Pittsburgh, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University men's hockey team was back in action on Friday night against the CHA's top team, the Beavers of Bemidji State. The Colonials fought hard, tying the score three times, but ultimately came up short against the sharp shooting Beavers as they dropped a 5-3 decision.
Although all three Colonial netminders saw time in Friday's contest, sophomore Jim Patterson (Kamloops, BC / Canmore Eagles) got the call to start for Robert Morris.
Under three minutes into play, the Beavers got on the board first with Matt Francis' eighth goal of year off of assists from Chris Peluso and Matt Read. The goal, scored at 2:59 of the first period, gave the Beavers the early 1-0 lead.
Twelve minutes later, the Beavers struck again when Graham McManamin snuck the puck behind Patterson and into the goal to extend the Bemidji State lead to 2-0. Read picked up his second assist of the game on McManamin's goal at 12:54.
After Bemidji State's second goal, Patterson was replaced in net by junior Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac).
However, the Colonials were unfazed by the early deficit. At 18:06 still in the first, sophomore Kyle Burton (Calgary, Alberta / Calgary Canucks) found senior forward Jason Towsley (LaSalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers) down ice where he was able to hit a hard shot past BSU's Matt Dalton. Towsley's goal was his sixth of the 2008-09 season.
Under thirty seconds later, senior Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Bay State Breakers) would notch his 12th goal of the year to deadlock the contest at two all. Helpers on the goal were awarded to freshman Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) and sophomore forward Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms).
The second period got underway quickly as BSU broke the deadlock with a goal just 1:20 into play. On a power play, Brad Hunt notched his sixth of the year off of an assist from Shea Walters to put the Beavers back up by one.
But once again, Robert Morris would respond. For the second time of the night, Margott would tie the game, this time at three a piece at 3:36 of the second. Sophomore Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State) continued his scoring streak by adding an assist while Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets) tallied his 16th assist of the season. The score extended RMU's power play scoring streak to five games.
Six minutes later, Bemidji would take the lead for the third time of the night, making the score 4-3. Brandon Marino ripped one past Russell on a power play for his fourth of the year at 9:19. Cody Bostock grabbed an assist on the goal.
The third period opened with the score 4-3 in favor of the Beavers. Just 3:16 in, Read would record his third point of the night at even strength with the help of Ian Lowe to put the Beavers up 5-3.
After the fifth BSU goal, Russell was replaced by freshman Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers) who concluded the night with seven saves.
Although the Colonials would outshoot BSU in the final two periods of play, they could not manage to come up with another game tying score.
Overall, Colonial goaltending stopped a total of 23 shots. Patterson picked up four saves while Russell tallied 12 in 30 minutes of action. Robert Morris outshot Bemidji State 29-28 and was one for four in power play situations.
Robert Morris (5-14-4 ; 1-4-2 CHA) and Bemidji State will tangle again tomorrow night at the Island Sports Center at 7:35 p.m.
