Niagara University, NY ? On Saturday night, the Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took to the ice at Dwyer Arena against the Niagara University Purple Eagles. For the second consecutive night, Niagara's offense fired on all cylinders as they tallied six goals as they downed the Colonials, 6-3.
Robert Morris got on the board first as sophomore Kyle Burton (Calgary, Alberta / Calgary Canucks) notched his sixth of the season off of assists from senior Jason Towsley (LaSalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers) and sophomore Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne St.) at 10:49 in the first period.
At 13:13, the Purple Eagles came storming back as they evened the score with Egor Mironov's goal from Vince Rocco and Dan Sullivan. The game tying goal was Mironov's tenth of the year.
Just over one minute later, Ted Cook snuck the puck past Colonial goaltender Wes Russell (Springfield, Ill. / Quinnipiac) off of passes from Rocco and Mironov. The power play goal, scored at 14:26, made the contest 2-1 in favor of the Purple Eagles.
One minute into the second period, Niagara kept the goals coming as Chris Moran extended the Purple Eagles lead to 3-1 at 1:08. Assists on the power play goal were given to Tyler Gotto and Mironov.
Rocco would tally his first goal and third point of the night at 9:03 of the second period as he notched an unassisted score to put Niagara up 4-1.
After Niagara put up four unanswered goals, the Colonial's Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) brought RMU back within two as he recorded his fourth goal of the 2008-09 season. Sophomore Brock Meadows (White Rock, B.C. / Wayne State) and freshman Ron Cramer (New Wilmington, Pa. / Indiana Ice) picked up helpers on the goal at 17:25 in the second.
Another goal would not be scored until 12:04 into the third period when Sam Goodwin put Niagara back up by three. The Purple Eagles' fifth goal was assisted by Ryan Annesley and Brian Dowd.
However, Robert Morris refused to give up. Kushneriuk recorded his first career shorthanded goal to bring the score to 5-3. The goal, scored at 16:29, was assisted by Jake Obermeyer (Chanhassen, Minn. / Tri-City Storm) and gave Kushneriuk his second point of the contest and 11th point in just eight games.
The Purple Eagles picked up their sixth and final goal of the night with under three minutes remaining the game. Mironov added his second of the night from Moran to end the contest with a 6-3 result.
Overall, Niagara outshot RMU 35-32 while the Colonials failed to execute on three power play opportunities. Russell made 29 stops in the loss.
Robert Morris (5-17-4 ; 1-7-2 CHA) will host Bemidji State next weekend as the Colonials celebrate USA Hockey Weekend in America at the Island Sports Center. Saturday's game is set to begin at 7:35 p.m. while Sunday's match up is scheduled for a 5:05 p.m. tilt.
