2023–24 Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey season was the 18th season of play for the program and the 12th in Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials represented Robert Morris University, played their home games at the Clearview Arena and were coached by Derek Schooley in his 18th season.
==Season==
With the team returning to the ice for the first time in over two years, the team accomplished its primary objective for the year simply by existing. There were few, if any, expectations for the team that still had to learn how to work together. Predictably, both the offense and defense were weak but neither were embarrassingly so; the Colonials averaged more than 2 goals per game despite suffering through a terrible stretch in the middle of the season. The team's porous defense surrendered an average of almost 40 shots per game and Robert Morris was routinely outshot throughout the season. While starter Chad Veltri faced an daunting task in most games, he did give the Colonials a chance to win on most nights. The Niagara transfer stopped well more than 90% of the shots he faced and led the nation in saves per game.
As the season progressed, Robert Morris was consistently ranked among the worst teams, but that didn't stop the Colonials from producing a few highlights. The shutout of Bowling Green in just their second game back was a welcome relief for the fans who hadn't seen the program win since 2021. While their road trip to Minneapolis resulted in two losses, RMU's defense stood strong against the highly-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers. The best moment of the year, however, was probably the team's first playoff game. The RMU power play scored twice to give the team a 2-goal lead over Bentley entering the third period. While Robert Morris was unable to hold the lead, they still had a chance to win in overtime. Just before the end of the extra session, Cameron Garvey intercepted a pass behind the Falcons' cage and wrapped the puck around to score the winning goal. The team was unable to parlay their upset victory into any further success, but that did not detract from their successful return.
Off of the ice, the team had two very positive developments over the course of the year. The first was a deal struck with SportsNet Pittsburgh to broadcast select games for both the men's and women's teams. Not only would this increase the visibility of the program, but the additional funds would help to stability the program. Towards the end of the season, the university announced plans for a new $28 million arena and were seeking to have some of the cost offset by the state. While estimates put the completion for the project approximately three years away, the plans themselves demonstrated that the school was now expecting to keep its ice hockey team around for the foreseeable future.
==Departures==
Note: All departures occurred after the 2020–21 season.
Justin Addamo 	Forward 		Transferred to Rensselaer
Garrett Clegg 	Forward 		Transferred to Oswego State
Reid Cooper 	Goaltender		Transferred to Curry
Matt Guerra 	Forward 		Transferred to Holy Cross
Santeri Hartikainen	Forward 		Transferred to American International
Kyler Head 	Forward 		Transferred to Mercyhurst
Grant Hebert 	Forward 		Transferred to Maine
Randy Hernández 	Forward 		Transferred to Canisius
Nick Jenny 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Roman Kraemer 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Brian Kramer 	Defenseman		Transferred to American International
David Lafrance 	Defenseman		Returned to juniors (Halifax Mooseheads)
Nick Lalonde 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Geoffrey Lawson 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Tyler Love 	Defenseman		Transferred to Wisconsin–Eau Claire
Dyllan Lubbesmeyer 	Goaltender		Graduation (retired)
Brendon Michaelian 	Defenseman		Transferred to Ferris State
Nick Prkusic 	Forward 		Graduation (retired)
Nolan Schaeffer 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Aidan Spellacy 	Forward 		Transferred to St. Cloud State
Bradley Stonnell 	Defenseman		Transferred to Wisconsin–Superior
Jordan Timmons 	Forward 		Transferred to Long Island
Darcy Walsh 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Quinn Warmuth 	Defenseman		Transferred to Oswego State
Noah West 	Goaltender		Transferred to Michigan
==Recruiting==
Due to the team being dormant for two years, the vast majority of the roster is made up of players new to the program. The Colonials have only three returning players: Gavin Gulash, Cameron Hebert and Matt Hutton
==Roster==
As of September 15, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	F 	37	15	11 	26 	14
 	F 	37	6 	17 	23 	24
 	C 	33	5 	17 	22 	22
 	F 	37	9 	12 	21 	43
 	LW	38	11	9 	20 	45
 	LW	35	6 	9 	15 	6
 	C 	37	11	3 	14 	19
 	C 	38	6 	8 	14 	35
 	D 	38	4 	10 	14 	26
 	D 	39	2 	11 	13 	10
 	W 	36	6 	6 	12 	19
 	D 	39	0 	10 	10 	8
 	F 	38	2 	7 	9 	35
 	LW	36	3 	4 	7 	41
 	RW	33	2 	5 	7 	20
 	D 	29	1 	5 	6 	18
 	D 	18	2 	2 	4 	8
 	D 	33	0 	4 	4 	35
 	F 	16	2 	1 	3 	10
 	F 	11	1 	1 	2 	0
 	G 	13	0 	1 	1 	0
 	G 	22	0 	1 	1 	6
 	D 	29	0 	1 	1 	43
 	G 	32	0 	1 	1 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	3 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	RW	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	12	0 	0 	0 	4
Total	 	 	94	156	250	493
==Goaltending statistics==
 	3 	7:32 	0 	0 	0	0 	8 	0	1.000	0.00
 	13	537:34 	3 	4 	0	28 	349 	1	.926 	3.13
 	32	1819:58	8 	21	3	105	1054	1	.909 	3.46
Empty Net	- 	11:00 	- 	- 	-	9 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	39	2376:04	11	25	3	142	1411	2	.909 	3.59
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 (Final)	
USCHO.com	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey seasons
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