Photo courtesy of Justin Berl/RMU Athletics
NEVILLE TWP.,PA-A tight game, tied at one goal apiece between the Robert Morris Colonials and the American International College Yellow Jackets broke open for the Colonials in bizarre fashion on Friday night at Clearview Arena. A third period complete with failed five minute power plays, two shorthanded goals and a virtual penalty killing clinic were all in the mix and in some shape or form as Robert Morris pumped in three goals in less than three minutes to earn a hard fought 4-1 win. It was once again a night of goal scoring by committee for Robert Morris as four different goal scorers managed to up their totals on the year, highlighted by a critical game winning shot off the stick of freshman defenseman Dominic Elliot to kickstart the three goal onslaught.
“Hats off to our penalty killers,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. They were outstanding. They went six for six and came up with two shorthanded goals and killed a six on three which we never really work on and we did a great job on that. It was an outstanding way to battle and compete, it was a hard game, physical, and we found a way to get the job done.”
A Nip and Tuck Affair
The Colonials got on the board first courtesy of freshman forward Connor Gourley at the 3:04 mark of the first period. Courley took a pass from defenseman Luke van Why and shot the puck from a sharp angle past starting Yellow Jacket netminder Adam Manji to put his team in the lead. Following the game opening tally, the teams traded scoring chances at a fairly even pace with Robert Morris outshooting AIC by a 13-11 mark as the first 20 minutes went in the books. The Yellow Jackets evened the scoreboard with forward Timofei Khokhlachev’s seventh goal of the season at 4:32 of the second frame and held a 12-9 advantage on the shot counter for the period as both goaltenders stood tall in net including starting Colonial goaltender Dylan Meilun who made key saves at crucial moments, stopping 30 of 31 Yellow Jacket shots he faced on the night en route to collecting the win.
Colonials Find a Way in Third
During the first two power plays of the evening, the Colonials looked as if they could have scored numerous times as they created at least five golden scoring chances on a total of eight shots. However, with Khokhlachev in the box for a five minute slewfooting major and a chance to break the game open, Robert Morris failed to generate a single shot in what could have been a bad omen or potentially a momentum turning moment for AIC. However, the Colonials were patient and stayed the course, keeping the Yellow Jackets at bay while rolling a relentless forecheck at times in the AIC end. The hard work paid off as forward George Krotiris helped keep his opponents sealed in their own end while winning several 50/50 pucks in the process, extending the play and earning a second assist on the game winning tally as Elliot sent his hard shot past Manji with the primary assist coming off the stick of McKay Hayes at the 14:32 minute mark. Robert Morris then found themselves having to kill off a major penalty as Hayes went to the box for a interference major. The Colonials would simply not be denied the win as forward Tanner Klimpke found a loose puck just outside his own blue line and turned on the jets as he skated in on Manji and scored a shorthanded tally at 16:36. Senior forward Gavin Gulash then salted the game away with an empty net tally, his third goal of the season.
“Dylan Meilun was good when he had to be and I thought we did a great job in the third period,” Schooley said. “College hockey is hard, you’ve got to figure out how to win games and we found a way to extend it to 2-1 and did a great job on the five minute major at the end. We have to continue to find ways to score more goals. We’re going to watch some video, they gave us fits at times, but we’ll come back and we’ll see what adjustments we need to make.”
The Colonials and Yellow Jackets finish up their weekend series on Saturday afternoon at Clearview Arena with puck drop scheduled for 5 PM.
