The Robert Morris Colonials picked a perfect time to end a six game winless streak on Friday night in game one of their best of three series with the Bentley Falcons. Paced by two goals from forward Alex Tonge and 37 saves from goaltender Francis Marotte, the Colonials exorcised some late season demons and took early command of the first round Atlantic Hockey playoff series.
Those demons for the Colonials had manifested themselves in spurts of uneven play, lack of scoring, and lack of seizing momentum in close games. However, the Colonials were able to put together a solid, three phase game, that saw them dominate the shot totals and the ice in the first two periods while staying patient when starting Falcon goaltender Aiden Pelino was putting on a clinic, stopping the first 26 shots he faced.
“I thought we played with a lot of intensity and we played for sixty minutes,” Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley said. “We were just okay in the third, we weren’t under siege but we weren’t playing as hard as we possibly could. Instead of going out and taking it, we just went out and hoped it would happen until we needed to at the end. They’re a tough team to play against. For some reason we don’t match up well, they don’t give us a lot of time and space and they do a lot of things as far as blowing zones and trying to catch our defensemen in certain areas. They gave a good effort tonight and their push back in the third was very good so they’ll take that as a positive and we’ve got to be ready to go tomorrow.”
Tonge put the Colonials out front at 13:10 of the second frame when he took a near perfect pass from line mate Timmy Moore which he put behind Pelino, finishing a three on two rush. On a night when both goaltenders were equally impressive, it would take a nearly perfect play to break the ice, and Tonge’s goal was about as close one could get.
However, the Colonials had to face a desperate comeback attempt from the Falcons in the third period that included fifteen shots on goal, while facing three penalty kills in the final frame. Marotte and company held the Falcons off the scoreboard thanks to some huge point blank saves and a flurry of blocked shots until Colonial forward Brandon Watt found the back of the net from the slot with less than two minutes to go in the period to double the Robert Morris advantage. Kyle Schmidt would spoil Marotte’s bid for a shutout with a power play goal in the waning seconds, but Tonge answered with an empty net tally seconds later to close out the scoring.
“I don’t think that we came out ready to play,” Bentley head coach Ryan Soderquist said. “We had some great goaltending get us through some rough times. We didn’t take advantage of a great goaltending performance from Aiden, he played phenomenal and he gave us a chance to win that game and unfortunately we couldn’t find the back of the net. We had pucks on sticks of some guys that should have scored some goals tonight. We had some great grade A’s and they were on six of our goal scorers sticks and they didn’t score including the power play. Going one for six isn’t going to win you many games.”
The Colonials now find themselves one win away from advancing to the second round. However, the history between the schools suggests that it will take a tremendous effort to finish the Falcons. The season series between the schools is now tied at 2-2-1, and two years ago, the Falcons pushed the Colonials to a third game in a second round playoff battle.
“The hardest thing to do is end a team’s season,” Schooley said. The Colonials will get a chance to do so on Saturday night at RMU Island Sports Center.
