Pittsburgh, Pa. ? Under the direction of fifth year head coach Derek Schooley, the Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took the ice Saturday night at the Island Sports Center to square off in a CHA contest against Alabama-Huntsville. Although the Chargers jumped out to a quick two goal lead, the Colonials rallied to earn a 3-2 victory.
Two minutes into play, UAH's Joey Koudys netted his first goal of the season off a RMU turnover that allowed him to sneak the puck past Colonial goalie Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac). The assist on the goal went to Tom Train.
Just a few minutes later, the Chargers extended their lead to two as Matt Sweazey struck for the first time in 2008 to notch the power play goal from Andrew Colburn and Cody Campbell.
Robert Morris continued to fire shot after shot on UAH's Cameron Talbot. Finally, Robert Morris netted its first goal of the evening on a power play. On a rebound off Talbot, senior Matt Krug (Livonia, Mich. / Wayne State) pushed a shot into the back of the net to tally his fourth goal of the year and make the score 2-1 still in favor of UAH. Assists on the goal went to sophomore Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State) and sophomore Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets). Urban's assist was his fourth in two games.
In the first period, RMU set a new record outshooting the Chargers 21-4. A Colonial hockey team had never previously recorded more than 19 shots in a first period.
It took the Colonials the first 17 minutes of the second period to tie the game at two all. Scoring his fourth goal of the season, senior Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks Calif. / Bay State Breakers) ripped a shot past Talbot off strong pass from Krug at the 3:00 mark. A secondary assist on the goal went to freshman Stefan Lachapelle (Waterloo, Ontario / Hawkesbury Hawks) for his face off win and subsequent pass to Krug.
The Colonials came out with the momentum on their side to start the third period. In the first five minutes they tallied five shots. At the 14:00 minute mark, Lachapelle scored his first career goal and second point of the night to give RMU its first lead of the weekend series pushing the score to 3-2. Assists on the goal were awarded to sophomore Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) and senior Jason Towsley (LaSalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers).
Strong a Colonial defensive effort held off the Chargers as RMU was able to hold onto the lead for the win. Russell made 19 saves and Robert Morris put 37 shots on goal. Also, the Colonials were 2-6 on the power play.
The Colonials pick up their first CHA win of the season with the victory and improve to 2-3-2 overall in 1-0-2 in the CHA. Robert Morris has yet to be beaten at the Island Sports Center in 2008 as they hold a 2-0-2 record at home.
On Friday, November 7 the Colonials will travel to St. Cloud State for a weekend series. Friday's game is scheduled for a 7:07 p.m. start.
