Third-period penalty leads to club hockey’s downfall

The Owls lost 5-1 to Robert Morris University Saturday at the Flyers Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia.

The first period ended in a 1-1 tie. Momentum shifted when senior forward Joey Powell committed a major slashing penalty at the end of the second period.

Robert Morris scored three goals during the ensuing five-minute power play. The Owls killed the first three minutes of Powell’s penalty before allowing a goal at the 16-minute, 57-second mark.

In the third period, the Colonials scored four goals. All of them came on the power play.

“I thought it was a good two first periods,” sophomore goaltender Ben Auerbach said. “They are a pretty skilled team, the best we have seen so far, and it was difficult adjusting to the speed level.”

“Overall, we defended well,” he added. “The five-minute power play killed us.”

Auerbach made 43 saves. He faced 48 shots, double the amount Temple generated on offense. After outshooting their opponents in their two wins to start the season, Temple got heavily outshot on Saturday.

Robert Morris jumped out to an early lead after a goal just more than halfway through the first period. With one minute and 58 seconds left in the first, Temple tied the game at one on a goal by Powell.

After netting a power-play goal on Friday against the State University of New York at Cortland, the Owls didn’t score on four tries with the man advantage.

Coach Mark Spease said while the team hasn’t had many practices, players are getting close to where they want to be.

Temple will compete in the City 6 tournament at Hatfield Ice on Saturday and Sunday. The Owls will face the winner of the game between St. Joseph’s and La Salle on Saturday night.

“A lot of the aspects of our game need to be worked on and sharpened in our system like our defensive-zone coverage,” senior defenseman and captain Ryan Dumbach said. “We left some guys wide open a few times during the game, and that can not happen. As a team, we looked much better than we did last year, and Ben stood on his head and we need to find a way to make his life a little easier.”