MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Some ties feel like wins, and some ties feel like losses.
Friday night’s contest between Robert Morris and Mercyhurst saw both teams feel one way or the other about that statement.
Picking right up where they left off in the 2015 Atlantic Hockey semifinals, the Colonials and Lakers continued their fierce rivalry with a game that saw one side seize an early two-goal lead and watch the other team climb back into the contest over the remainder of regulation.
“It’s a young group, we’re a young team and falling down 2-0 wasn’t part of the game plan, but we just tried to keep playing the right way and do the things that we could control and I thought for the most part we did that,” Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin said. “Robert Morris has a great team and they’re having a great year and I thought they played pretty good. We were just focused on what we were doing and our compete level and discipline. I thought it was a very good college hockey game and I even found myself watching a bit of it.”
The Colonials looked like a frustrated bunch as the minutes went along, but still clung to a 2-1 lead until the 13:43 mark of the third period when Lakers forward Chris Makowski sent a hard shot from the top of the circles that deflected off of Colonials defenseman Chase Golightly and behind Terry Shafer to tie the game at two apiece.
Neither team mounted a serious offensive challenge throughout the remaining minutes in regulation and in the ensuing overtime, the Colonials dominated the territorial edge and mustered several scoring chances, none closer than when Daniel Leavens struck iron with 1:38 to play.
Mercyhurst goalie Adam Carlson stood tall en route to stopping 50 shots on the night.
The Colonials held the early momentum and territory advantage as leading scorer Zac Lynch opened the scoring just 1:27 into the first period when he cut across the front of the net and placed a shot that appeared to hit the crossbar and fall behind Carlson.
RMU then kept applying the pressure, putting a selection of point-blank shots on Carlson, who stood his ground until the 14:18 mark when Brandon Denham put a rebound from a Timmy Moore shot past Carlson to double the Robert Morris lead.
The Lakers then found themselves the recipient of a late first period power play that was thwarted by Shafer as he managed to make several dazzling saves to keep the two-goal lead intact heading into the dressing room following 20 minutes of play.
The momentum went in Mercyhurst’s direction for a large portion of regulation time. Not with one single moment, but with a shift after shift approach.
Mercyhurst started disrupting the Colonials’ flow by taking away their speed in neutral ice thanks to a concentrated team effort to clog passing lanes while getting sticks on passes intended for RMU forwards at every turn.
The physical element to the budding rivalry then ramped up another level as both teams committed to finishing checks at every opportunity, many of them of the board rattling variety.
The Lakers then appeared to cut the lead in half as the clock reached the six-minute mark of the second frame when Jonathan Charbonneau’s apparent goal was waved off due to the net being off the moorings.
Tommaso Bucci then did cut that lead in half late in the period when his low shot from the top of the right circle beat Shafer at the 16:46 mark.
As the third period began, two things became apparent. The first being that the Colonials were getting rubber on Carlson at times, but were not burying their chances as Carlson’s play seemingly got stronger by the minute, and the second being that the ramped up physical battles between the two were ready to spill into a series of post-whistle scrums.
“I think after the first, Mercyhurst played better and I thought we didn’t do a very good job of managing the puck in the neutral zone,” Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley said. “I thought turning over too many pucks cost us and allowed them some odd-man rushes that helped them get back in the game. We want to play with speed, but we also want to play in their end and we can’t be careless with the puck in the neutral zone. We have to play the way we played in the first period for 60 minutes tomorrow night. We have to make sure we’re attacking with speed, getting pucks deep, and not being careless in the neutral zone.”
