Colonials wrap up conference play

Audrey Gardner, Staff Writer

After a cancellation due to imclement weather, the RMU ACHA DI Hockey team rescheduled their game against Duquesne University, in what would be their final conference game of the 2015-2016 season.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Colonials ended with 10 goals on 52 shots, with 6 different players scoring goals. Forward Mason Krueger would tally 4 goals and an assist, while Travis Reece, Chris Howland, and Carlos Quevedo Biel each had three-point nights.

“You have games like this, our goaltenders had a bit of a tricky time tonight, we clearly outshot and outplayed the other team. Sometimes that doesn’t show up on the scoreboard,” Head Coach Mike Joseph said. “ The important thing is to focus on 60 minutes of hockey. We managed to keep guys focused and keep them moving ahead and we came out on top. It was a shootout, good for the fans, but not so good on the coach’s heart.”

RMU came out strong in the first, scoring three goals within a 3:30 time frame. Justin Rehrer continued his hot streak, coming up with the first goal at 9:37. Shortly after, Andrew Lister and Nicholas Mummau each put the puck behind Duquesne goalie Michael Dginto. The two goals were only 15 seconds apart.

The Dukes would make it a one goal game by the end of the first, and their momentum flowed into the second period, where they would score three more goals on Colonial goaltender Alex Blum. With the Duke’s fifth goal, RMU pulled Blum and replaced him with Jake Muzik. Blum faced 12 shots while in net allowing five goals.

With the change in net, the Colonials spark returned. Reece helped Raymond Rose find the back of the net at 12:30, and 18 seconds later Krueger found his first goal of the night. He would add his second shortly after. Now a 6-5 game in favor of the Colonials, the Dukes came fighting back, adding two more points to the scoreboard, putting them up 7-5 heading into the third.

The third period would prove to be another strong one for the Colonials, Nick Fischer, Quevedo Biel, and Krueger would have the Colonials up 9-7 by the 8:30 marker, and the score would stay that way until the final minute. As Duquesne pulled their goalie and added the extra player to the ice, they were able to make it 9-8 with under a minute left. The Colonials would hold them off, and the icing on the cake came with four second left, when Krueger scored the final goal of the game.

“It was definitely tough with the late start, but I just did the normal pregame stuff, got here early and then warmed up and did everything normally, but it was 11 o’clock at night so obviously it was different,” Krueger said. “It was a good game I guess, there was no goaltending, but playing offense was fun and my linemates helped me.”