Pittsburgh, Pa. - On Saturday night, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team returned to conference action for the second consecutive night as the Colonials played host to the No. 5 Bemidji State Beavers in Clearview Arena. Down two goals late in the second, the Colonials fought back with two scores of their own. However, BSU quickly jump started its offense in the third to roll to a, 5-2, victory.
In a very up-tempo first period, it was the Beavers who grabbed the lead late in the session with a goal from Tyler Lehrke at 16:13. The Beavers also claimed the edge on shots at the end of one, 10-7.
Just 1:52 into the second, Bemidji State added a second tally to take a 2-0 advantage when Ben Kinne notched his eighth of the year on a power play.
With just eight seconds remaining in the middle period, junior Nathan Longpre (Peterborough, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms) found a streaking Scott Kobialko (Spruce Grove, Alberta / Camrose Kodiaks) who took a glove side shot to the back of the net as the Colonials cut the Beaver lead to just one.
As the third period got underway, the Colonials turned up the heat and finally evened the game at 5:55 when Zach Hervato (Stittsville, Ontario / Smiths Falls Bears) scored his fifth marker of the 09-10 season. Assists on Hervato's game tying goal were awarded to junior Chris Kushneriuk (Ottawa, Ontario / Wayne State) and freshman Stefan Salituro (Willodale, Ontario / Mahoning Valley Phantoms).
However, the deadlock at two would be as close as Robert Morris would come to sneaking past Bemidji State for the third straight time.
The Beavers found the back of the net for a third time as Ryan Cramer took a back hand top shelf blast past RMU's Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers) to reclaim a, 3-2, lead.
Two minutes later, Bemidji State's Jamie McQueen took the Beaver lead back to two goals when he scored with a hard shot from the front of the net
In a last effort, Robert Morris pulled Ostergard for an extra skater but BSU capitalized as they sealed the win with an empty net goal from Lehrke with 1:17 remaining.
Ostergard made 19 saves in the, 5-2, RMU defeat as Robert Morris went zero-for-three on the man-advantage.
The Colonials are scheduled play on Friday evening at the University of Alabama-Huntsville at 5:30 p.m. However, due to the recent tragedy that occurred at the institution, game dates and times are subject to change.
