Tim Benz: Robert Morris hockey players embrace emotions surrounding Saturday's return to the ice

Butler’s Paul Maust remembers exactly where he was in May 2021 when he found out that the Robert Morris hockey teams were getting cut from the school’s athletic department. The Mercyhurst player was working out at the Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale with two members of the Colonials team — Brian Kramer (Wexford) and Tyler Love (Moon).

“They just said that they had a Zoom call that they had to do. They were on the Zoom call for a while. Then they just came back, and they said the program wasn’t around anymore,” Maust recalled.

Just like that, both the men’s and women’s teams were gone. That’s how all the players found out. That’s how suddenly they realized their life-long athletic paths were getting derailed. In the case of Kramer and Love, while working out to better themselves for a program they didn’t even know was getting taken away.

But now, after a two-year effort to resurrect the teams, RMU hockey is back. Both the men’s and women’s teams are making their 2023-24 home debuts on Saturday at Clearview Arena on Neville Island. The women’s team (who split a season-opening series at Union last weekend) faces off against St. Anselm at 2 p.m. The men welcome Bowling Green at 7 p.m.

Like many of their former teammates, Kramer and Love were forced to pursue their college hockey opportunities elsewhere. Kramer is now at American International College, and Love went to Wisconsin Eau Claire.

And in an ironic twist, Maust is now at RMU, playing on a grad transfer year after earning his undergraduate degree and playing for four years at Mercyhurst.

“As a scholastic player, I played for Mars High School, the Pittsburgh Hornets and Pittsburgh Pens Elite. We played out of this rink. It was really a program to look up to,” Maust said. Now the forward is one of 10 transfers — three from Mercyhurst — helping to make up the Colonials’ first roster in its comeback season.

“When the news (of the cuts) came out, it was obviously a shock,” Maust said. “I felt bad. I wished there was something I could do. When it was announced the program was coming back, it was something I was looking forward to as a possibility for my fifth year. When I got the chance to come back in May, it was a no-brainer.”

More on Robert Morris hockey returning:

• 'First of many firsts': Robert Morris hockey returns as women's team opens season at Union
• Robert Morris men's hockey names captains in advance of next week's relaunch
• Tim Benz: Robert Morris hockey coaches happy to have the coaching 'stomach acid' back

Cameron Hebert is one of three holdovers from the last roster of Colonials that ended their most recent season in March 2021. Matthew Hutton and Gavin Gulash are the other two. They spent two years helping to bring back the program off the ice and practiced in a vacuum on the ice, patiently waiting for a schedule of games to finally arrive.

For them, Saturday’s program return is going to be particularly special.

“I don’t consider myself a really emotional guy. But I’m going to be very curious to see how it goes for myself on Saturday,” Hebert said. “Even hanging out with the other (RMU) teams, they are all talking about us. ‘How do we get more tickets?’ How exciting it was seeing the line of people (Tuesday) morning (to buy tickets). Pretty surreal. It doesn’t feel real yet. I think it’ll hit me Friday night waiting for the game the next day.”

For the three returnees and some of the local players on the roster, that emotional bond to the program is understandable. But Hebert made the point that for the new transfers and freshman recruits, Saturday night is going to be every bit about them as well — even if they don’t have previous ties to the team or the school.

“They are such a big part of this. I hope they feel special. I hope they know this isn’t all just for us (returning players). This is for all of them. I hope they take it all in. It doesn’t matter that they weren’t here the whole time. All of the celebration, I hope they all feel it,” Hebert said.

One of those players is Providence transfer Luke Johnson. The defenseman was part of a program that has been in the Frozen Four twice since 2015. Now, he is embracing the challenge of helping to bring back Robert Morris as a winner.

“It was a good opportunity to start a new program and bring the culture back to what it used to be. It is an exciting time for the players and the coaches. It’s a unique opportunity to try to win some games in this first year back,” Johnson said. For his part, head coach Derek Schooley likes the blend of players he and the rest of the staff have been able to bring together.

“We are a confident group. We did a lot of stuff over the summer via Zoom to try to hit the ground running and be prepared to build our culture and work together as a group,” Schooley said.

With so much uncertainty about what the on-ice product will look like, the Colonials have been picked 10th in the 11-team Atlantic Hockey Conference. But Schooley thinks his new roster can exceed those projections.

“I do believe that we are going to surprise some people,” Schooley said. “I think we will have our ups and downs. It will take us some time to get where we need to be. So don’t expect the finished product on Oct. 7. But I believe that’s everybody. That’s every team. Every team has to find its own identity.”

When it comes to the bigger picture of having an identity, though, the most important thing for RMU is that it can once again be identified as a hockey school, and Pittsburgh can once again be identified as a college hockey town.

That gets to be celebrated by both Colonials teams on Saturday.

LISTEN: Tim Benz and coach Derek Schooley discuss the return of Robert Morris Hockey on Saturday.