ERIE, Pa. — The Robert Morris Colonials came into Sunday afternoon’s rematch with the Mercyhurst Lakers needing at least a point to stay ahead of the Lakers in the Atlantic Hockey Conference standings heading into the semester break.
The Colonials did just that, skating away with a 2-2 tie at Mercyhurst Ice Arena to head into the break with a 7-5-2 record in conference play and 16 points — one more than the charging Lakers and tied with RIT for second place.
The Colonials’ offense was once again powered by their top-flight power play. Eric Israel scored on a 5-on-3 and Brady Ferguson finished a pretty cross-ice feed from Alex Tonge to give RMU all the scoring it would need to leave with a draw.
The power play has been the modus operandi for the Colonials lately. Robert Morris has 25 power play goals on the season, which is second in the nation. They’re third in the country in power play percentage and Ferguson’s eight power-play goals leads the nation.
That’s not exactly a new story for the Colonials. They finished third in the NCAA in power play percentage in 2015-16 and ninth in 2014-15. But those squads were led by players such as Cody Wydo and Zac Lynch, who have since graduated to professional hockey.
So clearly, the Colonials are on to something with the power play.
“I think our coaches bring in the right players. More importantly, they coach our systems pretty well and we just stick to it.”
But maybe the key to the system is actually a lack of structure.
“We’ve got a structure, but we also let our guys play hockey,” head coach Derek Schooley said. “We let our guys make plays when they can make plays. You’ll constantly see different looks that we throw at them by guys making plays. We’ve had a lot of success and we continued to this weekend.”
“We just read off each other,” added Israel. “We don’t really have any set plays. We have a foundation, but we don’t have where you have to pass to this guy or you have to pass to that guy. We just read off each other and work the puck around. When you have three of the top forwards in the league own your unit, it’s just about working off them. It’s just moving the puck. When it flows, it works for us.”
Ferguson said that recruiting to that free-flowing power play and giving young players the chance to develop with that freedom is what’s allowed it to be successful year after year.
“He finds players that are a little savvy and that can make plays — not just standing in one spot and doing a particular play,” Ferguson added. “We just do our own thing and get chemistry with our power play unit.”
Israel certainly is no stranger to scoring from the blue line. He potted 18 in his final year of junior hockey with CCHL’s Brockville Braves
“I learned freshman year,” Israel said. “Not many freshmen get on the power play units, so you just watch the older guys perform and just take hints and pointers from them and then just go out and perform to the best of your ability when you get the chance.”
CAN’T FIND THE NET
While the Colonials’ offense is clicking with the man advantage, they’ve gone a bit stagnant at 5-on-5, scoring just two such goals over the last three games. It wasn’t from a lack of effort or chances on Sunday, as the Colonials outshot the Lakers, 45-25, and out-attempted them, 72-51. The Colonials just had a hard time solving Lakers’ goaltender Colin DeAugustine.
“I can’t complain one bit about our work ethic or our passion. Everything that we did was done the right way,” Schooley said. “You’re going to make mistakes, but gosh, I can be angry one bit with how we played because we played great. … I just wish we would have been able to find the net one more time.”
EXTENDED SHIFTS
In addition to their shot and attempt totals, the Colonials had a number of long shifts in the offensive zone at even strength. Not being able to cash in on those opportunities was frustrating, but gives the team the sense going into the break that they’ve got some puck luck coming to them.
“I think if you do the hard work and do the right stuff, you should get rewarded, but we didn’t tonight,” Ferguson said. “I think if we keep doing that, we should be successful.”
Even if they don’t score, the Colonials, which rely a lot on the line of Ferguson, Alex Tonge and Daniel Leavens, can gain momentum and tire opposing defenses if they can get solid offensive zone shifts from the other three lines.
“You feel bad when you get back to the bench and you were out there for a minute or 1:15 and you’re fresh because you haven’t done anything,” said Israel, who had a bird’s eye view of the action from the point. “It’s fun. When they give you the puck, you just try to get some shots through and let them do the work down low. It’s fun to watch.”
MANN-ING THE POINT
With senior defenseman John Rey missing the last three games, captain Rob Mann has been filling in on the point on the second power play unit. It’s not exactly a natural fit as the 6-foot-4 Mann had just 10 points in his first three seasons at RMU. But what seemed to be a head-scratcher has played out well thus far.
“He’s had two points,” Schooley said. “He had an assist at Bentley and then a goal [Saturday against Mercyhurst.] He’s a big kid that’s got a shot. He just has to be simple and take the opportunities he has when he gets them.”
TURNING TO YOUTH ON DEFENSE
Taking Rey’s spot in the regular lineup on Sunday was freshman Alex Robert. Fellow first-year defender Sean Giles had played the last two games, giving the youngsters crucial experience before the team heads into the break.
“I thought Alex Robert was really good tonight,” Schooley said. “They both have grown as the year went on. Sean probably didn’t deserve to come out after his performance [Saturday], but we wanted to get Alex another game before the break.”
Robert has a bit of offensive flair to his game, but through his first two opportunities to show his stuff at the NCAA level, he hadn’t made an impact. That changed a bit with the full marks from his coach on Sunday. Robert said the key was not worrying about making a mistake and just trusting his game.
“The toughest thing is just not thinking about it, going out there and playing my own game,” Robert said. “I think I thought about it for one or two of the games I was in earlier. I think I grew a lot from that. Now I think I have the confidence to go out there and not think about that.”
Robert showed flashes of his promise with an end-to-end rush in the first period. Schooley thinks there’s more of that to come in his game, as well.
“He played forward in juniors at times, so he is comfortable with the puck,” Schooley said. “He has the ability to makes some plays.”
COLONIALS NOTES
Freshman goaltender Francis Marotte wasn’t tested much early, but made some nice saves to keep his team tied in the third period, including a partial breakaway by Jack Riley and a bouncing puck that nearly caromed over his shoulder and into the net. … The RMU penalty kill continued its recent hot streak, killing all five penalties. They’ve now shut down 16 straight opposing power plays over their last three games.
