Grove City, PA- The Roller Hockey team traveled to Grove City for their second series of 3 games this season against some of the strongest teams in the East Coast Roller Hockey Association. The Colonials (ranked as a DII team in the ECRHA) played against some of the top teams in the league this weekend. This includes fellow DII opponent Penn State and DI opponents Farmingdale State and Slippery Rock. RMU won the first two games of the weekend, handily defeating Farmingdale State 7-4 and posting a massive 8-0 shutout over the Nittany Lions. They dropped the game to Slippery Rock 12-3. RMU improves to 4-2 on the season.

Game 1: RMU wins over Farmingdale 7-4

RMU got a slow start against Farmingdale. The Rams scored twice early in the first two minutes of the period, and quickly took a 2-0 lead over Robert Morris. Defenseman Vince Passante struck first for RMU at 4:30, cutting the opposing lead in half with plenty of game remaining. The Rams would go back up 3-1 on their second power play goal of the day due to a Jack Clendaniel tripping call. Passante scored his second of the period to close out the first frame with the Colonials trailing 3-2.

The second period was all RMU offensively. They doubled the shots on goal in the period (12-6) and outscored FSU 3-0 in the 2nd. Jesse Zahn's tally 8 seconds into the period set the tone for Robert Morris with the game now tied 3-3. Clendaniel then made up for the earlier penalties by giving the Colonials the go-ahead goal less than a minute later. Jesse Zahn added another goal to his effort on the day to make it 5-3 RMU. Zahn's second goal of the afternoon would stand as the game winner. 

The 3rd period tested the nerves of the Colonials, but they held up to the challenge. Farmingdale got their 3rd power play goal of the game early on to make it 5-4, but RMU played lock down defense from there on out. Zach Bolotsky scored and then Michael Tapolci added a power play goal to end it as the Colonials improved to 3-1 with the 7-4 victory.

Game 2: RMU shuts out Penn State 8-0

This game was controlled throughout the by Colonials. RMU outshot Penn State 34-15 in the game and led 7-0 after the second period. To open up the scoring frenzy, Cameron Zahn and Vince Passante set up Jack Clendaniel to give Robert Morris a lead they would never relinquish. Jarrett Tomazich scored his first of the weekend, and Clendaniel added his second goal of the period to enter intermission with the 3-0 lead.

Passante added his own goal for the game to make it 4-0 early in the 2nd. Exactly a minute later on the clock, Jesse Zahn added another to the Colonials amassing lead. Bolotsky contributed a goal of his own, and then added another on the power play to make it 7-0 at intermission. An unassisted shorthanded goal from J. Zahn in the 3rd would be the final action on the scoreboard for the game. Starting goaltender TJ Caton made the 15 save shutout, his first of the season.   

Game 3: RMU loses to Slippery Rock 12-3

For the front 2/3rds of this game, they were deadlocked. The were neck in neck in shots, goals, and penalties. And then a catastrophic 3rd period happened and complete erased the hard work from the first two periods. Slippery Rock scored first, but then RMU fired back with 2 goals of their own and entered the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. Jesse Zahn and Cameron Zahn each scored to give Robert Morris that lead. A power play goal from Cameron Zahn (his second of the day) made it 3-1 RMU and things seemed to be going great for the team.

Then Slippery Rock ended the 2nd period with 2 goals to tie the game at 3 each. They added another 9 goals in the 3rd period to establish the blowout. RMU finishes the weekend 2-1, and improves to 4-2 this season.

Alexander Gagnon '21
Club Sport Information Director