MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Robert Morris found scoring from both likely and unlikely sources in its Atlantic Hockey playoff opening-game victory over visiting Niagara Friday night at 84 Lumber Arena.
That’s not to say that the line of Timmy Moore, Spencer Dorowicz and Jeff Jones wasn’t capable of making a huge difference, but coming into the contest, few could have guessed that they’d play such a big role in such an important game.
“Timmy Moore, Spencer Dorowicz and Jeff Jones were outstanding,” Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley reiterated. “They were the catalyst of this team tonight.”
Dorowicz’s goal at 2:48 of the third period proved to be enough as the Colonials used their scoring depth and some solid goaltending from Dalton Izyk to forge a 1-0 series lead with a 4-2 win.
“We were really focused tonight,” Schooley said. “We were into the game, maybe too much at some times because we were very emotional with everything we were doing, it was an emotional game. I thought we did a very good job of sticking with it, shooting the puck and making sure we were doing things the right way.”
From the drop of the puck, the Colonials showed no evidence of rust following their bye weekend, and quickly stacked up the early scoring chances, putting Purple Eagles’ netminder Jackson Teichroeb to the test.
Robert Morris opened the scoring at 8:17 of the opening period when Matt Cope cut across the slot with the puck and put a shot on goal from the right circle that was deftly tipped into the cage by Scott Jacklin to give the Colonials the early lead.
However, it would be short-lived.
The Eagles climbed back to tie the score 16:47 as a Colonial defender tripped, opening the door for a three-on-one in the Robert Morris end, resulting in a series of shots that Izyk made the initial saves on, but he could not stop Patrick Conte’s put-back attempt that found its way to the back of the net.
Niagara wasted no time taking the lead as just seven seconds into its second power play of the night as defenseman Kevin Patterson rifled a shot from the right point with traffic in front that beat Izyk at 17:37 of the first to put Niagara in front 2-1.
The unlikely heroes then went to work on the task of changing the outcome of the game, and did so seemingly every time they skated onto the ice.
Jones took advantage of a Niagara turnover, skating the puck from behind the net to the side of the crease where he threaded a pass through an assortment of skates and sticks to an area that Moore was able to get to before anybody else. Moore put the loose puck in the net to tie the score at two just 3:05 into the second frame.
For most of the evening, the line created chances on almost every shift and earned more ice time as the game went on. Then at 2:48 of the third period, Dorowicz tipped a Tyson Wilson shot past Teichroeb from the slot to give the Colonials their first lead of the night.
The Purple Eagles then threw the kitchen sink at Izyk over the final minutes as one scoring chance after another wound up in Izyk’s glove or frozen at his feet. His best save came with just over 13 minutes to play when he stopped Niagara captain Kevin Albers, who came out of the penalty box and was the immediate recipient a loose puck and an instant breakaway. Izyk stoned Albers with the glove and made several other key saves to help Robert Morris preserve the lead.
“Dalton was very solid,” Schooley said. “I thought he fought some rebounds at the beginning, but he came up with some huge saves in the third.”
With time ticking down, Brandon Denham iced the victory with an empty-net goal at the 18:44 mark, but not before Jones came through with a huge shot block to help keep the Colonials in position to win the game and take the early series lead.
“I thought if we kept it close and stayed in the game that it would go our way,” Niagara coach Dave Burkholder said. “And it was tied after two and we had a chance to win it, but as the game wore on, we looked like a team that had played five games in eight days. I thought a lot of guys looked tired and we had too many passengers, and we’re not going to beat the best team in the league with only half our lineup playing hard. Jackson was solid in the net tonight, the tipped goal that went in to win it, that’s a tough one, but he gave us a chance to win and that’s all you can ask from him.”
Game 2 of the Atlantic Hockey playoff series is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. EST at the 84 Lumber Arena.
