NEVILLE TWP. — To win four games against one opponent in a season takes a great deal of skill, preparation, luck and the willingness to outwork your opponent.
The Robert Morris Colonials used all of those factors in their season sweep of the Sacred Heart Pioneers. And in the final meeting, the hard work element was prevalent throughout sixty minutes of hockey for the Colonials against a relentless Sacred Heart team desperate to salvage a win.
There were many standout performance in the 2-1 victory on Saturday night that saw the Colonials up their record to 8-4-2 on the year. Francis Marotte stopped 31 of 32 shots on the night and leading scorer Brady Ferguson stretched his scoring streak to eight games. But this night was a team effort, spearheaded by junior forward Spencer Dorowicz and line mate Timmy Moore who along with Luke Lynch were formidable in shutting down the Pioneer offense and providing a key goal that got the Colonials off and running on the scoreboard.
“We found a way tonight to get the job done,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “There were no style points but it was hard work, it was determination. We gutted out a hard fought win. We had a lot of guys that could have won the hard hat tonight.
“Timmy Moore played a gutsy game, he and Spencer Dorowicz and Luke Lynch shut down Danforth tonight. It was a chess match to get the right match up. They wanted to get their guys away, and I think it might have actually done them more harm, it kept their guys on the ice a little longer or on the bench longer than they would have if they’d have just taken the match up.”
The game remained a hard fought scoreless tie for nearly 26 minutes as both teams had multiple power play opportunities. But Marotte and Pioneer goaltender Brett Magnus both stood up to the challenge until the 14:07 mark of the second frame when Sacred Heart defenseman Mitch Nylen sent a hard, low shot from between the top of the circles behind Marotte on the power play.
Robert Morris would answer quickly as Dorowicz combined his work ethic, speed and skill into one furious charge at the net which he finished with a true scorer’s touch, as he cut to the net and then showed a bit of patience as he waited for Magnus to commit before sliding the puck past him at 16:32. It was a well deserved goal for a player that does a little bit of everything and does it at a high level.
“It was a nice play from Timmy,” Dorowicz said. “He ended up getting that puck in his skates and he chipped it over to me and I kind of buried my head and went to the net and was patient and found a way to get it by him. One of our goals this week was just to get pucks to the net and that was one thing that I needed to work on. I just wanted to put as many pucks on the net as I could. Last night I had a lot of good looks and I tried not to be frustrated coming into tonight and I knew that if I kept doing what I was doing it was going to go in.”
Dorowicz was also at the heart of a penalty kill that went 17 for 18 on the weekend and played a huge factor in the home sweep by the Colonials. The unit started the year in a rough place, but has tightened up recently, giving the Colonials another element to their winning formula of late. It’s a simple mindset, but one that’s execution takes diligent work which Dorowicz is familiar with.
“We didn’t want to give them any space and to pressure them as much as we can,” he said. “We stick together in our zone and winning draws in our zone is huge, that was our mindset and it’s been working pretty good for us. I think we had a really good weekend. We ended up having to go against the Danforth line and we did a pretty good job. I love working with Timmy, we’ve played together a lot and Lynch is an awesome freshman and he’s just getting better and better. We clicked this weekend and we’ll see how far that can take us.”
The Colonials power play then went to work at the start of the third period as Brady Ferguson sent a hard slap shot from the right circle past Magnus at 1:22 to finish the scoring, but not necessarily the game. With time running out for the Pioneers in the final minute, Colonial captain Rob Mann made a spectacular block on a hard Pioneer shot that looked potentially destined for the back of the net. It was a microcosm of the entire night for the Colonials, a night that saw virtually the entire roster do something a little better, harder and faster in order to earn the victory, and the season sweep.
