PITTSBURGH -- For the first time in its all-time series with Penn State, the
Robert Morris University men's hockey team outshot the Nittany Lions, but the Colonials couldn't overcome an early multi-goal deficit, falling 6-2 to the nation's sixth-ranked team in front of 3,312 fans Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Sophomores
Justin Addamo and
Grant Hebert accounted for the Colonials' two goals on the night, as RMU (7-9-3) returned to NCAA action after a four-week winter break. It seemed to take the Colonials a few minutes to find their footing, and unfortunately a couple of missed coverages staked PSU to a 2-0 edge less than three minutes into the game.
"I really liked how we played," RMU head coach
Derek Schooley said. "Even in the first period, the scoring chances were in our favor. We took the play to them at times, but we had some defensive breakdowns, and with their ability to finish, they finished their chances.
"It would've been really easy to quit, but I'm proud of our group. We played probably our best period of the season in the second, and carried it over into the third. A lot to build on with Atlantic Hockey play looming. I think we have the ability to do some good things."
Penn State had claimed the shot battle in each of first 11 meetings with the Colonials, but RMU piled up season highs with 44 shots on goal and 86 shot attempts. Against a Lions team that once again leads Division I in peppering goalies, it was a welcome change.
On the other hand, carrying a 4-0 deficit into the intermission wasn't in the game plan as the Colonials tried to end PSU's five-game win streak in the all-time series. Even with the enhanced firepower that came with the injury returns of Hebert and senior co-captain
Daniel Mantenuto, RMU couldn't climb all the way up the mountain.
"We had a pushback, but unfortunately we couldn't find the back of the net enough," Schooley assessed. "We have too good of hockey players not to capitalize on some of those chances. But it would've been really easy to quit and say that it's not our night. Really impressive, because we didn't spend a lot of time in our end after the (early) breakdowns."
While the missed opportunity to beat their in-state opponent surely stung, the Colonials can rest in the fact that they're still tied for fourth in the Atlantic Hockey Association and have 13 league games left to prove wrong that seventh-place prediction in the preseason coaches' poll.
"When we got to camp, everyone knew we were a championship-caliber team," Mantenuto said after his first game since mid-October. "We all believe in that locker room that we can win an Atlantic Hockey championship and make noise in the (NCAA) tournament. There's still no doubt about that."
Shaking off the shell-shock of conceding four goals in the first -- they'd allowed four in just six of their first 18 games -- the Colonials started to look at home in their 18th all-time game at PPG Paints Arena.
Although they misfired on a couple of breakaways in the game, they had some success shooting glove-side on Penn State senior goalie Peyton Jones. That trend began eight minutes into the second, when Addamo pulled a loose puck off the right wall, sliced to the middle and whipped a wrister high inside the post.
Penn State (16-6-0) scored a significant insurance goal four minutes later, with Max Sauvé dumping a Lions faceoff win into the open right side of the net. The lead was back to four.
But RMU kept churning; Hebert polished off a two-on-one rush with
Nick Prkusic by roofing a point-blank forehand at 15:41. Hebert had missed the final four games of the fall semester, but still has five goals in his 12 games played.
"Coming out in the second, we fought," Mantenuto said. "We didn't give up. We believed we would come back."
The margin was back to three goals after two frames, but the Colonials could get no closer. Jones and RMU goalie
Justin Kapelmaster (31 saves) were arguably the stars of the third, holding both attacks at bay until Alex Limoges hit the Colonials' empty net in the final minute of play.
Fittingly, in his final game on the Penguins' ice, Pittsburgh-area native
Jacob Coleman led all Colonials with six shots on goal, also registering a secondary assist on Hebert's goal. Local freshmen
Roman Kraemer and
Tyler Love played their first NCAA games in the big barn Uptown, while midseason addition
Quinn Warmuth made his RMU debut on the blue line.
With the team's latest showcase game in the rear-view mirror, RMU will now face another Keystone State foe in Mercyhurst. Due to a November postponement, the Colonials and Lakers will face off three times in the coming week, starting with Tuesday night's battle in Erie, Pa.
After showing all the signs of a team nearing an offensive breakout, Robert Morris will put that theory to the test in their return to conference play.
"You have to believe with the talent we have, scoring will become contagious," Schooley said. "In Atlantic Hockey, we have to believe we can do it."
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