St. Cloud, Minn. ? The Robert Morris University men's hockey team was back in action Saturday night at the National Hockey Center for the final game of the series against St. Cloud State. The Colonials held strong in the first period, but the Huskies' explosive offensive tallied five goals in second period to lead St. Cloud State to 7-1 victory.
Much like the first period on Friday night, the Huskies had power play opportunities early but could not translate the five on four advantage into a score. However, the Colonials outshot SCSU in the first twenty minutes 8-7.
Junior Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac) made his eighth start of the season in goal and stopped all seven of the St. Cloud State shots in the first period.
Just one minute into the second period, St. Cloud's Chris Hepp picked up a deflection in front of the Colonial goal to slip past Russell for the first score of the night while putting the Huskies up by one. Assists on the score went to Brian Volpei and Jared Festler.
Three minutes later, Garrett Roe pushed the puck past Russell right in front of the net to put St. Cloud State up by two. Picking up assists at the 4:35 mark were Ryan Lasch and Craig Gaudet.
The Huskies picked up their third goal in nine minutes as Aaron Marvin tallied his third goal of the season. He was assisted on the third score by Brent Borgen and Michael Olson.
St. Cloud's offense refused to let up and scored a fourth goal less than one minute after the third. Tony Mosey recorded the score while Lasch picked up his 100th career point with an assist. Roe was credited with a secondary assist.
After the Huskies fourth score, Russell was replaced in goal by sophomore Jim Patterson (Kamloops, B.C. / Canmore Eagles).
The Colonials just could not catch their breath as the Huskies continued to pile on making the score 5-0 at the 12:05 mark of the second period. Olson tallied the goal while the assists were given to Brent Borgen and Marvin.
Robert Morris finally got on the board when sophomore Brock Meadows (White Rock, B.C. / Wayne State) picked up his first goal of the season on the power play to make the score 5-1 still in favor of the Huskies. Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) and Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) had helpers on RMU's first goal of the series.
St. Cloud State put its sixth score of the night on the board when Marvin snuck a feed to Olson to extend the Huskie lead back to five at 7:30 in the third period.
The Huskies made the score 7-1 when Festler ripped a shot that snuck through the legs of Patterson and across the crease. Festler's fourth goal of the year goal was assisted by Volpei and Roe who tallied his third point of the night with the helper.
The Colonials were outshot 38-33 on the night and were 1-2 on the power play. Russell made 20 saves in 40 minutes of play while Patterson recorded 11 saves in 19 minutes of relief.
On Friday, November 14, Robert Morris will return to Pittsburgh, Pa. for the third annual Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase against Ohio State. The game is set for an 8:00 p.m. start at Mellon Arena. The RMU women will match up against CHA rival Niagara in the opening game at 5:00 p.m.
