Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's hockey team lost the first game of the conference series at Niagara, 2-6. RMU is now 2-5-3 overall in the 2023-24 season and 1-3-2 in conference games. Niagara moves up to 3-6-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the AHA.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Starting the series off on the road, goaltender
Chad Veltri returned to his old arena and was faced with tons of shots early on.
Through the first 10 minutes before the media timeout, Veltri shoved away 10 chances.
Almost getting through the first period without giving up a goal, the Purple Eagles found the back of the net with a minute remaining.
Heading into the second period, Drew Vieten of Niagara scored off an unassisted effort, shorthanded to extend Niagara's lead.
The Colonials quickly responded themselves with a shorthanded tally. Defenseman
Cade Townend entered the neutral zone and stole the puck. Pushing forward, he sniped one past the netminder to cut Niagara's lead down to one.
Moments later, RMU connected well in the defensive end to break forward and enter the Purple Eagles side of the ice. Again, Townend on the puck found freshman
Tanner Klimpke towards goal. Klimpke's shot took a deflection and found its way into the net to tie up the game, 2-2.
Before the middle frame finished up, the home side scored once more to gather a 3-2 advantage, going into the second intermission back up by one score.
In the final period, Niagara threw 12 more shots on net and cashed in three more times to pull away with a 6-2 victory in New York.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
In the faceoff circle, center
Gavin Gulash continued his success on the draws, winning a team-high eight faceoffs.
Cameron Hebert and
Dallas Tulik each won seven. Five different players on the night recorded two blocks. Back in the lineup, freshman
Walter Zacher ended with the most shots on the night with four. After 60 minutes of play,
Tanner Klimpke and
Tom Gangl both finished with a +1.
TWO POINTS FOR TOWNEND
Graduate defenseman
Cade Townend chimed in on both of RMU's goals. Tonight, was his first multipoint effort of the season, registering one goal and one assist. He now has three points in his last two outings. On the year, he owns two goals and three assists from the blue line. From Carleton Place, Ontario, Townend has played in 136 career games at the Division I level. He's produced 16 goals and 27 assists, totaling 43 career points.
UP NEXT
RMU will finish out the series on home ice tomorrow. The start of the game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Clearview Arena.
Follow The Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn | RMU Athletics Gameday App
