressroom at Dwyer Arena in Niagara after his team rode Chris Kushneriuk’s first career hat trick to earn just their third win all-time in 15 games in western New York.
“We came out and battled and that was our theme of the week. We did the simple things and at times outworked them. But that’s a very good hockey team that’s not indicative of that team.”
RMU got off to a 2-6-0 start with wins against Alaska-Anchorage and Quinnipiac, but had scored more than one goal just once in their last five games leading to the Niagara series. They netted five in the win and three more in a tie in Moon Township the next day in the home-and-home series.
“If you look at our schedule, we’re playing all ranked teams and our strength of schedule is number one in the nation. We traveled to Alaska, traveling to Big Rapids, home against a ranked and unbeaten team in Quinnipiac, then to Bemidji and back on the bus to come here, we’ve put a lot of miles in.
“At times we’re a little fatigued, but I’m happy with our offense, but we need to make sure to tighten up defensively.”
Kushneriuk, who played at Wayne State two seasons ago in their final campaign, took over the team lead with his fourth, fifth and sixth goals of the season.
“I like to lurk around the net and try to find rebounds,” said the Ottawa native. “I’m never going to be an extremely flashy player, but when you’re playing with guys like (Nathan) Longpre and (Zach) Hervato, it makes everyone’s job a lot easier. I think our line right now has the right mindset.”
With the 3-3 tie at Robert Morris, Niagara ended their eight-game losing streak. Four days later, they finally earned the first win of the season on home ice against RPI thanks to three goals from freshmen Brent Vandenberg (2) and Giancario Iuorio—his first collegiate goal.
The Purps may have answered a few other season-long questions over the last five days as well with junior goaltender Adam Avramenko making 19 saves with one goal allowed against the Engineers after a 31-save effort in the Robert Morris tie.
And the Niagara power play, last in the nation with one marker over the first seven games, has exploded with six goals in their last 13 chances.
Robert Morris travels to Colorado College, currently seventh in the INCH Power Rankings, before again making the trek to Niagara the day before Thanksgiving.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
· Just five days after the Niagara coaching staff thought they would be making an announcement about senior defenseman Ryan Annesley being lost for the season due to a shoulder injury, the Purps’ best defenseman appeared in the lineup for both games against the Colonials and then tallied two assists in the win over RPI.
· Bemidji State announced the signing of forwards Radoslav Illo (Bystrica, Slovakia) and Jeff Jubinville (Edmonton, Alberta) during the fall early signing period and will join the program for the 2010-11 campaign. Illo was a fifth round draft choice of Anaheim in June.
· Bemidji State is averaging exactly three goals per game more in the second game of a two-game series than the first game this season. They have scored 11 goals in series-openers while piling up 26 goals in the second tilt of the weekend.
· After managing just one goal over two home losses to UMass-Lowell last weekend, Alabama-Huntsville takes a 119:14 scoreless streak into Bemidji State this weekend. The Chargers are riding a six-game losing streak, but two of those losses were to the Beavers and both went into overtime Halloween weekend. UAH hasn’t scored more than one goal in a game since Oct. 17.
