ERIE, Pa.– The Robert Morris men’s hockey team dropped its conference opener Saturday to their in-state rival Mercyhurst.
Mercyhurst trailed 3-1 lead going into the third period, all while Mercyhurst came back to defeat the Colonials in a shootout.
“We’ve got to learn how to finish a game,” Head Coach Derek Schooley said. “We’ve got a 3-1 lead, and we can’t allow them back in the game. We had a lot of chances, and we need to bear down on those chances.”
The Colonials dominated on shots in the first period, almost doubling the Lakers 15-9.
Desire that, it was the Lakers getting on the scoreboard first with a goal from Laker captain, Marko Reifenberger. However, the Colonials didn’t bat an eye as they got on the power play and evened it up from McKay Hayes’ goal just under two minutes later.
After the intermission, Logan Ganey gets his second goal of the season to give the Colonials the lead.
The Colonials appeared to have their third goal of game late in the second period from Cameron Hebert but after a Laker challenge, it was reversed due to goaltender interference.
Cade Townend got on the board for the Colonials, scoring his first of the season coming on the power play.
With two goals on the power play, the Colonials had a golden opportunity to end the game in overtime with a power play after Garrett Dahm was called for hooking. Coach Schooley still gave some positives.
“The power play was good,” Coach Schooley said. “I would have liked [our power play] to be good in the overtime too when we had the 4-on-3, but we did a good job making sure that we got pucks to the net. We took some pucks hard to the net in McKay Hayes goal and Cade Townend scored a goal. It’s disappointing because we felt that we let some points slip away.”
Mercyhurst would go on to score two goals in the third period to tie the game in the third period to force overtime.
The Colonials would have 45 shots on net to Mercyhurst’s 26.
“We’re not playing like a first year team or an expansion or whatever you want to call us,” Coach Schooley. “We left some points on the table in league play. When you get a 3-1 lead, you got to finish that. Obviously, we didn’t get the job done as far as that goes.”
Coach Schooley talked about the future of the team and how to improve for the future.
“We just need to make sure that we continue to work on our structure and get better. This counts as a tie in our record, but it feels like a loss because you gave up some points and lost the shootout too. As a group, we got to make sure that we’re right there. Whatever team gets to their game and figures out their game quicker. You’re gonna win hockey games that way.”
The Colonials will come home for a two-game series against Holy Cross at Clearview Arena on Friday Oct. 20 and Saturday Oct. 21.
