Several Robert Morris men’s hockey players received awards and honors over the past week from the Atlantic Hockey Association.

Freshman scoring sensation Randy Hernández was awarded the Rookie of the Month honor for January 2021 from the conference this past Monday.

Hernández’s efforts produced crucial game-winning goals in the early portions of the month, as the Colonials notched victories over RIT January 2-3, before grabbing a pair of assists in RMU’s 3-2 overtime win against Niagara on January 7. Hernández scored the game-tying goal in a wild 5-3 come-from-behind win against arch-rival Mercyhurst to close out the month on January 30.

Senior goaltender Dylan Lubbesmeyer was nominated for one of six of the conference’s yearly “Hockey Humanitarian” awards, stemming from his consistent work, both in Moon Township and his home state of Minnesota, as a leader on and off the ice with regards to youth hockey coaching and recruitment. Another accolade for Lubbesmeyer was becoming a member of the Colonial Leadership Academy program in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons at RMU. The CLA strives to promote and hone leadership skills among all student-athletes at RMU.

Lubbesmeyer is the third nominee in the history of the men’s hockey program to be nominated for this award, joining alumni Furman South and David Friedman, and the seventh overall for RMU, joining women’s hockey alumnae Katelyn Scott ’15, Brianna Delaney ’12, and Whitney Pappas ’11.

Another freshman skater has also found success on the ice that has caught the eye of conference members. Freshman Brian Kramer, who hails from nearby Wexford, Pennsylvania, received the AHA’s Rookie of the Week award for the week of February 8, 2021. Kramer posted three assists in two games against Long Island University, including a two-assist night in game one, on February 4 and 5, and finished that weekend with a plus-3 rating overall.

He is joined in blue line honors by junior defenseman Brendon Michaelian, who earned the AHA Defensive Player of the Week award last week, owing to his own three-point effort against the Sharks at the beginning of the month, flying out with a blistering nine shots on goal in a 4-0 win in game two of the series.

Finally, junior forward Nick Lalonde earned AHA Player of the Week honors last week as well, staking his claim with his ferocious four-point weekend against LIU with a three-point effort in the first game against the Sharks in which he had two goals an assist. This effort proved to be crucial as it set up Grant Hebert’s second-period marker to put the Colonials on top for good in a much-needed victory.

After having their recent series against Canisius canceled due to COVID-19 protocol issues within the Golden Griffins program, the 19th-ranked Colonials return to the ice this Saturday at 7:05 p.m. to start a weekend series against the RIT Tigers on the road in Western New York. The game will be streamed live on FloHockey.

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