MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Robert Morris survived a spirited effort from visiting Sacred Heart en route to a 5-4 victory on Sunday night at 84 Lumber Arena.
The game wasn’t decided until the 15:22 mark of the third period.
David Friedmann took a pass in the slot from Spencer Dorowicz and pushed the puck past Pioneers netminder Nathan Perry, which proved to be the game-winner, thwarting a furious SHU comeback.
“He’s an offensive talent,” RMU coach Derek Schooley said regarding Friedmann. “He was very opportunistic and it was good to see him get results tonight.”
The win gave the Colonials their first season sweep of the season, while the Pioneers saw their winless streak hit six.
“I thought that tonight, we stuck with our structure even though we were down 4-1,” Sacred Heart coach CJ Marottolo said. “We worked on getting the next one and we clawed back. It was a tough pill to swallow after how hard we battled. Robert Morris is a very skilled team and when you give a kid like Friedmann that much time and space, it’s a tough spot to put our goalie in. We dug in and showed a lot of character and we’re still a work in progress and I think we’re going to be fine as the season goes along.”
From the drop of the puck, the game featured end-to-end action and a flurry of scoring chances for both teams as the early moments rolled along.
Both Perry and starting Colonials goaltender Dalton Izyk were tested early, but kept the scoresheet clean until the 7:37 mark when Sacred Heart’s Evan Jasper took the puck in neutral ice during a Colonials power play and darted through the middle of the ice on an breakaway. Once in close, Jasper picked the top right corner with authority to give the Pioneers the early lead.
But it was short-lived as less than a minute later, Brandon Denham took a near-perfect pass from Brady Ferguson and deposited for the tying goal in the remaining power play time.
The Colonials started the second frame with passion and a purpose, scoring three goals in the first three minutes as Ferguson beat Perry with a power play tally from the lower right circle just 42 seconds into the period to put Robert Morris in the lead. Then 20 seconds later, Greg Gibson took a brilliant pass from Matt Cope stationed near the blue line, beating Perry with another low shot to double the Colonial lead. The three-goal onslaught was finished by Zac Lynch, who netted his fourth shorthanded goal of the season and second in as many games.
As the midway point of the contest passed, it looked as if the Colonials were firmly in the drivers seat, headed towards a decisive victory at home, but the Pioneers would not go away quietly and slowly began turning the momentum, eventually tilting the ice for much of the final 30 minutes of the game.
Sacred Heart got the spark it was looking for when Jordan Minello found the back of the net twice in rapid succession. First at the 14:25 mark when he finished a goalmouth scramble and then at 17:03 when he redirected a Mitch Nylen shot past Izyk on the power play to draw the Pioneers to within one.
Alec Butcher then tied the game at four with his slippery wrister that found its way past Izyk at 3:03 of the final frame to complete the Pioneer comeback.
However, down the stretch, Izyk made one key save after another, including some point-blank saves on late-period Pioneer power plays to keep the game tied until Friedmann’s tally put Robert Morris back in the driver’s seat for good.
“When you’ve got a 4-1 lead, you’ve got to make sure you do a better job of making sure that you extend that lead,” Schooley said. “But the most important thing at the end of the day is that we got four points. Izyk made some huge saves for us when it was 4-4, too. I’d take winning ugly over losing pretty. Give (Sacred Heart) credit. They put a lot of pressure on us, but when you do that, you leave things open.”
