Pittsburgh, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took to the ice at the Island Sports Center once again on Saturday night for its second match up of the weekend against Bemidji State. The Colonials jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but the Beavers responded with three power play goals and never looked back as they downed the Colonials, 5-1.
With a five-on-three advantage just four minutes into the contest, sophomore Kyle Burton (Calgary, Alberta / Calgary Canucks) notched his fifth goal of the season off of tic-tac-toe passing from sophomores Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) and Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets). The goal, scored at 4:22 of the first, gave the Colonials their first lead of the two-game series.
After putting numerous shots on goal, the Beavers finally broke through on a power play at 10:14 of the first to tie the game at one all. Brad Hunt scored his seventh of the season to make the score 1-1. Assists on the power play goal were awarded to Chris Peluso and Emil Billberg.
The Beavers took a 2-1 lead just three minutes later with Graham McManamin's third of the 2008-09 season. Helpers on the goal, recorded at 13:02 of the first, went to Ian Lowe and Cody Bostock.
Once again on the power play, Jamie MacQueen put BSU up by two with his blast that hit the net over the shoulder of RMU goalie, Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac). MacManamin picked up his second point of the night with an assist. Chris Peluso also recorded an assist on the Beaver's third goal.
At the beginning of the second period, Russell was replaced between the pipes with freshman Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers).
Although the first period was a fast paced, high scoring twenty minutes if play, the second period saw a break in the scoring action. In the first two periods, the Colonials only tallied 12 shots on goal while Ostergard and Russell combined for a total of 24 stops. The Colonials also went zero-for-one on the power play in the second.
Midway through the third period, a delayed penalty was called and allowed Bemidji to pull their goal keeper for an extra attacker. With a six-on-five advantage, Shea Walters tacked on a fourth score for Bemidji State to put the Beavers up 4-1. Ben Kinne and Bostock added the assists.
Four minutes later, the Beavers improved their power play efforts to four-for-seven on the night when they lit the lamp for a fifth time at 14:33 of the third period. Travis Winter recorded his fifth of the year while MacQueen picked up his second point of the night with a primary assist. The secondary assist went to MacMinamin which gave him his third point of the game.
Overall, Colonial goaltending stopped a total of 32 shots. Russell made 11 saves in the first period while Ostergard made 21 in the remaining 40 minutes of play. Robert Morris also continued the power play goal streak that now stands at six games.
Robert Morris, now 5-15-4 and 1-4-2 in CHA play, will continue their tiring conference schedule at Niagara University next weekend. The Colonials will play the Purple Eagles on Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7. Both games will begin at 7:05 p.m.
