Monday, April 1, 2013
Robert Morris, Penguins forge bonds, bring Frozen Four to Pittsburgh
It all started at a Penguins game about six years ago.
Before the first puck dropped in Robert Morris hockey’s inaugural game, Penguins vice president of communication Tom McMillan invited Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley and associate athletic director Marty Galosi to take in a Penguins game from a luxury box in Mellon Arena. There, he unveiled grand plans.
“I remember Tom mentioning ‘Hey it would be great if you guys could come out here and play some games, put together a tournament, maybe even host the Frozen Four,'” Galosi said.
“We were like, ‘OK …'” his voice trailing.
On Wednesday, Galosi, Schooley and McMillan stood across the street from that spot, on the arena floor of the Consol Energy Center and publicly recognized their winning bid to bring the 2013 Frozen Four to Pittsburgh.
It was the most-celebrated moment in what has been a mutually beneficial relationship between the Penguins and Robert Morris hockey.
“We could not have a better relationship with a professional sports franchise than we at Robert Morris have with the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Robert Morris athletic director Craig Coleman said.
Schooley has helped coach at some of the Penguins’ youth hockey camps, and the Penguins have practiced on Robert Morris’ rink at the Island Sports Center. The Penguins have invited Robert Morris’ men’s and women’s teams to play an annual game in an NHL arena — the past four years at Mellon Arena and again this fall at the Consol Energy Center.
Schooley said the annual Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase, which lures some of the nation’s top teams to play the Colonials, has helped him recruit better players. In January, Robert Morris beat then-No. 1 Miami at Mellon Arena, a signature win for a program that started in 2004. The Colonials beat the Redhawks again a couple days later at Miami.
“It’s an unbelievably quick rise from just starting a program from scratch, going into Division I and knocking off a No. 1-ranked team twice in the same year,” Penguins president David Morehouse said. “It’s unheard of in any sport.”
Robert Morris founded its men’s and women’s hockey programs as it expanded its sports offerings between 2003 and ’05. In doing so, it filled a void the Penguins had long recognized in Western Pennsylvania.
“Pittsburgh had all levels of hockey but that, so we were hoping that one of the schools went Division I,” McMillan said.
The Penguins had discussed the possibility of bringing the Frozen Four to Pittsburgh before Robert Morris started its program, McMillan said, but believed a bid would not be successful without a college team in the area and a new arena.
That’s why he did not hesitate to broach the subject when he first met Schooley and Galosi several years ago.
“I’m not sure if we really believed it at that point,” McMillan said, “but that’s when it became a reality that we might host it.”
Schooley said his hope is the Frozen Four and his program’s growth will help keep Pittsburgh’s elite youth players in the area.
“Our goal is the same as Robert Morris’ goal,” Morehouse said. “We’d love to see kids in Pittsburgh, who start playing pee-wee hockey, be able to stay in Pittsburgh when they’re in high school and later. It’d be great for us to have a continuum from age 6 all the way up to the professional level.”
The Penguins and Robert Morris said they want the relationship to grow. Morehouse said he hopes Robert Morris can play more games at the Consol Energy Center and suggested an in-season tournament or a doubleheader featuring some of the nation’s top teams. Schooley said he hopes the Colonials can play at Heinz Field as part of the Winter Classic, which is something the Penguins have discussed, but the decision lies with the NHL.
“We’d love to be involved in whatever way they’d like us to be,” Schooley said.