Men’s hockey falls short against no. 18 Bowling Green

Colonials+celebrate+after+a+goal+against+Alabama-Huntsville+on+November+21%2C+2020%0ACredit%3A+Nathan+Breisinger

Colonials celebrate after a goal against Alabama-Huntsville on November 21, 2020 Credit: Nathan Breisinger

Nathan Breisinger

After a quick two-goal headstart in the first period, the Robert Morris men’s hockey team (3-2, 1-1 AHA) allowed six goals in a 6-3 loss against Bowling Green (3-0) Tuesday night.

Bowling Green outplayed the Colonials for just about the entirety of the game besides the two early goals. The Falcons outshot Robert Morris 40 to 18 and converted on three power plays as the Colonials totaled eight penalties on the evening.

“We got to come to compete, we got to be disciplined, we got to stay out of the penalty box, and we got to play the game the right way,” head coach Derek Schooley said.

As the Falcons capitalized on the power play, on the other hand, RMU failed to register a goal on their seven power-play chances.

“We had some looks and we didn’t convert tonight,” Schooley said.

The Colonials, as mentioned before, began the game with some firepower as just over three minutes into the game Randy Hernandez went in on a partial break and managed to squeak one threw the five-hole of netminder Eric Dop.

Just 13 seconds later the Colonials struck again as Justin Addamo received a pass right in front of the net from Jordan Timmons and Addamo made no mistake burying it to make it 2-0.

After that, it was all Falcons as RMU could not keep themselves out of the penalty box. Cameron Wright and Will Cullen both capitalized on the man advantage to even things up at two apiece heading into the first intermission.

“Their experience showed there,” Schooley said. “They didn’t get rattled and they didn’t get fazed.”

It was all gas, no brakes for Bowling Green heading into the second period as they notched two more goals just under two minutes apart.

Brandon Kruse, a former fifth-round draft selection of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018, buried one home past Lubbesmeyer right in front of the net to give the Falcons the lead.

Shortly after, a clean break-in to the offensive zone and some pretty passing for Bowling Green led to a Connor Ford one-timer finding the back of the net to give them a 4-2 lead.

The Falcons kept coming in waves, as it was a rough night in net for Lubbesmeyer as he faced shot after shot, although he did manage to make 34 saves on 40 shots.

“I thought Dyllan Lubbesmeyer competed really hard in the net,” Schooley said. “He competed and he battled, but in the end, they put too many pucks in the net.”

After a handful of penalties on both sides, Roman Kraemer brought the Colonials back within a goal as he streaked down the right side of the ice and beat Dop during a four-on-four situation.

The Colonials showed some promise in the third period as they looked re-energized and started to put together some quality scoring chances, but, it would be short-lived as Bowling Green once again took advantage of an RMU penalty as Tim Theocharidis gave the Falcons another two-goal lead.

“We gave up three power-play goals and the difference in the game was three goals,” Schooley said.

Bowling Green would finish off the Colonials with an empty netter by Justin Wells and extend their current win streak to 13 games, which began back in early February.

The Colonials look to get back in the win column this weekend, when they travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take on Air Force (0-2, 0-2 AHA) for a two-game set Friday and Saturday.