NEVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — To this point in the season, the results hadn’t quite matched the effort for the Robert Morris Colonials who had found themselves in somewhat unfamiliar circumstances with a losing record nearly a third of the way into their 2017-2018 campaign. But things like puck luck and fortunate bounces have a way of following those who bring strong efforts consistently. Not that they needed that much in the way of luck on Saturday night.
The Colonials have stayed patient and stayed with the process, and the result matched the effort as they looked impressive in a 4-0 victory over the visiting AIC Yellow Jackets, capping off their first weekend sweep of the season. Starting goaltender Francis Marotte stopped all 10 shots he faced and 49 of 50 on the weekend en route to his second shutout victory of the year, while forwards Brady Ferguson and Michael Louria led the Colonial attack with a goal and assist each. While throughout all sixty minutes, the Colonial defense kept the Yellow Jackets at the perimeter, allowing very little in the way of scoring chances.
“I thought we did a very good job of keeping pucks to the outside and we limited second chances,” head coach Derek Schooley said. “I thought it got kind of ping-pongish in the middle of the second period where we were just kind of giving each other the puck. Offensively, I really liked our back check. We did a really good job down low making sure that we kept people away from the net and Marotte was there to make some saves.”
At the forefront for the Colonials was a red hot power play that went two for three on the night and four for seven on the weekend. Freshman forward Nick Prkusic got Robert Morris off and running when he beat starting Yellow Jacket net minder Stefano Durante with a hard shot from the slot on the first Colonial power play, while Ferguson opened the third frame with a crucial goal, and a well placed goal scorer’s goal at that which he tucked just inside the top right corner to give his team a 3-0 advantage. Senior forward Spencer Dorowicz added the final marker with an empty net tally late in the third period, making for his sixth straight game with at least one point.
However, beyond the firepower and Marotte’s goal tending, the Colonials got complete performances from the whole team, including Timmy Moore who provided spark and energy that became contagious for his line mates and the rest of the team.
“I thought one of our more impactful forwards in the game was Timmy Moore,” Schooley said. “He didn’t show up on the score sheet at all but I thought he was an impactful player on the game. He did a very good job penalty killing, he played with energy, and had a couple of opportunities to score. Everybody wants to look at the box score and the points and everything like that but as a coach you’re looking at guys who are impacting the game even when they’re not scoring. If we had to give an unsung hero of the game award I would have to give that to Timmy. Kevin Lavoie created some quality minutes from our fourth line by pinning them in their zone. It was good to see the fourth line contribute and provide energy and a spark.”
For the Yellow Jackets, perhaps their best player on the weekend was the one between the pipes. Durante made his fair share of saves and looked impressive in doing so as he received high praise from head coach Eric Lang. Durante’s emergence as the starter has seen the Yellow Jackets take a turn for the better in the way of results as they came into the weekend riding a three game winning streak.
“Guys love him,” Lang said. “The kid’s a winner in the game of life. I think he was two time humanitarian of the year in Canada and he’s an RBC winner and was the MVP of that. He’s got a track record of winning. His preparation is the best I’ve ever seen in terms of any player I’ve ever coached.”
However the game and weekend were somewhat of a disappointment for Lang who has brought his team from the lower echelon in the standings, to a surprise contender for home ice in the playoffs this season and perhaps more.
“We did some good things abut at the end of the day it’s not enough. We just talked to our guys about making sure we finish. I thought we did some good things five on five but nobody’s ever won a hockey game scoring zero. We started to take some chances but they defended really well. Kudos to them, the better team won both nights and that’s for certain.
The Colonials travel to Bentley next Friday and Saturday while AIC hosts Niagara next weekend.
Atlantic Hockey Roundup
Canisius 5, Bentley 2
Drew Callin and Matt Sieckhaus got the Bentley Falcons off to a two goal first period lead versus the Canisius Golden Griffins at HarborCenter in Buffalo, NY. But the Griffins rattled off five straight goals on the score sheet including two from Ryan Schmelzer in the third frame for the go-ahead and insurance goals in the 5-2 victory. Daniel Urbani turned away 30 of 32 Falcon shots in the victory while Jake Bryniarski stopped 23 shots in the loss. Canisius improved to 6-4-1 on the year while Bentley fell to 1-7-3.
Holy Cross 4, Army West Point 0
Paul Berrafato stopped all 24 shots en route to his third shutout of the season as the Holy Cross Crusaders rolled to a road victory at Tate Rink against the home standing Army Black Knights. Holy Cross used even strength goals from Danny Lopez, Michael Laffin, and Pete Kessel while Mitch Collett added an empty net tally to close out the scoring. Army netminder Cole Bruns stopped 17 of 21 Crusader shots in the loss.
RIT 3, Air Force 2
Ryan Kruper’s power play tally at 14:59 of the third period proved to be the game winner as the visiting RIT Tigers forced a split in their weekend series with the Air Force Falcons in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. Erik Brown and Jake Hamacher accounted for the other two goals for the Tigers while Marshall Bowery and Jordan Himler found the back of the net for the Falcons. Logan Drackett stopped 16 of 18 Falcon shots he faced in the victory while Billy Christopoulos stopped 22 of 24 RIT shots in the loss.
