Buffalo, NY – After a ten day hiatus, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team traveled to take on the Canisius College Golden Griffins at the Buffalo State Sports Arena on the campus of Buffalo State College.
The Colonials, who played physical and aggressive hockey from the opening puck drop, found themselves down 4-1 only 15 minutes into the contest. Despite facing a three-goal goal deficit, Robert Morris battled through the remainder of the game to tie with the Griffs, 5-5.
Just 47 seconds into the contest, junior Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) netted his seventh of the year off tic-tac-toe passing from Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) and Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) to give RMU the early 1-0 lead.
But the Griffs would quickly return with a resounding answer as they tallied three goals in under a three-minute span. At the 7:29 mark of the first, Canisius tied the game at one with Chris Forsaman's first of the season. Minutes later, the Golden Griffins added two more in 18 seconds, the first of which was scored on a power play.
After the third goal, starting goaltender Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers) was replaced between the pipes by freshman Eric Levine (Wheeling, Ill. / Pembroke Lumber Kings).
However, the Griffs string of goals in the first did not end until Vincent Scarsella tacked on a fourth score with a man advantage to send Canisius into the first intermission with a 4-1 lead.
Despite a shaky first period, Robert Morris got the second started on a better note as sophomore Nick Chiavetta (Harrisburg, Pa. / New York Applecore) scored a short-handed marker 2:35 into the session. The unassisted goal pulled the Colonials back within striking distance of the Griff's, 4-2, lead.
With momentum on RMU's side, the Colonials took advantage of their fourth power play of the evening to cut the Griff's lead down to just one goal. Junior Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State) earned his seventh of the season on his score assisted by Longpre and Lewis 7:08 into the second.
At the end of two, Robert Morris led the shot count, 28-25.
Neither team managed to get off to a strong start in the third as the game went scoreless for the first ten minutes of the period. But on their seventh power play of the night, Canisius took their lead back to two as they made the score, 5-3, with a third power play goal.
With five minutes to go, the Colonials turned on the jets as they scored two badly needed goals. Robert Morris' fourth goal came from Furman South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) when he took a shot top self to beat the Griff's goalie. Junior Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets) was awarded the helper on the goal.
Less than 60 seconds later, Lewis found Longpre, who snuck the puck behind Canisius' Andrew Loewen to net his third point of the game and deadlock the game at five goals apiece.
As time expired with the contest at a five-all stalemate, the teams went into a five-minute overtime period. RMU put five shots on goal in OT, but the game still resulted in a 5-5 tie.
Levine made 31 saves in over two periods of play while Ostergard stopped six shots in the opening 9:40.
Robert Morris closes out the first half of the season with an overall 3-10-3 record and a 1-4-2 record in conference action. The Colonials will return from winter break on Jan. 2 at the Island Sports Cetner when Lake Superior State pays its first visit to the Steel City.
