PITTSBURGH — The Robert Morris University men’s hockey (7-8-1, 6-5-1 AHC) has wrapped up their first semester of play this weekend with a split against Holy Cross (2-11-2, 2-7-1 AHC. This Saturday afternoon at Colonials Arena, they concluded the series with a tough 2-0 loss to a team that hasn’t won in a while.

This game may have been one of the chippiest and tightest games RMU has played so far in the season. Early on, little scoring chances were generated as both goaltenders held their ground.

Holy Cross’s Erik Gordon made 26 saves on 26 shots en route to a first career win and shutout for the freshman. On the other hand, Francis Marotte, who started in his sixteenth straight game, also had a stellar game stopping 20 of 22. Marotte played great in the game but a couple bad bounces got by him.

Early on, Robert Morris found themselves having multiple man advantages as the first was a very penalized period. Holy Cross was sent to the box five times in the first and RMU had multiple chances, such as a 4-on-3 and even a 5-on-3. Despite all of this, RMU was unable to score.

“We threw everything we had at them but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” stated defenseman Nick Jenny.

The first goal to find twine came from Michael Laffin who scored on a backdoor play that was set up by Johnny Coughlin early into the second. Later in the game, an unlucky bounce for the Colonials came as a tipped shot found its way in the back of the net. The shot came from Spencer Trapp and was tipped in by Michael Laffin for his second goal of the contest. The second and third period featured many Colonial offensive chances such a breakaway, multiple power plays, and shots that forced Gordon to make sprawling saves. But the Colonials ended up with no goals after sixty minutes of play.

“Complete opposite of last nights game, we played hard, we played with energy, we played with a lot of passion and we played well, the only thing we didn’t do well is we didn’t score any goals,” stated head coach Derek Schooley after the game.

Despite the loss, the Colonials are confident with their defensive play, having gone six games giving up only two goals or less. As mentioned before, Francis Marotte has had a big part as the team’s true number one goaltender. The offense, on the other hand, is something the team thinks they need to work on heading forward.

“We have went through a stretch where in the last four games we’ve given up only five goals and went 2-2 so we got to start generating more goals,” Derek Schooley stated.

“Frank is finding his groove and he’s being the goalie we always knew he could be,” Nick Jenny commented.

Robert Morris doesn’t play for another three weeks due to the holiday break and won’t be back in action until December 29th. That Saturday they will face American International College (7-7-1, 7-4-1 AHC) at 7:05 p.m. on the road in Massachusetts.

“We’re pretty banged up right now so it’s nice to have a good long break,” Jenny explained.