Men's D1 Club Ice Hockey | 3/2/2023 12:42:00 PM

Your D1 Men's Club Hockey faced off against West Virginia for the second time this season. After a heartbreaking overtime 1-2 loss in Morgantown previously, the Colonials would look to even the series up against the Mountaineers. The scoring started early for RMU, with Roman Kraemer assisting Justin Adamski on a nice back-and-forth play by the duo. That goal would be Adamski's 19th of the season, which put him in first place in the entire league on the season. The Colonials couldn't have started any better, with a 1-0 lead in the first minute of this contest. A lot of even play marked the next ten minutes of the first period, with neither team able to find the back of the net. At about 11 minutes in, the Colonials found themselves with a nice opportunity to increase their lead with a power play. West Virginia was able to handle it, though, and shortly after the penalty kill the Mountaineers scored a goal of their own after a long pass up the ice that sneaked through the RMU defense. This game was now tied at 1-1 with a few minutes remaining until the first intermission. The Colonials found themselves in some trouble, after giving up an easy West Virginia goal following a delayed penalty. Now, not only were they down 1-2, but they were faced with an enemy power play late in this first period. Despite some heavy pressure and decent chances from the Mountaineers, RMU was able to kill the penalty and the first period would close 1-2 in WVU's favor. 

The second period started, and RMU found themselves with a power play early on. The Colonials were able to get a few good scoring opportunities, but were unable to convert on any of them. Shortly after the WVU penalty kill, a shot was fired on the RMU goal and unfortunately another Mountaineer goal was scored after it rebounded nicely in their favor. The Colonials were now down 1-3 with about fifteen minutes left in the second period. RMU earned another power play opportunity, but WVU surprisingly handled it well and even buried another goal despite being down a man. Faced with a 1-4 deficit, the Colonials needed to find a goal soon. They were able to do just that after Nathan Mickey finished a beautiful shot from far out after some crisp passing between him and Justin Adamski. RMU now cut the WVU to just two goals with plenty of time still left in the second period. Just a few minutes later, Nathan Mickey scored another pretty goal on the breakaway for his 10th goal of the season. The score was now 3-4, and the second period would close out. RMU did very well to chip away at the Mountaineer lead, but there was still some work to be done heading into the third period.

The Colonial defense was tested early on in the third period, and after five minutes gone WVU was able to extend their lead by two goals after a nice shot that went through Parker Rutherford's five-hole. Now faced with a 3-5 deficit and time ticking away, RMU would need to get one back quickly. They were able to score just minutes later on a power play thanks to the great awareness of Garrett Walker who was able to collect a rebounded shot and bury it. With twelve minutes left in this contest, the Colonials needed just one goal to tie this one back up. Time started passing, but RMU was just unable to find another goal-scoring opportunity. With less than thirty seconds left, a timeout was called and a fresh batch of Colonials came onto the ice. RMU found themselves near the WVU goal, and after some frantic passing, Roman Kraemer did the impossible and slipped in the game-tying goal with just three seconds left. The Mountaineers were left stunned, and an exciting overtime period would commence. 

After being down two goals at the start of the third, the Colonials fought their way back in and now 3v3 overtime play would begin. Some very tense play occurred throughout the first minutes of the extra period, but neither team could find the winning goal. With two minutes left, Roman Kraemer found himself with another opportunity to be the hero when he was 1-on-1 with the WVU goalkeeper. The Mountaineer goalie came up with a huge stop, though, and play would continue. With less than a minute left, Keith Reed was able to poke the puck forward to Nathan Mickey who broke away towards the WVU net. Mickey collected the pass smoothly, and snuck the puck into the net. After an amazing comeback, RMU would steal this game away from WVU and win 6-5 in overtime.