Successful 2010-11 season comes to a close, RMU Gold looks for more in 2011-12!
After posting a 26-11-1 record in what was truly a season to remember, the RMU-IL Gold hockey team is looking to make sure that the arrow points to more National Tournament appearances and an eventual National Championship. The 2010-11 season saw the team post a series of program landmarks: defeating perennial national power the University of Illinois for the first time on the Illini's home ice in Champaign; finish above .500 in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, the nation's top ACHA conference; defeat a trio of Top-10 teams on the road; place two players on both the league and National All-Star teams; and reach its stated pre-season goal of earning its way to the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship Tournament by finishing the regular season as the nation's #12 team.
Losing senior captain Matt Olson and co-captain Jesper Carlsten, All-Star goalie Dan Venet, and forwards Bart Reeves, Chad Johnson, Nick Fina and Devin Hapanavich will leave gaping holes in the line-up, but will also mean great opportunity for incoming freshmen and returning players looking for significant playing time. The first chance for those players to show what they have will come on the weekend of April 15 and 16 when the Gold team holds its annual Recruit Weekend. Over those two days, the coaching staff will assemble potential incoming student-athletes in two high-paced scrimmages, and host those players for an academic seminar that will give them a taste of what it is to be a student at Robert Morris. Players attending will have played in the NAHL, the N3HL, the NORPAC, AAA, and high school levels, and will get a chance to see the team's state-of-the-art locker room and rink facilities, meet the returning core of players, and talk to RMU-IL alumni about what representing the school on the ice meant to them.
The challenges will be plenty for the 2011-12 edition of the Eagles. The schedule is significantly tougher, with perennial power Oklahoma University making the trip to Bensenville to participate in the RMU-IL Showcase, the team making a challenging road trip to another ACHA powerhouse in Minot State University (ND), as well as competing in the ACHA Showcase that will be held in Springfield, IL.
All of that comes on top of the team's games against their league rivals, with the team traveling to Iowa State, Kent State and Indiana, while hosting Lindenwood, Illinois, and Ohio University. Making the National Tournament will be an even tougher task, as it will likely take an eleventh rank or higher for the squad to earn its way to Cleveland, Ohio, for the 2012 title series hosted by Kent State.
"Assistant coach Chad Berman and I have been out recruiting with an eye towards making sure the program takes the next step," said head coach Chico Adrahtas. "The graduating class was very talented and they were an essential part of what we were able to build. We won't try to replace them on a one-by-one basis, but rather by trying to make sure our new players give us strength in numbers, ability, and--most essentially--character. The real strength of our team last year was the bond they had, and we want to make sure that the people we're adding to that locker room only strengthen that bond."
Coach Berman has also put together an ambitious off-ice program to make sure all the players are able to hit the ground running when they report in September. "We established the right mind set this year, an environment where winning was the expectation," said Berman. "So we want to make sure that we are physically at our peak from the get-go next year. We won't be sneaking up on anybody and we want to prove we belong in the top tier of ACHA hockey."
Anyone interested in more information about the April Gold Team recruiting weekend can contact Director of Hockey Operations Tom Wendlandt at RMCHockey@aol.com.