NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — The woes continued for the Robert Morris Colonials on Saturday night, falling 4-0 to Army West Point. Army came into the evening with a hot hand, winners of five of their past six games, and stayed hot displaying a relentless fore check that seemed to have the Colonials bottled up throughout most of the evening. The loss brought the Robert Morris losing streak to three games, a stretch that has now seen them put forth just two goals in their past 180 minutes of hockey.
“You can’t chase the game,” Colonials head coach Derek Schooley said. “We chased the game and we can’t get behind. We’re short some bodies and we’re in a challenging predicament right now. There’s no excuses. They outworked us, out special teamed us and outplayed us.
Starting Colonials net-minder Justin Kapelmaster was pulled from the lineup just moments before puck drop due to an apparent injury, opening up an opportunity for goaltender Dyllan Lubbesmeyer. The junior did not disappoint, allowing a trim three goals on 42 shots. However, for all the saves, the Colonials could not solve starting Black Knights goaltender Trevin Kozlowski.
Despite close chances in the first period, the Colonial offense sputtered to gain any type of momentum while the Knights took advantage of their opportunities, scoring two important power play goals, one coming off the stick of Brett Abdelnour at 15:29 of the first and the other from Alex Wilkinson just 2:44 into the second frame. Army seemingly had an answer for any Colonial attempt at finding a way back into the contest, accumulating a 43-25 shot advantage.
The Colonials had one golden opportunity in the third when they found themselves on the receiving end of a major power-play, but produced little in the way of chances. Dominic Franco later found the empty net for the final Army goal.
The two teams will finish their weekend set on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
