Detroit, Mich. / Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum - For the first time in a College Hockey America series this season, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team lost the first game of a two-game series losing to Wayne State, 7-4, Friday night. The Colonials, now 8-12-1 and 5-6-0 in the CHA, had won the opening game in each of their previous five conference series.
Robert Morris appeared to have early control of the game with senior Aaron Clarke (Peterborough, Ontario / Niagara University) and sophomore Jake Obermeyer (Chanhassen, Minn. / Tri-City Storm) giving RMU a 2-0 lead just 9:16 into the contest.
The Warriors recovered to tie the game Jared Katz scoring at 11:25 of the opening frame and Derek Bachynski making it 2-2 with a two-man advantage at 5:46 of the second period. Robert Morris sophomore Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Bay State Breakers) regained the lead for the visiting Colonials only to see Jon Grabarek score the second power play marker of the night for Warriors at 14:08 of the second.
Grabarek's goal was the first of five unanswered goals for Wayne State. Jason Bloomingburg scored 4:46 into the third before Tyler Michel picked up a hat trick with the next three tallies, including a shorthanded, empty-net marker at 17:53 to stretch the margin to 7-3. Colonial junior Joel Gasper (Crookston, Minn. / Billings Bulls) scored a power play goal with 41 seconds left to cap the game scoring.
Robert Morris junior goaltender Christian Boucher (Orleans, Ontario / Cumberland Grads) took the loss, allowing five goals while stopping 24 shots in 49:56 of work. Brett Bothwell had 25 saves in the win. Wayne State held a 32-29 advantage in shots on goal while both teams were 2-4 on the power play.
These two squads meet again Saturday, January 20, at 7:05 p.m.
