Huntsville, Ala. ? Fresh off an exciting two-game series against the CHA's best squad, Bemidji State, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team took to the ice Friday night at the Von Braun Center in hopes of repeating their success against Alabama-Huntsville. The Colonials jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated the UAH Chargers, 3-1.
Freshman Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers) was given the starting nod for the third consecutive game as he made his seventh appearance of the 2008-09 season in net for the Colonials.
Although Robert Morris struggled with scoring early during the first half of the season, the Colonials wasted little time putting their first score of the series on the board. On a power play, sophomore Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) netted his 32nd point of the year to give RMU a 1-0 lead. Senior Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Bay State Breakers) and sophomore Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets) picked up the assists on the goal.
The Colonial offensive effort continued just three minutes into the second period as Jason Towsley (LaSalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers) extended the Robert Morris lead to 2-0. The goal, scored at 3:07 at even strength, was assisted by sophomore Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) and Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State).
Five minutes later, Robert Morris lit the lamp for the third time of the night with freshman Trevor Lewis' (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) goal at 8:28 of the second period. Longpre would tally his second point of the contest with an assist as Ron Cramer (New Wilmington, PA / Indiana Ice) notched the secondary assist.
Ostergard posted 17 saves through the first two and-a-half periods of play before finally allowing UAH's first goal of the game. On a power play, Matt Sweezey struck at 11:44 of the third with helpers from Brandon Rosko and Tom Durnie.
The freshman goalie finished the night with 19 saves, recording his second career victory and improving his record to 2-1-1. The Colonials concluded the contest one-for-six on the power play while holding Alabama-Huntsville to just one goal.
Robert Morris (7-17-5 ; 3-7-3 CHA) is now tied with Alabama-Huntsville for third place in the CHA. Tomorrow afternoon, the two teams will tangle to break the standings tie has they head into the final days of regular season play. The game will begin at 3:05 p.m. (CST) at UAH's Von Braun Center.
