Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's hockey team fell to Sacred Heart, Friday night, 2-4. The Colonials are now 2-8-3 overall on the season and are 1-6-2 in conference play. Sacred Heart moves up to 6-5-0 overall and 6-2-0 in Atlantic Hockey contests.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Most of the action in tonight's game happened in the first 20 minutes as four total goals were scored. Sacred Heart found the net three times while the Colonials cashed in once.
After the midway point of the first period, Kevin Lombardi and John Jaworski both scored within two minutes to take an early, 2-0 lead.
RMU then capitalized on the power play to get within one. Freshman forward
Tanner Klimpke slotted a pass to
Walter Zacher in the middle of the zone. Off his shot, the puck redirected to
Dallas Tulik on the left side. Ready to shoot, he slapped a one timer past Chase Clark.
Following the Colonials score, Sacred Heart built their lead back up by two as TJ Walsh scored his seventh goal of the season.
During the middle frame, no goals were scored but the Colonials played disciplined style hockey and began to build momentum.
The Colonials outshot the visitors, 11-7 and stayed out of the box across the 20-minute period. RMU received two extra-man advantages but did not score with three shots on goal with the extra skater.
Heading into the last period, the Colonials clawed back. Exiting their defensive area, the puck was flipped up to
George Krotiris in the neutral zone. The freshman winger used his speed to get around a Pioneer defenseman, curling down the right side. He sauced a pass to the left of the net, finding defenseman
Cade Townend joining the rush to hammer in RMU's second goal of the night.
Looking to tie up the game late in the third period, fighting for chances in the offensive zone, the home side took a penalty, giving the Pioneers a power play with a little over two minutes remaining in the game.
Chad Veltri was pulled from the net late in the match to bring play back to 5on5. SHU was able to break out of their zone and head down the other way to finish off the empty net goal. In the end, the visitors won, 4-2.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Alternate captain
Cameron Hebert finished with a team-high +1. He was 70% successful on draws, winning seven of 10.
Dallas Tulik won 11 of 17 and
Logan Ganie battled to win eight of 14 faceoffs. Overall, RMU owned the edge in the faceoff circle winning 57.4% of their draws. Defensively,
Michael Craig had a team-high four blocks. Between the posts,
Chad Veltri made 27 total saves on the night.
POINT PRODUCERS
Posting his first career multipoint game, freshman
Walter Zacher dished out two assists on the night. He also led the team in shots with six. From Buffalo, N.Y., Zacher now owns three career assists in seven games.
Cade Townend pounded in his third goal of the season. He leads all defensemen at RMU in goals and points (3-3—6). In his 99
th career game,
Dallas Tulik notched his third goal on the season and 17
th in his career. Freshman
Tanner Klimpke picked up another assist, continuing to lead RMU in points (4-5—9).
QUOTABLE
"We did some really good things and we have a lot to build on. It's a process, but I really liked a lot of our game today. We played hard and competed all night. Tonight, should give us confidence, we just need to finish some chances around the net." – Head Coach
Derek Schooley
UP NEXT
RMU will defend their home ice again tomorrow as they welcome back Sacred Heart for part two of the series. Saturday's puck drop is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Clearview Arena.
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