Men's Hockey | 11/12/2015 9:32:00 AM
College hockey aficionado and Pittsburgh media personality Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary on the RMU men's hockey team. This is his latest:Moon Township, Pa. – It's a team with skill, experience, depth, pedigree and a relentless work ethic.
But the Robert Morris Colonials also have an Achilles' heel that periodically makes them vulnerable.
Teams in the Atlantic Hockey Conference are aware of it and they aren't above doing what's necessary in an attempt to exploit it because every once in a while such a tactic pays dividends.
RMU's 3-2 loss to previously-winless AIC last Friday night at the Island Sports Center stands as the latest example.
"When we get into their antics we start to struggle a little bit," senior winger
Matt Cope acknowledged between the second and third periods of last weekend's series opener against AIC.
The "antics" Cope referenced normally range from opponents initiating verbal exchanges to an extra shove or whack behind a play or after a whistle, anything to get the Colonials off their game.
The Yellow Jackets took things to the extreme while trailing 2-0 midway through the second period last Friday night.
With the teams lined up for a face-off at the AIC blueline backup goaltender Jacob Caffrey spit on RMU junior winger
Daniel Leavens, according to what Leavens told RMU head coach
Derek Schooley. Leavens responded by engaging the AIC bench.Â
Leavens wound up with a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Yellow Jackets needed all of four seconds to score the power-play goal that sliced the RMU lead in half and changed the complexion of the game.
"We have it on video," Schooley said. "It was sent to the (Atlantic Hockey Conference). I talked to (AIC head coach) Gary Wright. He told me what a good kid (Caffrey) was, he feels bad and he admitted to doing it."
AIC didn't dress Caffrey on Saturday night.
But for Robert Morris the damage had been done.
"It's like the retaliation penalty," Schooley said. "They never see the first one. They see what happens second. Unfortunately for us they saw that Daniel pushed them back. He didn't even really connect on a punch. He kind of took a swing and missed.
"I think any one of us would have been a little riled up if that had happened to us. He gets a little bit of a pass but we also had a nice, little chat about controlling our emotions. I think that's something all of our guys can learn from."
The Colonials head into this weekend's bye at 4-2-2 overall and 3-1-2 in AIC play after bouncing back to earn a series split via a 7-1 victory on Saturday night.
When they resume play at Army, Nov. 20-21, they can expect more of the same, not a player spitting, necessarily, but something the opponent has in store that's designed to distract the Colonials' focus.
"Any team in Atlantic Hockey is going to try to do it," Cope said. "We've had trouble in the past of staying out of it. It's something we have to learn from."
It wasn't the first time. And it won't be the last, in part, because the emotion that's such a necessary element of RMU's game occasionally opens the door to a loss of discipline.
"I hope we figure it out and we learn lessons but it's the group that we have," Schooley said. "It's the way we do things on a daily basis. We do things hard and we play a way that is challenging for our guys and how hard they work. We just have to control ourselves a little better sometimes.
"We play with emotion and when we get riled up we don't play as well. We have to play on that edge but not cross that line."
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