Pittsburgh, PA -

On Friday, October 27th, at Alpha Ice Complex, the Duquesne ACHA Division 1 club hockey team beat the Rochester Institute of Technology by a score of 5 goals to 0. The Dukes were fueled by 4 different goal scorers: Brian Butler, who earned star of the week for his goal and assist, CJ Simione, EJ Pohl, and Kody Reiser, who scored the fourth and fifth, in a winning effort over the Tigers.  

The next day, however, the Dukes fell to the Tigers by a score of 4 to 1. Head Coach Conrad Waite said “the biggest difference between the games was our mindset.” This Dukes squad is still a young bunch, learning the ropes, and they’re learning the importance of playing your A game every game. “It's a hard lesson that we're learning even as we get better that we can't rest on good enough,” said Waite.  

Saturday’s game had no scoring in the opening frame, with the Dukes unable to capitalize on two power plays in the first half of the period. While this start could spell problems, especially for a young team, the Dukes showed mental toughness through the struggles “That ability to stay on task and not get frustrated or down is something that we are aware and focused on as a team though, and something I think we actually handled ok Saturday,” said Waite, who’s liking the mental growth his team keeps showing on a week-by-week basis.  

The Dukes were the better team in the first period, pushing the play more in the RIT end, and doing a great job controlling the opposition blue line to limit clearing chances for the Tigers. [Text Wrapping Break]The Dukes were able to keep slamming the puck deep into the RIT end and using their forecheck. “RIT gave us a lot of space to attack off those turnovers, and we could have done a better job taking advantage of it,” said Waite. 

The Tigers came out hard in the second period, and capitalized early to open the scoring on a two on one. The pass came across the ice for a shot from the faceoff circle which was able to find its way in the net.  

Just 51 seconds later, it was 2-0, as the Dukes turned the puck over in the corner of their defensive end, which led to a pass to a wide open man in the high slot who ripped it home. After the game, Waite said that “Our consistency isn't where we want it to be yet, and it's a big focal point in our game preparation. The turnovers Saturday are a great example of that.” Being a young team comes with the ups and downs, and the Dukes were not up in the second period.  

Not a minute after the second Tiger goal, at 4:02 in the period, Duquesne captain Hayden Feck was able to capitalize off a rebound and bury the puck home to give the Dukes life. Feck, who now has a whopping 14 goals in 12 games, was in a perfect net-front position to finish the chance off the rebound and inject some much needed energy into the hockey team.  

The game continued to be played on both ends of the ice, with RIT as the more dominant team, through the period. Then, at 18:08 in the period, RIT was able to score off yet another Duquesne turnover within their own end. Mistakes happen with young teams, and this team has certainly showed some flashes, but it will come down to how they learn from the rough times, 

Early in the third period, an RIT 2 on 1 was stopped by an amazing save from Duquesne goalie Robbie Halyama, to counter the skated cutting across the crease, was able to fall and stack his pads to keep the puck out on a total desperation save. “That was a big save by Robbie in a big moment and one that I think we could have taken better advantage of emotionally. Without that, we're not in a position to pull the goalie at the end and give ourselves a chance to come back” said Waite, in regards to <span class="BCX4 NormalTextRun SCXW56784381 SpellingErrorV2Themed" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode:normal !important; -webkit-user-drag:none; -webkit-user-select:text; background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2, url(" data:image="" svg+xml;="" background-position:left="" bottom;="" background-repeat:repeat="" no-repeat;="" border-bottom-color:transparent;="" border-bottom-style:solid;="" border-bottom-width:1px;="" margin:0px;="" padding:0px"="">Halyama’s effort. The Dukes weren’t able to generate enough chances or consistent zone time to really put the Tigers under pressure, and would later concede an empty net goal on a 6-on-4 power play.  

The Dukes dropped to 5-6-1 overall on the season with the loss. They’ll have three road games, two at Westchester on November 4th and 5th, and one at IUP on November 11th, before their next home game at Alpha Ice Complex against Robert Morris on Saturday, November 12th.