Local talent staying home paying off for RMU hockey

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Derek Schooley is the only coach Robert Morris’ hockey team has had since the program was born in 2004.

During his tenure, Schooley has seen the Colonials develop into a consistent contender for a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Colonials’ bid for a berth in the 2017 tournament fell just short, as they lost to Air Force, 2-1, in the Atlantic Hockey conference title game Saturday.

And he has watched Western Pennsylvania develop into a reliable source of Division I-caliber talent.

“There’s at least a halfdozen, to maybe eight to 10, Division I players who are out there [in a typical year],” Schooley said.

Robert Morris has successfully recruited its share, and probably more, of them.

Three players native to the area — Jacob Coleman [Moon], Luke Lynch [Shaler] and Alex Dagnal [Peters] — turned up on the Colonials’ roster this season.

And Schooley didn’t pursue them simply because of their local connections.

“We’re not just going to take anybody, just because they’re from Pittsburgh,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s a guy who’s going to help us.”

The best example of that might be Lynch’s brother, Zac, who is the program’s all-time leading scorer. Zac Lynch graduated a year ago, but his younger brother, as well as Coleman and Dagnal, contributed to the Colonials’ 19-11-4 regular-season record in 2016-17.

Schooley said he has come to expect homegrown talent to be a factor in the team’s success.

“I think every player we’ve taken from Pittsburgh has played a key role for us,” he said. “I think it’s good to have three, four, five of them on the team at one time.”

Robert Morris isn’t the only school that recruits this area aggressively — Penn State forward Matt Mendelson’s roots include time with the Penguins Elite Under-18 team and the Pittsburgh Hornets Under16 squad — but with a steadily deepening talent pool, Western Pennsylvania can produce enough talent to help more than one or two programs.

“It’s getting better all the time,” Schooley said. “The younger kids are getting better.”

He suggested that the Penguins’ grassroots efforts to grow the game have played a significant part in that.

“Their support of amateur hockey is second to none,” he said.

Two Western Pennsylvania natives, Colin South and Brendan Jamison, have captained the Colonials, in part because of a work ethic Schooley said is common among players who developed locally.

Although this area has produced some quality defensemen — Matt Bartkowski and Patrick Wey learned the game around here before going on to play big-time college hockey and, eventually, reach the NHL — all three of the current Colonials with local roots play up front.

That apparently meshes with the program’s history.

“We’ve had a lot of good forwards from Western Pennsylvania,” Schooley said.

Despite the ongoing increase in the number — and quality — of high school players in this region, Schooley is pessimistic about the prospects of having the best of them compete for their schools right up until the time they’re ready for college.

That’s not an indictment of hockey in this region; rather, it’s a reflection of the realities of the game, as it exists today.

Indeed, all three of the Colonials’ local players spent time in junior hockey before beginning college.

“Even if you go to [high school in] Minnesota or Massachusetts, people are going to play one, two, three years of junior hockey after they graduate,” Schooley said. “So people are going to have to leave [the area] sooner or later.

“It’s hard to come out of high school right now and play Division I hockey, right off the bat.”

But when quality players from this area are ready to compete at the college level, Schooley wants to sell them on the merits of attending Robert Morris.

“We want to keep our best players at home,” he said. “We want them to feel it’s the best of both worlds.

“You have a chance to play Division I college hockey, but play it in your hometown and have your friends and family come out and watch you play. It’s definitely something we take seriously.”

As twin brothers Lassana and Fousseini Konate left their homeland of Mali for Hermitage, Pa., six years ago, it was bittersweet.

“I remember seeing my father’s face at the airport,” said Lassana, who teams with Fousseini on the Point Park University basketball team. “He wasn’t upset, but he had the look people get when you know they’re going to miss you. That image is strong in my mind. And my mom? Well, she cried. But they also knew that it was best for us to go.”

The Konate brothers left their West African nation in search of better educational and athletic opportunities in the United States.

Ditto for older brother Ibrahim, who played at Boston University from 20052009, and younger brothers Sagaba, Bakary and Mohamed.

The Konates moved in with Hermitage resident and AAU coach Jeff Kollar, who forged a relationship with the family years earlier. The latter is the legal guardian of the boys, who come from a family of 13 siblings.

He is also to be thanked for delivering their brand of Mali Ball throughout the country, including in the NCAA and PIAA tournaments this spring.

“We’re everywhere,” Fousseini said. “Everywhere.”

Sagaba, 6 feet 8, is a freshman at West Virginia University, where he averages 4.1 points and 2.9 rebounds for Bob Huggins’ NCAA tournament team. Bakary, 6-11, is a junior on Minnesota’s NCAA tournament club, where he averaged 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds. Mohamed, 6-4, is a senior at Class 1A powerhouse Kennedy Catholic High School, which played for a PIAA championship Thursday.

Fousseini and Lassana, both 6-5, recently completed their junior and senior seasons, respectively, at Point Park. Fousseini averaged 5.7 points and 6.9 rebounds, and Lassana 5.7 and 3.9.

“When we were young, we used to watch videos of LeBron James and Michael Jordan and all the great players in the United States,” said Fousseini, an athletic forward who has a year of eligibility remaining after redshirting two seasons ago. “It’s crazy to think that now we’re here playing the game ourselves. Look at the NCAA tournament — my brothers were right in the middle of it, playing on national TV in front of everyone. It’s pretty amazing.”

To be sure, the tournament had a distinct Konate flair, given Sagaba and Bakary got to participate.

What’s more, Mohamed helped Kennedy Catholic navigate through the PIAA tournament. His team was vying for its eighth PIAA championship Thursday night against Girard College.

“Anywhere you look, you might see us playing basketball right now,” Lassana said. “It’s basketball, basketball and more basketball for our family.”

The NCAAs produced mixed results for Sagaba, who led Kennedy Catholic to a PIAA Class 1A title last season, and Bakary. The former helped WVU to a Sweet 16 appearance Thursday night against No. 1 seed Gonzaga, while Bakary and Minnesota were eliminated by Middle Tennessee in the round of 64.

“Pretty cool to get to see them go through that experience,” Fousseini said.

Lassana and Fousseini, information technology majors at Point Park, watched West Virginia’s first-round win against Bucknell in their dorm rooms, but missed the Minnesota loss due to their class schedules.

“Maybe it was better we didn’t see it,” Fousseini said, laughing.

As the oldest of the brothers playing in the U.S., Lassana and Fousseini, both 24, cling to every dribble, jumphook and dunk by their siblings. They rarely miss a televised WVU and Minnesota game and attended several of Mohamed’s games during spring break.

“First of all, I’m very proud of all of my brothers,” said Lassana, who spent a year at Kennedy Catholic but was ruled ineligible, along with Fousseini, to play basketball. “And when they’re playing, it’s like I’m playing, too. I get really nervous.”

The Konate brothers are trilingual, with the ability to speak French (their primary language), Bambara and English. They are also talented soccer players and inspired students.

Their food of choice is any type of pasta, usually from the Olive Garden.

“In Mali, it was rice and chicken — all the time,” Fousseini said. “So, Italian food is a good option for us.”

The same could be said for their stay in the U.S.

“We’re living a dream,” Lassana said. “We get basketball, education and a great lifestyle. I’m just thankful every day that we’ve been given this opportunity.”