St. Cloud, Minn. ? On Friday evening, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team made the long trip to take on the St. Cloud State Huskies in the first game of the weekend series.  The Colonials had several chances on the power play early in the night, but simply could not overcome the speed of the Huskies as they fell by a score of 4-0.

With 2:43 remaining in the first period, senior Jason Towsley (LaSalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers) skated hard into the left side of the Huskie zone pushing off a shot which ended up behind St. Cloud goaltender, Jase Weslosky amidst a host of players piled up in front of the net .  After review by officials, the goal was waved off and the score remained 0-0.

Sophomore goaltender Jim Patterson (Kamloops, B.C. / Canmore Eagles) looked solid his first start of the 2008 season, making 14 saves in the first period. However, the Huskies owned the first twenty minutes outshooting RMU 14-3.  The Colonials were 0-2 on the power-play in the first while SCSU was 0-4.

The second period got underway with Robert Morris going on the power-play for the third time of the evening, but once again the Huskies would hold the Colonials scoreless.

At the 12:51 mark, St. Cloud finally broke through on a power-play when Brian Volpei fired a quick snap shot past Patterson to make the score 1-0 for the Huskies. Assists on the goal went to Sam Zabkowicz and Chris Hepp.

Only a minute and 30 seconds later, the Huskies struck for the second time as 2008 Hobey Baker finalist, Ryan Lasch found Brett Barta on the right side to pick up his first collegiate goal and extend the Huskie lead to two. A secondary assist was awarded to Nick Oslund.

The third period started with a familiar tone for both teams.  Each picked up a penalty in the first two minutes, but the penalty killing squads for both teams continued to put forth tough defensive play.

The Huskies would tally their third score of the night when Garrett Roe skated down the left side of the Colonial zone where he found John Swanson behind the net to finish off the wrap around goal at the 8:33 mark. Volpei also picked up an assist for his second point of the night.

At the 14:30 mark, the Colonials picked up a five minute major and gave SCSU a five on four advantage.  Seventeen seconds into the power-play, Roe tallied his second point of the night when he recorded the Huskies' fourth goal. Helpers were awarded to Lasch and Zabkowicz.

Patterson gave a strong performance making 33 saves in his first complete game of the year.  The Colonials were outshot 37-22.  Each team picked up 10 penalties.