Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team returned to the ice on Saturday night at the RMU Island Sports Center against three-time national champion, Lake Superior State.
Although the Colonials came on strong late in the third, the Lakers offense proved too difficult to overcome as they downed RMU, 7-6.
The Colonials wasted little time getting on the board as they struck only 48 seconds into the contest to take an early 1-0 lead over the Lakers. Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) netted his eighth of the season off assists from Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) and Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars).
On its first power play of the evening, Lake Superior State rebounded with its first score 9:41 into the opening period to tie the game at one.
But just two minutes later, a speedy and aggressive Colonial offense reclaimed the lead with a goal from junior Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets). On Urban's fourth of the 2009-10 season, helpers were awarded to Longpre and Kobialko.
Once again, the RMU lead was snatched away as LSSU tallied another game-tying goal with over a minute left in the period to send the game into the first intermission with the score deadlocked at two apiece. Shots at the end of one were, 16-12, in favor of RMU.
At the beginning of the second period, starting goaltender Eric Levine (Wheeling, Ill. / Pembroke Lumber Kings) was replaced in net by Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers).
The Lakers would take their first lead of the night at 4:10 of the second with a blast from Kyle Haines to give them the 3-2 edge. With the lead, the Lakers would push full steam ahead as they picked up another three tallies over a four minute span in the second period.
After Lake State's fifth goal, Ostergard was pulled and replaced by Joe Ziemianski (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bishop Canevin) for only 2:01 before the starter, Levine, returned between the pipes. Once LSSU tallied their sixth score, Levine again went to the bench and Ostergard resumed his position in net where he would stay for the remainder of the contest.
Down 6-2 as time ticked away in the second, Urban would fire from the top of the zone to pull Robert Morris back within three goals at 17:29. Urban's second of the night was from Furman South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) and Brandon Blandina (Centennial, Colo. / Indiana Ice).
To start the third, RMU got back to work as freshman Stefan Salituro (Willodale, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) scored the first of his career to cut the Laker lead down to two. Ron Cramer (New Wilmington, Pa. / Indiana Ice) and Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State) picked up assists on Salituro's first as a Colonial.
Still with their foot on the gas, LSSU tacked on a seventh goal thanks to a power play tally from Ben Powers. Power's second of the game pushed the Laker lead to 7-4.
Refusing to give up, Kushneriuk netted two consecutive goals late in the third to pull RMU back within one. On Kushneriuk's first at 17:14, the helper went to Cramer and James Lyle (Nepean, Ontario / Smiths Falls Bears). Lewis and Longpre earned the assists on his second goal with exactly one minute remaining in the game.
The Colonials, now 3-11-3 and 1-4-2 in the CHA, put 43 shots on goal in their first contest of 2010. Ostergard recorded the loss while making 20 saves. Levine gave up three goals and made 10 saves in 21 minutes of action.
Tomorrow afternoon, Robert Morris and Lake Superior State will lace up their skates once more as they conclude the two-game series. The puck will drop at 5:05 p.m. in Clearview Arena.
