NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — If one word described the Robert Morris state of mind after their 3-1 loss to Ohio State, the word frustrated would be a unanimous selection.
For a second Saturday night in a row, the Colonials looked to have points in hand in a close game against a difficult opponent and had it slip through their fingers. Ohio State forward Tanner Laczynski’s goal at 17:29 of the third period and empty net tally at 19:52 sealed the deal for the visiting Buckeyes who ran their unbeaten streak to six games.
The Buckeyes out shot the Colonials by a 40-14 margin and held play in the Robert Morris end for long stretches of the first two periods but were held off the score sheet by a solid performance from starting netminder Andrew Pikul and some timely shot blocking.
However, it was only matter of time before the sustained offensive pressure turned into a goal as Buckeyes found a way to get one past Pikul via Matt Miller’s hard shot from a faceoff win in Colonial territory. The Colonials equalized with a power play goal from Alex Tonge moments later, which turned momentum in their favor for the first time all evening and appeared to take the lead with a Luke Lynch goal which was disallowed.
“I’m sick of trying to take positives out of losses,” head coach Derek Schooley said. “Our work ethic once again was hard, we played hard but we’ve just been coming up short. We need to play 60 minutes and we need to not allow easy goals and we gave them an easy goal tonight. You want to make sure that you’re covering people and you pick people up, and we didn’t do that on the game winner.”
BUCKEYES ARE THE REAL DEAL
The Colonials had been very competitive in the rivalry between the schools over the years, owning a 4-1 record in Columbus at one point. But perhaps they had not seen a Buckeye team that was as complete as this in any of the seasons the two teams have played.
Ohio State now owns a 5-1-2 record to start the season, a top level goaltender in Sean Romeo, and some high quality forwards and looked primed for a team that may be on the verge of great things. But perhaps more than the skill factor, this year’s edition of the Buckeyes have a good deal grit and character as they matched the Colonial or exceeded it in the two game series. They’ve also got a good level of resiliency as well as evidenced by their comeback from a two goal deficit on Friday and the patience to stay focused after a frustrating first 40 minutes on Saturday.
“It was definitely frustrating,” Laczynski said. “But you have to stick with the process and trust that you’re doing the right things and good things will come. When the key moments presented, I think we came out on top. Obviously there were a few setbacks. They had a goal called against them so that was kind of a boost for our team and we got it going again. And yesterday in Columbus, they got a goal and we got one the next shift. Momentum changes like that can win a game. ”
PIKUL SHINES
Even though it was a losing effort in the end, Pikul’s performance in between the pipes was nothing short of amazing. He kept the Colonials in the game, stopping 37 of 39 shots he faced and some of them were of the highlight reel varitety, including a shorthanded breakaway save on Ohio State forward Matthew Weis in the second period.
“I thought Andrew was outstanding,” Schooley said. “He was the single reason we were in the game as long as we were.”
Pikul appeared comfortable in the net from the drop of the puck and solidifies a very good goaltender situation for the Colonials. The Cleveland, OH native believes it’s just a matter of time before the pieces come together for his team.
“It was good to go out there and get some saves early, I felt good throughout the game. I thought we played well. We got in a little trouble there in the second there but we sold out. Our guys did an amazing job even though we ended up on the short end of the stick. I think we’re really close, I think we’re okay right now. We just have a couple of things we have to tighten up. You look at last night, we were in the game up until the third period and we were in the game all night tonight.”
MOVING ON
T
he job for Robert Morris gets no easier as they return to Atlantic Hockey action next weekend where they will host the Holy Cross Crusaders who will come in undefeated on the season. It has been a frustrating start, but it’s also the type of start the Colonials have seen and overcome before.
We’re frustrated right now but it’s a long season and we can’t let where we’re at right now define us,” Schooley said. “We had a life, we had a spark and we played a really tough hockey team tonight; I wish the result would have been better.”
