Day 2 of the NCRHA National Championship showcased the Endicott Gulls (2-0) taking on the Robert Morris Colonials (1-1).
The power play continues to be the story of these Colonials as they went 2/2 with the extra man. Matthew Purdue and Jarrett Tomazich each netted power play goals in the first followed by another Purdue goal in the closing minutes.
Tanner Foley kept the offensive prowl afloat with his own goal in the second after a give-and-go play with line mate Giovanni Palombo.
Endicott tried everything they could in period three including pulling the goalie with 4:00 to go, and finally got rewarded with their lone goal of the game with a minute to go. Palombo sprung free and got himself his on the empty net to make it 5-1 Colonials. Goaltender Ben Korol played phenomenally, stopping 22 of 23 shots coming his way.
The Colonials improved to 2-1 in pool play and faced off against Quinnipiac at 10:30 Friday night for the final pool game before elimination games began.
The final pool play game of the tournament was a battle for first place between the Quinnipiac Bobcats (2-1) and the Robert Morris Colonials (2-1).
Brock Mrozcka got the nod to start his first career game in net for the Colonials.
Matthew Purdue got the Colonials going quick with a goal just 55 seconds in but the Bobcats quickly responded with two before the period ended.
The Bobcats continued the prowl with a goal earlier in the second period, but the Colonials didn"t bow down. Alejandro Apud collected his first of the tournament followed by Gio Palombo scoring two, his second on the power play to take the lead.
Quinnipiac was quick to tie things up at 4 early in period 3. Palombo netted his hat trick goal to retake the lead and the Colonials put the pedal to the medal. Palombo would tally one more and then Ethan Morgan would put home the empty net goal. Quinnipiac would get one more late but it would not be enough as RMU defeated the Bobcats 7-5 and claimed first place in pool C.
Brock Mroczka earned his first career win in his first career start stopping 26 of 31 shots. The Colonials will take on Neumann University today in a sudden-death matchup.
Stay tuned for the results!
