News

Moon, PA- It may have been an abridged season, but the Colonials have punched their ticket to Nationals by winning their 2nd CHMA championship in 3 years. RMU defeated West Virginia University 4-1 in the finals to improve to 5-0 on the season.

Having finished undefeated in the regular season, the Colonials got to host the Mountaineers down at the Island Sports Center. RMU entered the game playing with a lot of confidence and you could tell from puck drop in this one.

Robert Morris would open the scoring when Tyler Kovac got a puck through to the back of the net during a scramble in front midway through the opening frame. Lance Cotton and Camron Smith with the assists. Justin Adamski would score off a faceoff win a few minutes later to put RMU ahead 2-0 at the end of the first period. 

The second period saw both teams have some time on the powerplay, but neither team was able to make a change on the scoreboard entering the final period of play. Once in the 3rd period, WVU got back in it six minutes into the period and cut the deficit with a powerplay goal. The 2-1 score would hold for only 32 seconds before the Colonials opened it up back into a 2 goal lead.

Nathan Mickey took the rebound from a Andrew Hachmeister shot and buried it to give the Colonials a two goal advantage once again with just over 13 minutes left. Goalie Kevin Mackey had his busiest period of the night in the 3rd. He was up to the challenge, turning away 15 of 16 in the period and 32 of 33 for the night. Hachmeister tacked on an empty netter to seal the victory with a minute and a half to go in the game.

The buzzer hit all zeros, and the team spilled over the boards to celebrate. 
It's a special and rewarding moment for the whole team since the odds of even having a season seemed unlikely for much of the fall semester. But they practiced for months in case they were able to compete, and that preparation paid off. The Colonials are now 5-0 on the season, with all victories coming by multi-goal margins. 

Despite how different this season has been from past ones, there was still a trophy and championship banner for the club. Well, what's left of the trophy after Christian Pellegrino accidentally broke it. But in addition to being conference champions, the team also receives a berth to Nationals. They're opponent will be Davenport University, and puck drop will be Friday at 4:45 CDT. A preview article getting ready for the game will be posted tomorrow.