Rochester, NY – For the third consecutive season, Robert Morris University men's hockey advances to the Atlantic Hockey Championship game with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over I-79 rival Mercyhurst.

Senior forward Brady Ferguson completed a hat trick with 45 seconds left in regulation, before junior forward  Michael Louria backhanded a puck past Brandon Wildung to send the Colonials to the league final, ending the top-seed Lakers' season.

Sophomore goaltender Francis Marotte made 41 saves, including a stop on Lakers senior Jack Riley with one second left in regulation.

Mercyhurst took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a Kane Elliot goal before Ferguson wrote the first act of his second career hat trick. The Carrollton, Texas native won a faceoff in the zone back to junior defenseman Eric Israel for the give and go and the power play strike, tying the game 1-1. Ferguson made it back to back tallies less than five minutes later, this time at even strength, with Louria and sophomore defenseman Sean Giles earning an assist.

The Colonials took a 2-1 lead into the third period and a back-to-back scoring war began. Taylor Best tied the game at 2-2 8:01 into the third. Just under four minutes later, Daniel Mantenuto scored his third goal of this postseason to put RMU back in front 3-2 with 8:06 left in the third stanza.

It took the Lakers only 12 seconds to re-tie the game, when Derek Barach knotted the game 3-3. Joseph Duszak scored 70 seconds later to give Mercyhurst the 4-3 lead.
With the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker and a Lakers penalty, Robert Morris took advantage.

Ferguson completed the hat trick with 45 seconds left in regulation, firing a shot through traffic and off Wildung's blocker, into the Lakers goal, seemingly sending the game to overtime.

???????Lakers' senior Jack Riley, nearly kept his quest for the trophy bearing his grandfathers' name alive, sprawling after the puck and putting it on Marotte before the sophomore from Quebec stoned the chance, after the Colonials that were on the ice gave chase and worked to block shots and prevent the Lakers from getting to the net.

???????Marotte's save in the final seconds of regulation sent the game to an extra session, marking the fourth overtime semifinal for the Colonials in the teams' fifth appearance.
6:42 into overtime, Ferguson checked Kane Elliot off the puck in the left corner of the defensive zone. The puck bounced out to Alex Tonge who retrieved it, firing the puck up the ice, aiming for the blade of Louria, but it went wide, taking a generous bounce off the boards, directly to the net front and back on the stick of Louria who went forehand, backhand, and flipped the puck past Wildung to end the Lakers' season, knocking off the regular season champs, to bring Robert Morris back to its third consecutive Atlantic Hockey championship game.

In the second semifinal, Air Force, the five-seed, defeated No. 2 Canisius 3-0, sending the Griffs home in the semifinals for the second consecutive season, after the Colonials eliminated the squad the previous season.

The championship game between Robert Morris and Air Force will feature the teams that competed for last year's championship, won by Air Force, also the teams picked first and second in the preseason coaches poll. The championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY.
 
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