PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team was defeated 4-1 Saturday evening at Colonials Arena at the hands of the American International College Yellow Jackets.
On a night when the Colonials went 0-7 on the power play, Darcy Walsh provided the lone goal of the game for RMU, his second of the year.
"Our penalty kill, which has been outstanding this year, let us down again," head coach Derek Schooley said. "Not only that, our power-play had a chance to take over the game and took two penalties and didn't get the result we needed. Last night, they got a five-minute major and scored twice, tonight we get a five minute major and don't."
Slow starts have plagued the Colonials at times throughout the year, and Saturday evening was no exception.
Yellow Jackets defenseman Jeff Baum let go of one from the left point that sailed through a maze of bodies in front of Kapelmaster and beat the senior keeper over the shoulder for an early lead just 1:40 into the game.
The Colonials best look of the opening frame came on a power-play midway through the first when AIC was whistled for too many men on the ice.
Though they managed seven shots on the man-advantage, most came from the perimeter and failed to penetrate through a number of committed shot-blocks from the AIC PK unit.
A breakaway for Austin Albrecht as he stepped out of the box nearly made it 2-0 for the Yellow Jackets, but Kapelmaster waited him out the whole way and made a clutch pad save to keep the deficit at one.
Kip Hoffman did his part to set the tone physically, stepping up on a big hit through the neutral zone that led to a turnover and a Walsh scoring chance. The freshman forward had time coming down the wing but put the puck wide.
A second power play opportunity came two minutes into the second after Baum was called for a trip, putting the Colonials top unit back out onto the ice with a chance to tie things up.
A PP unit that had only managed to convert one of its last eight chances before tonight came up short again in the second, however RMU would finally cash in at evens after a great shift from the hard-nosed fourth line of Walsh, Hoffman and Nick Lalonde set up solid zone time off the cycle.
A great individual effort from defenseman Alex Robert to keep the puck in led to a point shot from the senior blue liner, and Walsh managed to get a piece of it on the way to the net, re-directing it past Jarrett Fiske to pull RMU level at 1-1 for his second tally of the year.
"Five-on-five we out-scored them this weekend, unfortunately it's all facets of the game, and they were far superior in their special teams this weekend," Schooley said.Â
Luke Lynch nearly made it a 2-1 game after a great read in the neutral zone led to a scoring chance at four-on-four, however the Yellow Jackets defenseman did a nice job of angling the senior wide as Lynch put it off the shoulder of Fiske.
A quick, turning shot from Daniel Mantenuto in the high slot minutes later nearly put the Colonials on top again, however it was once again blockered wide by Fiske.
Unfortunately the Yellow Jacket power-play found a way to make a difference Saturday night, as the AIC man-advantage made it 2-1 after a Martin Mellberg wrister beat Kapelmaster glove side just 4:26 into the final frame.
RMU's rough night on special teams got worse after yet another power play opportunity failed to materialize a goal with just over ten minutes left to play.
After AIC made it 3-1 at 12:35 of the final frame, RMU was given one final, golden opportunity to tie things up after Austin Albrecht was given a five-minute major for high-sticking.
Despite a number of chances, the Colonials were not able to take advantage of the late opportunity and finished the night 0-7Â with the man advantage.
RMU returns to action next weekend when they head to Tempe for a pair of showdowns against Arizona State.
"It's disappointing right now," Schooley said. "We had a a 1-1 game, great second period. Average first, but unbelievable in the second. Had an opportunity to come out and get the job done in the third at home, and we give up two power-play goals."
