Neither team had anything at stake entering Saturday’s contest between the Robert Morris Colonials and Niagara Purple Eagles, but neither side needed a reason to put on an intense, physical and hard-fought game. It’s part of the rivalry that’s developed between the two, and it provided a playoff-type atmosphere in front of a sold out crowd at 84 Lumber Arena.
The Colonials overcame two Niagara power plays twice in the final 30 minutes, and Colonials forward Greg Gibson gave Robert Morris the winning goal on the power play as the Colonials held on the rest of the way to notch their team record 22nd victory in the regular season.
“Our penalty kill did an outstanding job tonight,” Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley said. “They were put in some tough situations, including two five-on-threes, and got the job done. We had to kill five penalties in the third period and still outshot them 13-11. That shows you a lot about the character of this hockey team. (Colonials goaltender Dalton) Izyk was outstanding too. He was calm, he was solid, and he did everything the right way.
Gibson’s goal came at 8:18 of the final frame, as he took a pass from Scott Jacklin and buried it past Eagles netminder Jackson Teichroeb from between the top of the circles.
“He’s played with a tremendous amount of energy, he’s cut down on his mental mistakes, and he’s been flying,” Schooley said of Gibson’s play of late, which has propelled him to a top line position.
From the drop of the puck, both offenses were flying, providing some fine quality scoring chances seemingly every shift. Teichroeb and Izyk both had their hands full for most of the evening.
Robert Morris opened the scoring at 7:55 while on its second power play of the evening when freshman forward Spencer Dorowicz deflected defenseman Evan Moore’s shot from the right point past Teichroeb. The Colonials appeared to double the lead after Brandon Denham managed to get the puck over the goal line during a tenacious goalmouth scramble toward the end of the first period; however, it was later waved off and the teams headed to the dressing room with Robert Morris clinging to a one-goal lead.
The second period saw the physical battle intensify, as numerous post-whistle scrums and ensuing roughing penalties opened the door for more special teams play.
The Eagles got the equalizer courtesy of Phillip Nasca, who slid the puck into an open net after taking a feed that slid through the crease and appeared to even slide through Izyk at 14:55.
The teams carried the tie into the third period, where the Eagles were the recipients of two separate two-man advantages, one for 1:19 and one for 1:25, but the Colonials kept calm and stayed the course, blocking one shot after another while managing to thwart both opportunities.
The Eagles then led a furious push for another game-tying goal in the closing minutes with Teichroeb pulled in favor of the extra attacker, but Izyk and the Colonials defense were equal to the task and preserved the win, the final regular-season victory in the careers of Robert Morris seniors Cody Wydo, Scott Jacklin, Jeff Jones, and David Rigatti.
“This is a class that will be hard to replace,” Schooley said. “We’ll almost have to replace it by committee, because we’re not going to be able to replace it one by one.
Dave Burkholder’s squad earned a split on the final weekend of the regular season, an effort which he took a certain amount of pride in.
“I really like how our team played,” Burkholder said. “I thought their goalie was great, and we just lost to an opportunistic team tonight. We hit some posts and crossbars on those five-on-threes in the third, and those are probably the difference. We’re still far from healthy, we’ve still got seven guys that didn’t play this weekend. It was a really courageous effort on our part to take the split.”
