Photo courtesy of Kylee Surike/RMU Athletics
NEVILLE TWP.,PA- After taking a close 3-1 victory on Friday night in Erie, PA versus the home standing Mercyhurst Lakers, the Robert Morris Colonials fully expected another hard fought battle in the rematch on Saturday night at Clearview Arena. And they got it, as a determined Laker squad still searching for their first win of the season was anchored by a 36 save performance from goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel, helped to hold up a 1-0 lead from a second period power play goal off the stick of Christian Kocsis until late in the final frame. And then, the teddy bears rained from the stands as Colonial defenseman and captain Michael Craig’s shot found its way past Gravel at 15:34 to knot the game at one goal apiece as Robert Morris celebrated both the tying goal and the goal that completed their successful Teddy Bear Toss promotion.
“I was having nightmares of Teddy Bears raining down at the end of the game with a shutout,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “It was a hard fought battle and they did what they needed to do to keep it close and they played well with the lead and unfortunately for them they couldn’t sustain it and fortunately we were able to take five out of six points with the shootout so hats off to our boys for finding ways to get the extra point.”
For the first twenty minutes, it was a game that neither team seemed to be able to capture the momentum in as the Colonials outshot the Lakers by a 10-9 margin, but neither team was able to capitalize on the chances as both Gravel and Colonial net minder Charlie Schenkel both appeared to be on top of their game from the outset. Kocsis was able to break the scoreless tie at 5:22 of the second stanza on the second Laker power play, beating Schenkel from the right circle with a low, hard shot to put the Lakers out front. The Colonials then went to work peppering Gravel relentlessly for the remainder of the game, compiling a 26-11 shot advantage over the remainder of the game while taking one extended shift after another in the Laker zone. Things looked to be in hand down the stretch for Mercyhurst as the clock melted into the final five minutes when Craig wound up a shot from just inside the blue line that changed direction, fooling Gravel who was leaning as he tried to adjust to the trajectory of the shot. Meanwhile, Schenkel went on to stop 19 of the 20 Laker shots sent his way completing a weekend that saw him allow just two goals in 120 plus minutes of action.
“He’s an outstanding goalie and we’re lucky to have him,” Schooley added. “He battled for us and to give up two goals all weekend was huge for him.”
60 minutes solved nothing result wise between the sides as three on three overtime commenced, producing very little in the way of prime scoring chances which led to a shootout round that saw Schenkel come up with two huge saves while forward McKay Hayes skated in slow towards Gravel initially but sped up and sent a quick shot from close range past the Laker netminder to salt away the extra point for the Colonials.
Robert Morris will take to the skies en route to Colorado Springs next Friday and Saturday for an important weekend series with the Air Force Falcons.
