Robert Morris hockey players withholding transfer announcements to show solidarity with Colonials programs, ex-teammates

With every passing day, it’s getting harder and harder to resuscitate the Robert Morris hockey programs. It’s been almost two weeks since the university abruptly eliminated the successful men’s and women’s teams.

While supporters and alumni are scurrying to come up with funds to keep them alive — or plans to circumvent their elimination — school administrators seem disinterested in reconsidering.

Murry Gunty said yesterday during an exchange of messages that the school hasn’t spoken a word to him in recent days and that “they are ignoring everyone” who reached out with plans to keep the program afloat.

Gunty is the CEO of Black Bear Sports which has ownership of 27 ice rinks nationwide and has offered to buy the Island Sports Center and broker a deal independently — or through the Pittsburgh Penguins — as a way to make the teams solvent.

But according to Gunty, those efforts have gained almost zero traction.

So the players have to be proactive. While RMU has frequently stated that the scholarships of the players will be honored at the same rate they would have been had the teams remained in place, those who still have goals of playing Division I hockey have to move on through an incredibly crowded transfer portal.

On the men’s side, defenseman Brendon Michaelian was set to return to Moon Township for his fourth season before the May 26 news that the programs had been cut. Since then, he and many of his teammates have been in limbo as to how to best handle their futures.

Do they wait until head coach Derek Schooley or someone else comes along and says, “Give up. The teams aren’t coming back”?

Or do they throw out as many lines as possible to teams searching the transfer portal, in hopes of snagging a scholarship on the first bite?

“A lot of guys are on the front lines helping with the GoFundMe efforts, putting stuff on social media,” Michaelian said on Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “Making sure we support each other. But at the same time, we have to look out for ourselves as individuals. We don’t want to. But we have to be selfish if something else comes.”

Michaelian says there is an understanding within the group to avoid announcing anything publicly until the fate of the RMU program is fully known or until the players’ new schools have to make an announcement themselves.

Even on that front, multiple players have said their new coaches fully support that decision and some are even endorsing it as a gesture of support for the Colonials coaches.

Not to mention gratitude for how those same coaches have facilitated the process of matching players with new homes.

Michaelian is among those who have drawn interest from other schools. According to multiple conversations with members of last year’s team, he joins forwards Grant Hebert, Justin Addamo, Santeri Hartikainen and fellow defenseman Brian Kramer (Wexford, Pa.) as Colonials who are either close to making a decision about transferring or already have done so and are withholding a public announcement.

Those same individuals say Ferris State, RPI, Maine, Mercyhurst and American International are some of the schools that are likely destinations for departing Colonials. Although Mercyhurst’s involvement may only extend to two incoming recruits — T.J. Hughes and Jake Beaune — who previously announced their decisions to switch schools after the RMU news hit.

As Michaelian describes it, unity among potentially departing players is a sign of solidarity with the program as it continues to fundraise in hopes of a last-minute bailout — hoping enough players can hold on as long as possible so that, if a solution is discovered, there’s a program left that’s worth saving.

In other words, the players themselves don’t want to augment the demise of their own team by publicly thinning the roster before all hope is gone.

“It’s hard not to feel guilty, or wrong, that you are talking to these other teams. I feel like I should be coming back to Moon Township in August. Emotionally, it’s taking a toll on a lot of guys,” Michaelian said.

Addamo says some players are also waiting to make any announcements because they potentially don’t want to celebrate a fresh start while other teammates may not be lucky enough to have found a new spot to land.

“Some guys may not get as many chances as others,” Addamo said. “By pure respect, individually, a lot of players are deciding not to talk about this openly to the public, any transfer. Any update. … It would be weird to put this in someone’s face or announce it like that after what just happened.”

Then there is the question of what happens if players do commit somewhere else and suddenly an announcement is made that RMU is getting its teams back.

“I’m not sure how that works honestly,” Hebert said. “I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to come back if I sign with a different school. I haven’t thought about that or looked into it. I’m not sure if it’s even possible.”

Any efforts on this front for the women’s team were undercut by some deadline issues.

Three of the team’s best players — goalie Raygan Kirk, defenseman Emily Curlett and forward Lexi Templeman — all committed to Ohio State. That news broke on a college hockey website and was published by the Colonial Sports Network.

Just something else in this news cycle Colonials players couldn’t control. A feeling they are all too familiar with at this point.

Colonials defenseman Brendon Michaelian joins me for Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. He talks about the loss of the RMU hockey programs, how the Colonials players are handling the fallout and how the coaches are helping the student-athletes find new homes.