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Samantha Grier/Miami's Joe Hartman and Ohio State's Jeff McNeil skate for the puck during their game on Saturday, Dec. 12 at Steve Cady Arena.

By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 7:40 AM Friday, January 8, 2010

OXFORD — The Miami University hockey team is quite literally starting the season over again.

The top-ranked RedHawks haven’t played a game since Dec. 12, but the extended holiday break is over.

Miami (13-2-5) travels to Pittsburgh on Friday, Jan. 8, to face Robert Morris (3-12-3) in nonconference play.

“It’s actually kind of nice to break up everything and basically start from scratch,” MU coach Enrico Blasi said. “We kind of went back to camp last week, and we’ve worked really, really hard. I think the guys have embraced it. Hopefully we’ve energized ourselves and we’re ready to go.”

Miami has a split series with Robert Morris, with the Colonials set to come to Steve Cady Arena on Sunday afternoon at 4:05.

It’s a mismatch on paper. Indeed, RMU hasn’t registered a win in almost two months, going 0-6-3 since beating Niagara on Nov. 13

Yet Colonials coach Derek Schooley said his squad has been competitive against a difficult schedule.

“People laugh at me and say you’ve only got three wins and three ties, but we like our hockey team,” Schooley said. “We work extremely hard. We’ve been close, and we’re on the verge of figuring it out. But right now, close hasn’t been good enough.”

This is a big day for Robert Morris, which is hosting three hockey games at Mellon Arena, the soon-to-be-demolished home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. The women play Connecticut at 2 p.m. and the club team faces Penn State at 5 p.m., followed by the Miami game at 8:05.

“This is something they’ve advertised for quite some time,” Blasi said. “We know we’re going to get their best.”

The MU coach said Robert Morris has a tremendous power play. The Colonials’ top point men are Nathan Longpre (eight goals, 13 assists), Chris Kushneriuk (nine goals, 11 assists), Trevor Lewis (three goals, 11 assists) and Denny Urban (five goals, seven assists).

“We’re a young hockey team,” said Schooley, a former Western Michigan defenseman. “It bodes well for the future, but in the present, we’ve got some growing pains.”

He said RMU’s goaltending has been erratic. Brooks Ostergard has played more games (15 to 11), but Eric Levine has a better save percentage (.912 to .895). Tonight’s starter could be a game-time decision.

Blasi said Cody Reichard (10-1-2, .938) will probably start for the RedHawks.

Miami will be the fifth team in the current USCHO.com top 12 that Robert Morris has faced this season. The others were Colorado College, Bemidji State, Ferris State and Quinnipiac.