After two-year hiatus, return of Colonials hockey programs 'like Christmas'

Schooley and Bittle recently took time to talk with DKPS about the upcoming season and look back over the past two years.

How excited are you for the start of the season?

Schooley: "It's like Christmas. You're looking forward to it, you've been looking forward to it for a long time, and it's finally coming up. You're really excited as you start to see all the stuff they're doing to the rink and on the planning for Oct. 7. We had some milestones -- having a team on campus, having our first practice, having all these little things that have happened. And here we are getting (close) to Oct. 7."

Bittle: "Excited would be an understatement. Obviously, two years ago, just to be sitting around talking about RMU hockey would be exciting. And now on the women's side, (this) week starts our regular season. So, a lot of hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears kind of went into getting these teams back going. And I know for sure our staff and our players are really excited to to get back going."

How much are your players looking forward to being part of the group that's helping resurrect the program?

Schooley: "We all came here for a reason, and one of the reasons was that. Especially the older guys, because they knew the proud history of Robert Morris hockey, and they knew where where we had been. Some of them had played against us, some of them we had recruited previously. But they wanted to help Robert Morris get back on the map. They've been outstanding. They've been great in the community, great in the classroom, and I can't say enough how hard they're working on the ice. Hopefully we're ready when we drop the puck against Bowling Green."

Bittle: "That's one of the big things, as we went through the recruiting process with the majority of them, is kind of selling that being a part of something special. I was fortunate enough to be on the first men's team that came through from 2004 to 2008, and I have the, I guess, unique experience of helping to start a program from the from the player side. So, kind of had the experience selling that. You don't really have to sell it, but each and every one of the girls we talked to is really, really excited to kind of add to the foundation that's already there and the foundation of success."

What can you say about the support the program has received from so many people since the initial decision to shut down a couple years ago?

Schooley: "We got more community support, we got more donor support, we got more Board of Trustees support. We've got tremendous support from our athletic department, led by (Athletic Director) Chris King, and we've got tremendous support through our new President, Michelle Patrick. They've been great. Everybody's been great. Everybody's excited about Robert Morris hockey being back, and we can't wait to get going."

Bittle: "It's touching, for sure. I think one of the major things -- we can talk about the money and the money that was raised, even (last week) was our annual Day of Giving at RMU, and from the women's hockey side, we had over 130 donors and came just shy of $20,000 raised just in one day, and that's absolutely incredible. We can talk about that for a whole other interview. But one of the other great things is just the emails and the text messages and phone calls that you got from from people that these programs affected in their life in a positive way. And the support that they showed, trying to get the teams back, and then ultimately when the teams are back, as far as calling and saying how one of our players on the women's side helped their young daughter fall in love with the game and that person is starting to get ready to go to college and play hockey. I mean, it's just all those little stories and support from the community, the hockey community at large and Pittsburgh, friends and family. It's just been spectacular."

How surprised are you that the program was able to get back up and going relatively quickly?

Schooley: "I'm not surprised. I know that there's a lot of passion here, a lot of enthusiasm for hockey, not just with the Penguins, but youth hockey all the way down. So, I really believe that our group is ready to take on the challenge of restarting this program. Am I surprised? No, I'm not, because it's been there. It's the old saying, You don't know what you've got till it's gone, and then when it was gone, everybody's like, Oh my gosh, we gotta get this back. And they've been on board ever since."

Bittle: "If you kind of look at the landscape of college athletics, when a program is dropped, very rarely to almost never do teams come back. That's a testament to the leadership at our university from our athletic director, Chris King, our new president, Michelle Patrick, kind of right down to all the support that we just talked about, to get these teams back and going. Because again, it doesn't ultimately happen without that support of the Colonial hockey foundation and the city of Pittsburgh, the hockey community. There's gonna be 24 girls on the roster this year and a handful of coaches, but at the end of the day, this team is built of hundreds and hundreds of people."

What was the biggest challenge in starting the program back up?

Schooley: "Everything. I mean, you gotta get players, you gotta reorder equipment, you gotta buy new jerseys. You're basically starting an expansion team. We had got rid of all of our equipment -- the players had taken it who were here. We had sold jerseys. We switched equipment companies from CCM to Bauer. We just had to restart completely. So, what was the challenge? Everything."

Bittle: "There's a lot of little challenges. Obviously, trying to fill a roster that's competitive and doing so kind of with the overhang of what had just happened in the programs. But again, in the conversations that we had with our incoming freshmen, and also we took good advantage of the transfer portal to kind of balance out our classes. The support of the school is better than it's ever been from the top down. And we're not coming back to just come back. We're coming back to get to the level we were at prior, which was competing for league championships year in and year out and competing for national championships, as well."

What are your realistic expectations for this season after taking a couple years off?

Schooley: "That's a tough question. We're going to be picked low in the preseason coaches poll. I think there's a lot of belief in our room, and one of our goals is to try to get a first-round bye, which means you finish in the top five in the league. I think we've got enough experience, I think we've got enough depth, and we've got great goaltending, which can really help us to strive toward those goals. So, on the outside looking in, we're going to be picked to the bottom. On the inside looking in the mirror, I think we're going to surprise a lot of people."

Bittle: "I think the biggest thing -- and we've talked about it with our team -- is going out each and every day that we have the opportunity to step on the ice, whether it's practice or a game or get into the gym or represent these programs in the community, is to make those that came before us proud with our effort, with our gratefulness that we have the opportunity to do that. If we can go out every day and make sure that we're doing right by those that came before us, that's going to be a successful year. As far as on the ice and expectations, we want to compete for a championship. It's not just word talk. Our expectation is to come in and compete right away. We think we have a really great opportunity and a great league like the CHA to jump in and compete for a championship again."

What has being part of the Robert Morris hockey program for so long meant to you?

Schooley: "Well, I just celebrated my 20th year at Robert Morris. We started it once and got it to a national program where it was nationally recognized, and that's my goal to do it again. Hopefully we can do it a lot quicker this time than we did last time. I think there's a lot of ability to do it with the transfer portal and the support we got from the university and the support that we have from the community. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see us turn this thing around pretty quickly."

Bittle: "I consider it a big family. From Derek, who was my coach on the men's side, who I now consider a great friend and a mentor, to everybody that's been here before. I met my wife here. She played on the women's team, I played on the men's team. We have two boys and another on the way, and none of that would have been possible without the opportunity that was provided for me to be a student-athlete at Robert Morris and play on the hockey team. So, I feel like every day I'm going to work with my family, that's an important piece to me and to my family, as well, to have that support from the top down and all around. So, if I can put it in one word, RMU hockey is family."

Men's 2023-24 schedule

Women's 2023-24 schedule