PITTSBURGH — The Robert Morris Colonials and Dartmouth Big Green played their weekend double header in the narrowest of time frames.
After the Colonials skated to a win at 84 Lumber Arena on Saturday night, the teams, uniforms and equipment were packed up for a trip downtown to the PPG Paints Arena for Sunday’s 2:05 p.m. faceoff.
The young Colonials, with seven freshmen in the starting lineup, seemed to be worse for wear, as they came out flat and gave up a pair of first-period goals that proved to the difference in a 5-2 loss to the Big Green.
“They came out ready to play and redeem themselves from last night. We stood and watched,” head coach Derek Schooley said. “When you only play one period, it’s tough to win a hockey game.”
The opening frame malaise seeped into the second period, as well, with the Colonials being outshot, 33-13 after 40 minutes. The Colonials attempted to mount a comeback with stronger play in the third, but it was too little, too late. It’s a lesson the inexperienced Colonials will have to learn.
“We have to learn the fact that there’s no easy wins in college hockey,” Schooley said. “That’s proven on a night-to-night basis. We’ve proven that. Once you get comfortable and once you don’t come ready to play, you’e going to struggle a little bit.”
DEFENSIVE LAPSES
All four of the contested Dartmouth goals (the fifth was an empty netter) came from pretty much wide-open shots, two on the power play and two at even strength.
“On the first goal, Brady Ferguson decides that he’s not going to pick up his man and lets him go,” Schooley said. “He’s out at the blue line when his man that he was standing next to is putting the puck in the open net.”
In addition to a subpar effort, the Colonials were victimized by a few bounces that went Dartmouth’s way off the pads of goaltender Francis Marotte, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
“We noticed they were doing a lot of far pad shots, looking for a rebound off the goalie’s pad,” defenseman Alex Bontje said. “A couple got over to and open guy and they didn’t make a mistake in putting them in the back of net.”
The four goals allowed were a career high for Marotte, who has played extremely well in his freshman season. Schooley didn’t seem to think that Marotte was to blame for the goals allowed, though.
“I don’t think you could really fault him for any of those goals,” he said. “When you get outshout [33-13] for two periods, you’re pretty much under siege the whole time.”
ONE AND DONE
As Schooley referenced, the offense couldn’t maintain much offensive pressure early on. The Colonials were outshot, 39-24 in total.
“I think we were getting outworked and not getting the puck deep,” said forward Brady Ferguson. “I think it all started in our ‘D’ zone. I think a lot of us weren’t prepared to play against them. No excuses. We have to come in like we did Friday.”
BIG STAGE
The Colonials were breaking in a bunch of freshman that hadn’t played at PPG Paints Arena before, the majority of the team had and Dartmouth hadn’t played in an NHL building since 2013. The big barn contained just 689 fans and combined with the tight turnaround, contributed to the somewhat sleepy nature of the start of the game.
“It’s no excuse, especially for the older guys,” Ferguson said. “We’ve been here before and we just took them lightly, especially the first two periods. You can’t play one period, you have to play three.”
NOT SO SPECIAL
Dartmouth came into the game 0 for 43 on the power play, but cashed in with a pair on the man advantage. The penalty kill had been playing well as of late after being something of a trouble spot early in the season. Schooley pointed to a classic flaw for the failures against the Big Green.
“We had three opportunities to clear the puck and when you don’t clear the puck, it always comes back to bite you,” he said.
The Colonials went 0 for 3 on the power play, as well, to lose the special teams battle in decisive fashion.
“It’s disappointing,” Schooley said. “We need to be better. We need to play on a consistent basis.”
