Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's hockey team lost the second game of the series, 1-3. The Colonials are now 2-9-3 overall on the year and 1-7-2 in conference games. Sacred Heart moves up to 7-5-0 in the 2023-24 campaign and are 7-2-0 in conference games.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Off to a great start, the Colonials battled hard in the first period, dominating in both ends of the ice.
RMU outshot SHU in shots for the first 20 minutes, 8-2. The two shots on goal the Colonials gave up in the first period were the least amount of shots allowed in a period of the year.
Seven minutes into the opening frame,
Mitch Andres backhanded a pass into the neutral zone. Near the bench,
Walter Zacher flicked it on to
George Krotiris. Speeding down the wing, Krotiris put on the wheels in on goal, sliding a shot in through the goaltender's legs to give RMU an early lead.
Entering the middle frame, the Pioneers earned their second power play chance of the day, as Marcus Joughlin scored to tie it up.
At the halfway point, freshman
Jackson Reineke bolted ahead on a breakaway, coming close to scoring his second career goal.
Later in the final period, Jake Bongo scored his second goal of the season to give SHU a 2-1 lead with seven minutes left in the game.
Looking to cash in for a second goal and tie up the game,
Dallas Tulik almost scored a shorthanded goal with four minutes remaining.
Chad Veltri was pulled with 90 seconds left for captain
Rylee St. Onge to hop on the ice as the extra skater. Shortly after, RMU called a timeout before a faceoff near the Pioneers bench.
With 37 seconds left, SHU passed in the empty net goal to secure a 3-1 victory.
COLONIAL FIRSTS
From Sewell, N.J.,
Matthew Boczar played his first career game today for the Colonials. Boczar joined RMU after playing a season in the NAHL as the captain for the Northeast Generals. He produced 25 points in 58 games in the 2021-22 campaign. On defense,
Mitch Andres recorded his first point in an RMU sweater. Transferring from Boston College, Andres has now played in 97 career games posting one goal and seven assists.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
George Krotiris and defenseman
Trevor LeDonne led the team in shots on goal with four each. Krotiris paced for his fifth point of the season on his goal and third point across the last four contests.
Walter Zacher dished out another assist today, making that three assists in the series against Sacred Heart. He finished today as a +1. On the year he owns four points in eight games. The Colonials won the faceoff battle again today winning 32 of 48 draws (66.6%). All four centers finished 50% or more on their draws:
Dallas Tulik (14-16),
Cameron Hebert (9-15),
Logan Ganie (5-9) and
Gavin Gulash (4-8). Defensively,
Cade Townend,
Mitch Andres and
Luke Johnson each recorded two blocks.
Chad Veltri made 17 saves on the day, bringing his career totals to 2,970 saves.
QUOTABLE
"It was a great effort today. I thought for the first 40 minutes we were outstanding. We need to hit the net and find ways to manufacture goals. But, we have a lot to build on."
– Head Coach Derek Schooley
UP NEXT
The Colonials will head out on the road next to face RIT for a two-game series. Heading to Rochester, N.Y., the first game will be played on Friday, December 1 at 7:00 p.m. Game two will be played the following day at 6:00 p.m.
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