'Festive day' as Robert Morris hockey teams play 1st home games since 2021

A lively celebration enveloped Clearview Arena on Saturday, and for good reason: Division I hockey is back in the hockeytown of Pittsburgh.

Outside Robert Morris Island Sports Center’s Neville Island complex, tailgaters were undeterred by a chill in the air as they partied between games of the men’s and women’s doubleheader in their first home openers in three years.

“It’s a festive situation,” Robert Morris athletic director Chris King said while watching the RMU men’s team take on Bowling Green. “It’s been a long time coming.”

When both RMU teams went dormant following the 2020-21 season amid a wave of dropped athletics programs because of coronavirus-fueled financial losses, the university similarly sought to cut costs.

But a resounding response triggered a push to rescue the sport.

“It was a handful of alums and leaders in the community who are supporters of RMU who worked really hard to get the original pledges that we got,” women’s coach Logan Bittle, then an assistant, said at the time. “The university wanted to get on board to help raise the rest. It’s been a lot of work. It’s good to see how much people care about the programs.”

A total of $2.8M reportedly was raised with a goal of sustaining the teams for the first two years and then, according to Bittle in a 2021 interview, allowing “the sustainability of athletics at RMU to take over.”

On the ice in their long-awaited return, the Colonials split their games. The women defeated St. Anselm, 6-1, and the men lost to Bowling Green, 3-0.

The loss did not spoil the day for men’s coach Derek Schooley.

“It was emotional all day,” said Schooley, the only men’s coach in RMU program history dating to the inaugural 2004-05 season. “We were there for pregame skate. … I didn’t leave.”

He witnessed his daughter Kaitlyn Schooley, on her 20th birthday, score her first college goal in the RMU women’s game.

“It was a special day. Obviously, it was special for me, personally,” Derek Schooley said. “That was special as a father. I put the father pants on from about 2 to about 4 and then, I became coach again. A special day, an emotional day all around.”

When the puck dropped in the men’s nightcap, it took just 51 seconds until Spencer Kersten’s goal gave Bowling Green a 1-0 lead.

The Falcons made it 2-0 at 12:40 of the first on Dalton Norris’ power-play goal, and the score stood until Ben Wozney’s empty-netter at 17:32 of the third set the final count.

Bowling Green goaltender Christian Stoever stopped all 27 RMU shots, including a second-period breakaway by Tanner Klimpke, whose wrister got past Stoever and ricocheted off the post.

RMU goalie Chad Veltri, a Niagara transfer from Fox Chapel, made 40 stops for the Colonials.

“He was great. He gave us a chance,” Schooley said.

The end result was not what he’d hoped for, but Schooley wasn’t complaining. It wasn’t the time, day or place for that, he said.

“Win or lose, we had already won,” Schooley said. “It’s good to be back. It’s good to compete. It’s good to feel the emotion of a game. Obviously, we’d like it to be on the other side. But I thought for a young team that hadn’t played together, minus the first period, I thought we figured out how to play at a higher level. We had to play harder. They took it to us in the first period.”

In the women’s game, Maggie Hatch stopped 31 shots and Robert Morris earned its second consecutive victory by beating St. Anselm. Janelle Evans scored a goal and assisted on two others for the Colonials (2-1-0).

Both RMU teams return to the ice Sunday. The RMU men (0-1-0) travel to Bowling Green (1-0-0) for a 5 p.m. rematch, and the RMU women meet St. Anselm (0-2-0) again at noon at Clearview Arena.

It has been a story of perseverance, this Robert Morris hockey saga. At one point, the Colonials were out of sight. Now, they’re alive and kicking.

Take Saturday, for example. With tailgaters everywhere outside, fans browsed merchandise inside the Island Pro Shop at Clearview Arena, where RMU gear — souvenir hats and jerseys among it — was in full view.

Meanwhile, King couldn’t help but chuckle as he recalled the events of the day.

“Coach Bittle texted myself and coach Schooley at the crack of dawn this morning and was really excited,” he said. “He was jumping out of his seat. I think he already had had his first triple espresso. He said, ‘It’s a great day to have a great day.’ That was a great way to sum up the culmination of finally getting here and the reality of being able to get our men’s and women’s teams relaunched and get the season underway.”