Moon Township, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team lost to Niagara University, 6-3, Saturday night at Dwyer University in a College Hockey America semifinal contest. With the loss, the Colonials end their season with a 15-15-4 overall record.
The Colonials out chanced the Purple Eagles and outshot them, 12-6, in the first period. The best chance of the period came as Joel Gasper (Crookstown, Minn. / Billings Bulls) blocked the puck on Niagara's blue line while falling down and the puck shot loose to Tom Biondich (International Falls, Minn. / Wichita Falls Rustlers) for a shorthanded breakaway. Biondich tried beating Purple Eagle goalie Juliano Pagliero five-hole but was denied. Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Bay State Breakers) finally got the Colonials on the board breaking the scoreless tie with 3:03 left in the first session, beating Pagliero high glove side giving RMU a, 1-0, edge heading into the first intermission. Dave Cowan (Calgary, Alberta / Olds Grizzlys) tallied the lone assist on the play. Robert Morris failed to score on a pair of power-play chances, but was able to keep Niagara off the board during three extra man chances.
David Ross tied the game at one all 5:36 into the second period when he tipped a Dan Sullivan shot past RMU goalie Christian Boucher (Orleans, Ontario / Orleans Ontario). Margott scored his second of the game and 17th goal of the season. RMU won the face off in their own zone with Chris Kaufman (Gig Harbor, Wash. / Helena Bighorns) passing the puck the length of the ice to Margott after receiving a pass from his defensive partner Andrew Bonello (Brampton, Ontario / Milton Icehawks). Niagara tied the game at two, just 19 second later when Dan Sullivan found himself wide open in front of the Colonial net.
The wheels started to fall off in the third period for Robert Morris as they allowed four goals, three of which were unanswered to close out the game. Ted Cook scored just 1:21 into the third session making the score, 3-2, in favor of the Purple Eagles. Margott tallied his second career hat trick at the 7:39 mark tying the game at three, but Egor Mironov scored consecutive goals and Matt Caruana tallied an empty netter all in the final 9:31 of the game.
Boucher made 22 saves for Robert Morris, while Pagliero stopped 34 shots. Each team tallied a power-play marker with RMU going 1-for-4 with the man advantage while Niagara went 1-for-6.
With the Colonials season coming to an end, they finish with their first .500 record with a 15-15-4 mark.
