NEVILLE TWP, Pa. — The Colonials had an opportunity.
Coming into to Friday night’s game at 84 Lumber Arena, Robert Morris’ opponent, the RIT Tigers had lost five straight games and had fallen all the way down to eighth in the Atlantic Hockey conference standings.
A win would mean two points for the Colonials, but a loss would have been disastrous for the Tigers, who were picked to finish in first in the conference’s preseason poll. The Colonials had opportunities once the game started as well, earning eight power plays, but were able to capitalize just once and fell, 4-1 to their rivals from Rochester.
Throughout, the Tigers played like the more desperate team with a physical edge and offense-sapping systems that kept the typically high-scoring offense off the board for the most part. In the times that the Colonials did get a scoring change through to the net, senior goaltender Mike Rotolo was more than up to the task of the Tigers, stopping 34 of 35. When the referees whistled RIT for too much physicality, the Colonials were often unable to make them pay with a power-play goal.
The early part of the game looked like it was going in the Colonials’ favor, as they maintained a 17-7 shot advantage through 20 minutes, but came away with a 1-0 deficit when Abbott Girduckis finished a back-door pass from Gabe Valenzuela. The play got started after a turnover by Eric Israel and the nature of the goal — and the upside-down score after the first period — seemed to deflate team, which came out flat for the second.
“I think we just got away from the little things that were working for us in the first,” said captain Rob Mann. “We kept it pretty simple. We worked their defense down low. … It seemed like in the second when we came out, were trying to be a little too cute with the puck.”
FRIDAY FEELING
The rough night on a Friday represents something of a trend for the Colonials, who have now lost there consecutive series-opening games. They came out determined to stop that trend, but instead will now have to find a way to turn things around after getting worse as the game went along Friday night.
“These last couple Friday night haven’t gone our way, so we were looking to put one in the win column here,” Mann said. “But we saw what works for us, so we just need to come out and put a full 60 [minutes] together.”
POWER DOWN
The Colonials came into the game fifth in the country with a 25 percent success rate on the power play, but the 1 for 9 night put a dent in their stats in addition to hurting the team’s chances of winning the game. They had a ton of success against RIT’s special teams in the season-opening series, but senior forward Daniel Leavens said the Tigers made some significant adjustments.
“They did a good job,” Leavens said. “Their PK really got us good and we’re going to watch some video and get back to what we’ve done in the past. … Credit to them on adjusting to our power play and now, we need to re-adjust to their penalty kill and be ready to go tomorrow.”
NET LOSSES
While Rotolo’s fantastic first period sparked RIT, the Colonials couldn’t get a late-game spark from their senior netminder, Dalton Izyk. Head coach Derek Schooley said he thought the third goal by Tigers defenseman Brady Norrish was one Izyk and the team would like to have back.
“It was a right-handed shot coming down the wall that beat him short side on the glove side,” Schooley said. “He made a couple good saves in the second to keep it tight.”
The fourth goal, Izyk left the puck behind the Colonials’ net, but didn’t have a defenseman back there to play it and Caleb Cameron fed Girduckis for the final tally.
“That’s not a good play by [Izyk] or the defensemen,” Schooley said. “There’s no communication. But the other two goals, he didn’t have a chance on.”
COLONIALS NOTES
Robert Morris remains in position for a first-round bye and second-round home-ice advantage after the loss, while the Tigers jumped up a spot from eighth to seventh. … Girduckis is the older brother of Robert Morris commit Aidan Girduckis. … Junior goaltender Andrew Pikul (lower body) and senior forward Ben Robillard (upper body) did not dress.
