Photo courtesy of Kylee Surike/RMU Athletics
NEVILLE TWP.,PA- It was a hotly contested, nip and tuck affair on Friday night at Clearview Arena as the Robert Morris Colonials hosted the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers as the two Atlantic Hockey America foes met for the first time in the 2025-26 season. And at the end of 60 minutes, Tiger forward Zach Wigle’s late third period power play goal provided the difference as RIT took a hard fought three points in the conference standings with at 2-1 victory.
The Tigers wasted no time getting on the score sheet as Ben Roger sent a deceptive looking shot from long range that beat starting Colonial net minder Charlie Schenkel to give his side the early lead at 1:25 o with assists coming off the sticks of Even Konyen and Crossley Stewart. RIT was the much sharper side to start the game and kept the momentum rolling the rest of the way in the first frame, amassing a 13-7 shot advantage to go along with two power plays before the end of twenty minutes.
“They’re a good hockey team and they won the net front battles in the blue paint and they won the special teams battle,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “We have to fight to get to those tough areas and if you want to score goals you have to go to those areas and we didn’t do enough of that. I thought we got better as the game went along but 19 shots isn’t enough.”
The Colonial offensive attack was kept to the outside perimeter for the greater part of 60 minutes as scoring chances down low and between the circles proved difficult to come by thanks to a solid and committed effort from the Tigers who clogged passing lanes while blocking 10 shots on the night. Yet, the Colonials hung close, thanks to timely saves from Schenkel and a penalty kill that managed to kill off five straight man advantages as penalties plagued their attempts to throw more chances at Jakub Krbecek in the Tiger net.
Colonial forward George Krotiris nearly tied the contest at 6:45 in period two with a breakaway chance that was turned aside by Krbecek. However, forward Tanner Klimpke would not be denied on his breakaway at 1:26 of the third period as he received the puck following a broken up Tiger possession at the blue line, then turned on the speed and beat Krbecek with a backhander to even the contest at a goal apiece. The Colonials seemingly got better as the game went along and began to tilt the ice to their advantage shift after shift, building to a potential go ahead score. Then with Colonial forward Braden Rourke in the penalty box on a slashing minor, Roger stuffed a rebound off the post over the goal line resulting in the game winning tally. Robert Morris had one final power play with just under three minutes remaining but could not come up with a tying goal. The two teams finish their weekend series on Saturday night at Clearview Arena with puck drop scheduled for 7 PM.
