The Colonials powered passed Army West Point in game one of two this weekend, led by freshman goaltender Francis Marotte.
Hailing from Longueuil, Quebec, Marotte has been a force for the Colonials. Facing 27 shots from Army, the ones that actually made it to the net, he shrugged aside all but one. Marotte played in two other games prior to this one against RIT and Canisius.
He played the full game against Canisius, allowing just two goals on 34 shots. Marotte played for the final 2:25 of the third period against RIT which didn’t count as a win, loss or tie for him. On the year, he is 1-0-1 with an impressive .955 save percentage and a goals-against average of 1.42.
“He came into this game second in the nation for save percentage and goals against,” head coach Derek Schooley said. “I like what I’ve seen from him so far. He’s pretty good.”
Marotte helped the Colonials past Army, 2-1, in game one of the weekend. Colonial goals were scored by Daniel Mantenuto and Timmy Moore with assists coming from Luke Lynch, John Rey and Spencer Dorowicz.
The first period ended in a tie as Marotte and Army goaltender Parker Gahagen denied all shots. Good play by the Colonials keeping the puck in Army’s zone for the majority of the period.
Army was not going down without a fight, as they pushed back late in the period drawing a penalty from Graham. Midway through that power play, Army took a penalty themselves sending the play to 4-on-4 until Graham was released.
Ironically, Graham had the only shot of that powerplay for the Colonials.
The second period finally showed some scoring; Army struck first seven minutes into the period. The goal was scored by Brendan Soucie right after another solid penalty kill by the Colonials.
This lit a fire under the Colonials, and Daniel Mantenuto scored just two minutes later. RMU dominated after that, with a plethora of shots peppering the Army goaltender.
Just 16 seconds into a penalty on the Black Knights, Timmy Moore stood underneath the faceoff circle in front of the rambunctious student section. With a wicked wrist shot, he put Army to rest with a goal.
The rest of the period might as well have been naptime for Marotte, as he didn’t see any action.
The third period was intense but proved to be no match for the defense of Robert Morris. With both teams getting some good chances, RMU’s defense started blocking shots — a lot of shots. Schooley said, “It’s about being in shooting lanes and not giving up second shots and that leads to blocking shots. It shows who’s got intestinal fortitude to get in front of a shot.”
That “intestinal fortitude” was strong with the Colonials, as they struck Army down and stole the win in a comeback victory. The stage is set for another excellent game on Oct. 29 between Army and RMU once more.
