The Robert Morris University Island Sports Center (abbreviated RMU Island Sports Center) is a sports complex located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Neville Island in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The RMU Island Sports Center opened in 1998, and houses several ice and inline skating rinks, a golf range, a miniature golf course, athletic fields, a strength and fitness center, a bistro and a pro shop. [1] In 2003, Robert Morris University bought a Superfund Site's land (called Ohio River Park) from Neville Land Company for 2.7 million. [2] Ohio River Park is still being monitored by the EPA. [3] A boathouse was added in October 2016. [1] The complex is accessible via exit 65 of Interstate 79. [4]
Former names | RMU Island Sports Center Ice Arena (1998–2012) 84 Lumber Arena (2012–2017) Colonials Arena (2017–2020) |
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Location | 7600 Grand Avenue Neville Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Owner | Robert Morris University |
Operator | Robert Morris University |
Capacity | 1,200 (hockey) |
Surface | 200' x 85' (hockey) |
Opened | October 1998 |
Tenants | |
Pittsburgh Forge (NAHL) (2001–2003) Robert Morris Colonials (NCAA) (2004–2021, 2023–present) |
Clearview Arena (formerly the RMU Island Sports Center Ice Arena, 84 Lumber Arena and Colonials Arena) is a 1,200-seat ice hockey rink [5] located in the RMU Island Sports Center. Robert Morris University and 84 Lumber reached a deal by which 84 Lumber would receive naming rights as of March 21, 2012. [6] The arena later dropped the 84 Lumber name before the 2017-18 season and reverted to being known as the Colonials Arena at the RMU Island Sports Center. [7] Announced on October 13, 2020, the arena would be renamed Clearview Arena after securing a naming rights deal with Clearview Federal Credit Union. [7]
It is home to the Robert Morris Colonials men's and women's NCAA Division I ice hockey teams that compete in Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America respectively, as well as RMU's club hockey team competing at the ACHA Division I level in the College Hockey Mid-America conference (CHMA) and various local youth hockey programs. In addition, it is home to the Pittsburgh Curling Club. [8]
The arena served as the former home of the Pittsburgh Forge Junior-A NAHL team, which moved to Toledo, Ohio in 2003. [9] The Pittsburgh Forge are now known as the Corpus Christi IceRays as of 2020. [9]
Team | League | Years active |
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Robert Morris Colonials | Atlantic Hockey (NCAA Division I) | 2004–2021, 2023- |
Robert Morris Lady Colonials | College Hockey America (NCAA Division I) | 2005–2021, 2023- |
Robert Morris Colonials | College Hockey Mid-America (ACHA) | |
Neville Township is a township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its land area consists entirely of Neville Island, which is an island on the Ohio River. The population was 1,108 at the 2020 census.
Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the American revolution". It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 bachelor's degree programs and 35 master's and doctoral programs. Most students are from the Pittsburgh area, while 16 percent of freshmen in 2018 were from outside Pennsylvania.
Robert Morris University Illinois, formerly Robert Morris College, was a private university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1965 but its oldest ancestor was the Moser School founded in 1913. It changed its name to Robert Morris University Illinois in 2009. In 2020, it merged into Roosevelt University, which formed under it a new Robert Morris Experiential College as one of several colleges at Roosevelt. Robert Morris offered associate and bachelor's degrees and was regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Greater Pittsburgh is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania, United States. The region includes Allegheny County, Pittsburgh's urban core county and economic hub, and seven adjacent Pennsylvania counties: Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland in Western Pennsylvania, which constitutes the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area MSA as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1892. Pittsburgh was first known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s. Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins; while the University of Pittsburgh Panthers compete in a Division I Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris also field Division I teams in men's and women's basketball and Division I FCS teams in football. Robert Morris also fields Division I men's and women's ice hockey teams.
The Pittsburgh Forge are a defunct Junior A Tier II ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which played in the North American Hockey League (NAHL). The team was founded in 2001 by Kevin Constantine, a former coach of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. They played at the Island Sports Center. The team compiled an 80-24-8 record in the first and only two seasons. The Forge were finalists in the Robertson Cup Tournament, the NAHL championship, during their inaugural season and were the first expansion team to do so. During their second season, the Forge set a national Junior A record with 43 wins and won the NAHL's regular season championship as well as the Robertson Cup Tournament. In two seasons, the Forge advanced 18 players onto scholarships with Division I college hockey programs. In 2003, the franchise was sold to investors in Toledo, Ohio and was relocated as the Toledo IceDiggers.
College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
Christopher B. Howard is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Arizona State University Public Enterprise in Tempe, Arizona, where he started on February 7, 2022. Previously, he served as the 8th president of Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. He is a former college football running back and former United States Air Force officer.
The Robert Morris Colonials are the athletic teams for Robert Morris University, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The Colonials compete in NCAA Division I. In 2020, the school joined the Horizon League as a full member after leaving the Northeast Conference. Several RMU sports that are not sponsored by the Horizon League play in other conferences. Football plays in the Big South Conference, and men's and women's lacrosse respectively compete in the ASUN Conference and Mid-American Conference. The school colors are RMU Blue, RMU Red, and RMU Gray/Silver.
The Pittsburgh Curling Club is a curling club located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The PghCC was founded in 2002 with 12 members, and as of 2020 has over 100 members.
The Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Robert Morris University. The team plays its home games at the Clearview Arena, located at the RMU Island Sports Center in Neville Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The Colonials are members of Atlantic Hockey America, formed shortly after the 2023–24 season by the merger of RMU's former men's league of the Atlantic Hockey Association and the women-only College Hockey America (CHA), in which RMU had been a member. The Colonials men had been members of CHA until its men's division disbanded at the end of the 2009–10 season.
The Robert Morris Colonials men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League. The Colonials current head coach is Andrew Toole who is in his fourteenth season at RMU. Toole was hired when, after three years in charge and 73 wins, head coach Mike Rice Jr. left the program in 2010 to take the head coaching job at Rutgers.
Robert Morris Colonials women's ice hockey is a college ice hockey program representing Robert Morris University in NCAA Division I as a member of the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference.
The Franklin P. Nelson Recreation Center is a 2,100-seat multi purpose ice arena and recreational facility located in Springfield, Illinois. The ice arena has two NHL regulation-sized ice sheets.
The Pittsburgh Penguin's Foundation is a non-profit organization formed on July 20, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its sponsor was the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Pittsburgh Penguins ownership group. The foundation provides programs focused on preventive wellness, developmental support, and charitable activities. Additionally, it encourages the teaching of life skills and the engagement of youth and families in various activities.
The Three Rivers Classic is a two-day Division I college ice hockey tournament which is held annually at PPG Paints Arena, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The inaugural tournament took place on December 28–29, 2012 and featured teams from Miami University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University and Robert Morris University. The second tournament was played out on December 27–28, 2013 and featured Penn State, Robert Morris, Boston College and Bowling Green State University. The Classic is the evolution of a showcase of games that the Robert Morris Colonials have played against the Ohio State Buckeyes and Miami RedHawks at either Consol Energy Center or Mellon Arena in previous years.
The 2016–17 Robert Morris Colonials women's ice hockey season was the twelfth season of the Robert Morris Colonials women's ice hockey program. The team represented Robert Morris University in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. The 2016–17 Colonials were the CHA regular season champions for first time in program history and won the CHA Tournament for the second time. They also appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, falling to Wisconsin in the opening round.
UPMC Events Center is an indoor arena located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon, Pennsylvania as a part of Robert Morris University, replacing the old Charles L. Sewall Center. The UPMC Events Center is the new home of the Robert Morris Colonials men's and women's (NCAA) Division I basketball and women's volleyball teams. The UPMC Events Center was originally scheduled to open in January 2019. However, it later opened in May 2019 after the men's basketball team announced all of their 2018–19 games would be played at the North Athletic Complex on campus.
Ohio River Park is a Superfund Site located in Neville Island, Pennsylvania. Between the 1920s-1970s, the Site was used for municipal waste, pesticide manufacturing, coke sludge disposal, cement manufacturing disposal, and pesticide waste. In 1977, Neville Land Company donated the Site to Allegheny County who started developing the Site as a community park. In 1979, Allegheny County found various hazardous contaminants on the Site. On August 30, 1990, the Site was determined to be a Superfund Site due to VOCs, SVOCs, inorganics, and pesticides being present in the surface soil, subsurface soil, surface water, river sediment, and groundwater. Soil remediation began in February 1998 and ended in September 1999. Today, Ohio River Park has the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center and Coraopolis Bridge on top of it. Additionally, benzene continues to be monitored because it is still present in the Site's groundwater.
The 2023–24 Robert Morris Colonials men's ice hockey season was the 18th season of play for the program and the 12th in Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials represented Robert Morris University, played their home games at the Clearview Arena and were coached by Derek Schooley in his 18th season.