Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team fell to Holy Cross, 1-3. RMU is now 1-2-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Crusaders move up to 4-0-0 to begin the year and are 1-0-0 in their first conference game of the season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Hosting their first conference game of the season, the Colonials got off to the power play early Friday night. In the opening seven minutes, RMU registered seven shots with the man-advantage but couldn't cash in early.
After the media timeout, halfway through the period, the Crusaders got on their first power play opportunity of the night. Battling a man-down, the Colonials killed it off and Veltri provided three saves.
At the end of the first period, Holy Cross led in shots, 19-14. Shots on goal were tied as both sides had 10 each.
Entering the second period, 15 seconds in, Holy Cross was given another power play. RMU managed to not give up a goal a man-down. A minute following the power play though, Matt Guerra scored to take a 1-0 lead.
Moments later, captain
Rylee St. Onge skated onto a puck into space. The Crusaders goaltender hesitated to leave his net as St. Onge used his speed to hop onto the biscuit quickly. With the goalie out of position, St. Onge swiped a shot just going wide.
With a little under two minutes left in the middle frame, Nic Petruolo was given a five-minute major for contact to the head, giving RMU more time with an extra skater.
Across that power play opportunity, RMU peppered 11 shots towards the net, but didn't manage to score the tying goal they battled for.
Another solid chance for the Colonials came a few minutes later.
McKay Hayes in all alone on a breakaway was shut down by Jason Grande.
Time was winding down, but the hard work of RMU paid off as
Tanner Klimpke ripped in his first career goal with four minutes left in the third period. Winning the puck in the corner,
Logan Ganie fed Klimpke in the slot to tie the game.
Overtime seemed imminent, until
Jackson Reineke was called for a five-minute major with under two minutes left in the game.
On the power play, Matt Guerra scored a brace and gave Holy Cross the go-ahead goal with under a minute left.
Aiming to tie up the game again, the Colonials pulled
Chad Veltri as soon as they could get into the offensive end, putting out an extra attacker to make it, 5on5.
With 13 seconds left in the game, Jack Ricketts netted the empty goal, and gave Holy Cross their first conference win of the season, defeating RMU, 3-1.
COLONIAL FIRSTS
From Calgary, Alberta,
Tanner Klimpke scored his first career goal at an imperative moment in the game for RMU. Last game, at Mercyhurst, he produced his first collegiate point with an assist against the Lakers. Now, in four games, the freshman owns two points on the season. Also, on the night, redshirt freshman
Charles Merkley who was on the roster in 2022-23, played his first career game. A native of Fairport, N.Y., Merkley slotted in on the fourth line in tonight's game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
By the end of the third period, shots on goal were about even as Holy Cross held a slight edge, 35-33. Adding another assist, graduate forward
Logan Ganie continues to lead the program in points with two goals and two assists in four games. Freshman
Cameron Garvey led all players on the ice in blocks with four on the night. In the faceoff circle,
Dallas Tulik won 13 of his 19 draws. Between the posts, the veteran netminder
Chad Veltri posted another solid performance in net, making 32 stops. He finished with a .948 save percentage.
QUOTABLE
"We're a good hockey team. We just have to find ways to finish. We play hard, we compete and when we're playing within our structure we're very good. There are some good hockey players on this team and need to figure out how to finish games off."
– Head Coach Derek Schooley
"It felt really good to score at home. We haven't had a lead here yet and have chased some games. When our team plays with a lead we've gotten positive results so the group needs to score first and get after it."
– Head Coach Derek Schooley
UP NEXT
The Colonials get right back to the office tomorrow as they'll host Holy Cross for game two of the series. Tomorrow's game will be played at Clearview Arena at 5:00 p.m.
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