NEVILLE TWP, Pa. — Brady Ferguson is the best offensive player in Robert Morris hockey history.
Just don’t expect him to tell you about it.
Ferguson set the program’s all-time scoring record on Senior Day last Saturday against Air Force, scoring a goal and recording assist to give him 158 points, passing his former teammate and 2016 Robert Morris graduate Zac Lynch for the top spot in the team’s 14-year-old record books.
From his very first season with the Colonials, it’s been clear that Ferguson possesses an elite talent. Blessed with quick hands and a scorer’s touch to go along with his size and skating, Ferguson represents the kind of player that college hockey coaches dream about.
After breaking out with 26 points as a freshman on a senior-laden squad in 2014-15, Ferguson established himself as one the Colonials’ top performers on a year-in, year-out basis.
Professional scouts have him pegged as a performer at the next level, and he has the capability to exceed his predecessors in that regard, as well, as Robert Morris is still seeking its first alum to crack the ranks of the National Hockey League.
When it comes to talking about himself and his accomplishments, you won’t get much out of him. Believe me, I’ve tried. Over four years of interviewing Ferguson, I’ve tried every way I can think of to phrase a question in a way that might lead to himself to giving himself some credit for his accomplishments.
Saturday after his final regular-season game at RMU Island Sports Center, I got as close as I probably ever will.
“As, I’ve told you for four years, I don’t really care (about individual honors),” Ferguson said. “I need to play better. The past three weekends, I haven’t done anything and I think if I produce, we win. That’s how it’s gone for almost two years now. … To have that record, I think, eventually, I’ll look back on it, look back at it and think it’s pretty awesome. But right now, I’m focused on playoffs and trying to win two games against Bentley.”
That’s as close to self-aggrandizing as the soft-spoken Texan gets. So, with all due respect to the talented young man, forget him. Let’s hear what he’s meant to Robert Morris over his four years in a Colonials sweater from someone that is willing to speak on his behalf.
“Unbelievable, really,” team captain Alex Bontje said. “It was really special he got that on senior night.”
Bontje and Ferguson have been playing together for four years, and though it seems like a lot has changed over that time, Bontje can remember a time when it wasn’t necessarily a fait accompli that Ferguson would become the greatest offensive player in Robert Morris history.
“I’m not sure I said that then,” Bontje said, laughing. “You could definitely see that he has a special talent and that he would do great things.”
There have been plenty of talented freshmen over the years that have come in and failed to make the same kind of impact. The difference between Ferguson and those players?
“It’s consistency,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “He had almost 30 points in (each of) his first two years. He had a big year last year. He’s well on his way to 40 points this year. It’s just consistency.”
Of course, kind words from his teammates and coaches won’t go very far for Ferguson. He wants to hang another banner in the RMU Island Sports Center before his time with the Colonials is done. But even talking about that goal is a bit beyond Ferguson. He’ll stick to this weekend’s series with Bentley.
“I think we need to stay positive as a group,” he said. “That’s how we’ll win the next two games.”
