Photo courtesy of Kylee Surike/RMU Athletics
NEVILLE TWP., PA- In a game in which perhaps the home side deserved a better fate, the Robert Morris University Colonials dropped a close, 4-2 decision to the Canisius College Golden Griffins at Clearview Arena. Led by forward Kyle Haskins who managed a goal and two assists, plus a stout goaltending performance from the duo of Ethan Robertson and Petter Wickstrom Stumer, the Griffins found the back of the net on two crucial power plays and scored a pair of goals just over three minutes apart in the win, while being out shot by a 39-23 margin.
“Until we can play defense as hard as we play offensively it’s going to be a challenge for us,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “We gave up a couple of odd man rush goals that were tap ins and we can’t do that. We doubled them in shots and chances but they judge the game by the scoreboard. We have to be better with our third man high and we have to close quicker and we allowed them to make plays. You want to take away time and space and we didn’t do a great job of that defensively.”
Canisius forward Grant Porter got the Griffins on the board with a power play tally at 9:31 of the first period, giving his team the early lead. Canisius outshot the Colonials by a 12-8 margin through 20 minutes of play. However, the Colonials went to work as the second frame opened, stacking shots and quality scoring chances together all turned aside by starting Canisius goaltender Robertson who found himself injured before the halfway mark of the middle stanza, putting Stumer between the pipes the rest of the way. The momentum then turned quickly in the Griffin’s favor as goals from Haskins at 14:46 and then Dominic Payne at 17:54 looked to have the Colonials in a deep hole. Walter Zacher then helped Robert Morris pull closer with a huge individual effort to make it a 3-1 Griffin lead heading into the final period. It was Zacher’s team leading 12th goal of the season and gave his team a good reason to believe in the prospect of a potential third period comeback.
Robert Morris kept throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Canisius net amassing 31 shots over the final two periods but could not solve Stumer who stepped up with 26 saves on 28 shots in relief of Robertson. Trey Funk put the game out of reach with his power play goal at 14:12 of the third while Colonial defenseman Trevor Ledonne closed out the scoring with his third goal of the season at 19:46.
“This isn’t the way we wanted this seven game home stand to go,” Schooley added. “You can’t just expect goals to happen, the ice rink is 200 feet and if you only work hard for 100 feet and you don’t defend as hard as you can they’re going to get scoring chances. We just need to be better in our 200 foot hockey game.”
The Colonials open a two game series with the Mercyhurst College Lakers on Friday night at Clearview Arena with puck drop scheduled for 5 PM.
