The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team snapped a five game losing streak Friday, after a 5-4 loss to the Robert Morris Colonials in a non-conference matchup at RMU Island Sports Center. With the loss the Bobcats drop to 5-2 on the season, while the Colonials improve to 2-2 overall.
Despite battling back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period by scoring three goals, the Bobcats could not stop the Colonials scoring attack. The Colonials scored three goals in the second period and that was all they needed as Quinnipiac could not overcome the deficit.
Spencer Heichman broke a scoreless tie in the first period when he scored his fourth goal of the at 12:02 with an assist from Clay Harvey. Harvey battled for the puck behind the Robert Morris goal and was able to find Heichman, who just stepped on the ice during a line change. Heichman received the pass in the slot and fired a wrist shot over Colonials’ goalie Eric Levine left shoulder.
The Colonials wouldn’t wait long to notch the equalizer. Colin South tallied his first goal of the year on a blast from the point on a power-play opportunity resulting from Bobcats’ Loren Barron’s interference penalty at 14:59. South took one shot that was blocked and sent back to him. His second shot through traffic found the back of the net as Quinnipiac goalie Eric Hartzell lost the puck in a screen in front of the net.
Colonials sophomore goalie Eric Levine, who ended the night with 35 saves, made 11 saves in the first period, which included denying Bobcats’ Yuri Bouharevich on a breakaway on the door step.
The second period belonged to Robert Morris as the Colonials scored three times, taking a 4-1 lead. Cody Cartier scored just over nine minutes into the period. Brandon Blandina extended the Colonials lead to 3-1 with a goal just under five minutes remaining in the second period. Tyson Wilson scored his first career goal, on a power play, with 1:41 left in the period to make the score 4-1 at the second intermission.
The Bobcats rallied with a pair of early, third-period goals from Matthew Peca and Mike Dalhuisen. Peca scored his second goal in as many games just 23 second into the third period. Jermey Langlois won the faceoff, sent the puck to a crashing Peca who tipped it past Levine to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Just over a minute later, Mike Dalhiusen scored on a rocket from the point as Clay Harvey picked up a loose puck in the corner and fed Zach Davies who sent the puck to Dalhuisen at the right face-off circle for a one-timer past Levine to make the score 4-3.
After the Colonials added a goal less than eight minutes remaining, the Bobcats pulled within one when Kellen Jones scored with an extra attacker just over a minute remaining in the game. But the Bobcats couldn’t even the score as Levine stopped their chances to tie the game in the final minute.
With the win, Levine improves to 2-0-0 on the year while Dan Clarke finished with eight saves in the loss for Quinnipiac.Clarke replaced Eric Hartzell in the third period after he allowed four goals in just 40 minutes of action. Hartzell finished with 19 saves.
The Bobcats outshot the Colonials 39-32 including 16-9 in the final period.
Quinnipiac will face Robert Morris for the second of a back-to-back on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the RMU Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
