Albany, NY ? On Friday afternoon, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team faced off against Colgate University at the Times Union Center in the Third Annual Governor's Cup Tournament. The Colonials had a rough start, giving up four goals in just the first 18 minutes helping Colgate to skate to a 5-2 victory.
Colgate's Tom Riley scored on a shot over the shoulder of Robert Morris goaltender, Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac) at the 4:18 mark to take the early 1-0 lead on the power play. Assists on the goal went to Nick St. Pierre and Francois Brisebois.
The Raiders took a two goal advantage at even strength as Brian Day netted his third goal of the season off of a pass from David McIntyre at 7:31 in the first period.
At the 8:58 mark, Colgate's Day extended the lead to 3-0 when he knocked in a shot from the right side of the net. After the third goal, Colonial goalie Russell was replaced by sophomore Jim Patterson (Kamloops, B.C. / Canmore Eagles).
Colgate made the score 4-0 as Day broke away and pushed one past Patterson to record a natural hat trick, the first of his career. The unassisted goal was also scored shorthanded with just over three minutes remaining in the first.
To start the second period, the Colonials came out fighting. Freshman Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) notched his first goal of the season off an assist from Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) at 5:10 to make the score 4-1.
Less than one minute later, sophomore Kyle Burton (Calgary, Alberta / Calgary Canucks) would cut the Raider's lead in half with an unassisted goal, his second score of the year.
However the Colonials momentum swing would be short lived. Colgate's Brisebois extended the Raiders lead to 5-2 with his goal at 7:06 off of assists from Jason Williams and Nick Prockow.
The third period was dominated by solid defensive play as each team held the other scoreless for all 20 minutes. Robert Morris had three power play opportunities, but the team was unable translate the advantages into points.
Overall, the Colonials were 0-6 on the power play and were outshot 31-22 by the Raiders. Russell played nearly nine minutes, allowed three goals and made three saves. Patterson played the remaining portion of the game allowing two goals and stopping 23 shots.
On Saturday, October 25, the Colonials will play the winner of the Rensselaer vs. Union match up at 4:05 p.m. at the Times Union Center.
