Hopefully, Robert Morris University hockey defenseman Kaitlyn Schooley of Moon has plenty of meals on her university dining card. Maybe she can just pick up a pizza on the way back to her apartment, or grab a sandwich at the rink.
But if she had any notion of swinging by the house where she grew up for a home-cooked dinner Thursday night, she’s out of luck.
That’s because, for perhaps the first night since 2004, the Schooley household isn’t strictly a RMU hockey domain.
Her parents, Derek (the longtime coach of the RMU men’s program) and Alicia, will be hosting the Delaware women’s hockey team for a team dinner Thursday night before their weekend series (Friday and Saturday, both at 3 p.m.) against the Colonials at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Their younger daughter, Taylor, is a freshman with the Blue Hens and will be playing against her older sister on the same sheet of ice where both learned to skate as kids.
“Banned,” Derek said to Kaitlyn about the dinner during a Zoom call with all three Schooleys on Wednesday night.
“Oh, I’m crashing,” Kaitlyn replied.
This won’t be the first time the Schooley women have played against each other. They did so Oct. 24-25 in Delaware. But this will be the first time that it’ll happen at Clearview Arena.
It’ll also be the first time coach Schooley will be able to watch. His team was playing at Notre Dame that weekend in October. So he was unable to make the trip to Newark, Del.
This time, he can be a spectator before his Colonials take the ice both nights at 7 p.m. against Canisius immediately after his daughters’ matchups conclude.
“Everybody keeps asking me who I’m rooting for. I’m rooting for my girls to play well,” coach Schooley said. “As an employee at Robert Morris, I want Robert Morris to do well. But I also want Taylor to do well. I guess ties are the best scenario.”
You can still get those in college hockey — even if the shootout determines an extra point.
Alicia was in Delaware the first time, and did her best to capture the moments to share with Derek after his team played at South Bend. However, she realized that being a solo videographer can be challenging.
“It’s hard because they are both on the ice at the same time. It makes that difficult,” Alicia Schooley said. “You just want them both to play well. The outcome is the outcome. I’m really proud of both of them and enjoy watching them play.”
The Colonials (10-18-2) won both of those games 5-0 over the Blue Hens (2-28-0), who are in the school’s first year of Atlantic Hockey play. Kaitlyn picked up three assists that weekend en route to becoming the league’s Defenseman of the Week.
Upon her father mentioning that, Taylor couldn’t hold back a bit of a dismissive reaction.
“No, that wasn’t an eye roll,” Taylor laughed. “I wish it was a different weekend. But I was happy for my sister and the success that she had.”
“You had front row viewing of it,” Derek jabbed.
“I really did … yeah … uh, huh.”
Taylor’s eye roll was suppressed that time by a forced smile that her older sister seemed to greatly enjoy.
“This is going to be really cool and neat to see. They all grew up playing at the Island Sports Center,” Derek Schooley said. “This will be a full-circle moment to play against each other.”
The banishment from her own house on Thursday aside, Kaitlyn sees her father on an almost daily basis. The women’s team and the men’s team both practice and play at the Island Sports Center. Schooley could float a paper airplane across the hall into the office of women’s coach Logan Bittle if he wanted to do so.
That may not be the normal routine for a college kid, but Kaitlyn embraces it.
“I see him. We chit-chat for a second or two. Then we go on with our normal day. It’s nothing too crazy,” Kaitlyn said. “Sometimes when I need something a little bit more, I can go into his office. It’s nice having that comfort. But that doesn’t happen too often. You just say, ‘Hi,’ and talk.”
Bittle played for Schooley on the men’s team at RMU. His wife, Brianne McLaughlin, is a former RMU women’s hockey player who twice made the U.S. Olympic squad (2010, 2014) as a goalie and actually was Kaitlyn’s babysitter. So seeing the two Schooley girls playing against each other is special for him as well.
Especially watching Kaitlyn evolve into a team leader for the recently reborn RMU program.
“Her care-level and understanding of what it means to be a Colonial is second to none,” Bittle said. “Her work ethic, she is at every optional skate. Every extra skills session. She soaks in every minute of her time at RMU because it means so much to her.”
After a two-year shutdown, both the RMU men’s and women’s programs were reborn in time for Kaitlyn (22 years old) to start her freshman year in the fall of 2023. Their brother, Brendan (20), is currently on the St. Cloud Norsemen in the NAHL. Taylor (18) considered RMU for college, but preferred blazing her own way.
When RMU loaded up on recruiting the blue line for the rebooted team, Taylor saw a better fit with the fledgling Delaware program.
“Yes and no,” Taylor replied when asked if she wanted to attend RMU. “Kaitlyn is there. My dad is there. I just wanted to go on my own path.”
Taylor’s coach, Allison Coomey, says Schooley has been an asset to the first-year D-1 roster.
“She’s great. She’s a very smart hockey player. She’s able to read plays very well. We are happy with her work ethic, her I.Q. She is a great teammate,” Coomey said. “She is a shutdown ‘D.’ I love shutdown ‘D’ that want to play defense, but can also jump up into the offense.”
Listening to their coaches — and their father — talk, the Schooley sisters play a similar game. Both are steady, reliable stay-at-home defensemen who kill penalties and protect their half of the ice.
“They are both hard-working kids. They are both fun-loving kids. But they both have their own characteristics,” Bittle said. “Kaitlyn is wise beyond her years and very mature. Taylor wears her emotions on her sleeve, which is great. To see those two, when we were unpacking the bus at Delaware, running up and hugging. It was like they hadn’t seen each other in years. It was cool to see.”
Kaitlyn did push the envelope with one request of her coach, though.
“I want to take the (opening) draw,” she insisted.
“We know who would win it,” Taylor chirped back.
Bittle tried to tamp down that idea.
“A faceoff might be a little bit much because, being defensemen, I don’t know if either one has ever taken a faceoff in their life,” Bittle replied. “But, the plan is — and hopefully Allison will be on board — to start both of them in at least one of the games this weekend so they can hear their names called and skate out for the starting lineup in front of their family and friends.”
For Derek and Alicia Schooley, a faceoff might be nice. But that will probably be good enough.