Freshman goaltender Christian Boucher turned away a team-record and career-high 50 shots, but it wasn’t enough as Robert Morris fell to Bemidji State, 3-0, at the RMU Island Sports Center on Saturday night.
Kuharski led all scorers with a goal and two assists to up the Beavers’ record to 18-9-1 overall and improve their first-place College Hockey America mark to 13-3-0. Robert Morris falls to 7-17-4 overall and 3-11-2 in conference play.
Neither team scored in the first period with Bemidji State holding a 19-9 advantage in shots. Boucher held strong, turning away all 19.
Bemidji State continued to pepper Boucher in the second period with 20 shots, but managed to beat him just once one the power play to take a 1-0 lead. The Beavers broke out of their defensive zone and Kuharski fed the puck to Ryan Huddy streaking down the left wing. Huddy skated to the left circle and fed Jean-Guy Gervais, who one-timed the puck inside the right post from the slot for a 1-0 lead.
Boucher kept the lead at 1-0 when he sprawled across the crease to make a stop on a Shane Holman rebound attempt from the doorstep.
Kuharski stretched the margin to 2-0 at 8:10 of the third period when he stole the puck in the Colonials’ slot and lifted a back-hand shot over Boucher’s shoulder for the unassisted goal and his fourth goal of the year.
Freshman David Boguslawski nearly cut the margin to 2-1, but his effort from the right boards caught the post and deflected harmlessly behind the net.
Matt Pope iced the game with an empty-net score with three seconds left in regulation on assists by Kuharski and Nathan Schwartzbauer.
Bemidji State owned a 53-18 advantage in shots on the game and registered one power-play goal in four chances while Robert Morris went 0-2.
