Moon, PA- Fans down at the Island Sports Center saw quite the battle Thursday night as the D1 Club Hockey team defeated West Virginia by the narrowest of margins. The #12 ranked RMU pulled out a late 2-1 win to improve to 3-0 this season. They also improved to 1-0 in CHMA play as RMU kicked off their conference play against their championship opponent from last season.

In the first period, it was the Mountaineers who got out to the early lead when they banged home a rebound in close to take a 1-0 lead just over five minutes in. From there the Colonials were outshot in the period 16-9, but goaltender Kevin Mackey for RMU kept his team in it. The first period also saw the start of a theme for the game, which is both teams going to the box several times.

The second period began as a bit of a slow burn, as both teams' defense did a good job limiting high danger chances. That was until eight minutes in, when RMU got sprung on a 2-1 break. Roman Kraemer charged in and got an open run at the net with the defender occupied by Tyler Draper coming down the middle of the ice. Kraemer put on a move and beat the goalie to the nearside post to make it 1-1. From there it was anyone's game as the teams entered the 3rd period still tied.



You could feel the tension in the arena rising as the two teams traded chances in the 3rd. With time winding down and under two minutes to play, RMU was trapped in their own zone trying to get the puck out. When the puck finally found captain Justin Adamski's stick, he shoved it out to Roman Kraemer. Adamski flew down the middle lane of the ice, leaving WVU's defenseman well behind. Kraemer hit Adamski with the pass for a partial breakaway and went fivehole on the netminder. Adamski's initial shot nearly got through, but was saved. However the puck was still loose on the goal line. Kraemer charged the net and poked it home before the goalie could find it to give RMU the 2-1 lead with around 1:45 to go. RMU locked it down for the last couple of minutes to pick up the win.

The D1 Club Hockey team will host George Mason next weekend, an opponent rarely if ever seen down at the Island Sports Center. Game time for those games are 8:30pm on Friday, October 8th and 4:30pm on Saturday, October 9th.