ERIE, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey grabbed a, 4-4, tie against in-state conference rival Mercyhurst by scoring twice in the final two minutes, Saturday.
The Colonials (17-9-5, 12-7-5) picked up a point in the Atlantic Hockey standings against the Lakers with two goals in the final two minutes against the Lakers (13-13-4, 11-10-2). Trevor Lewis (Lititz, Pa. / Syracuse Stars) found the net twice with the extra attacker in the final two minutes as Robert Morris furiously rallied to earn the tie.
Robert Morris fell behind early as Phil Ginand found the net 35 seconds into the game to give Mercyhurst the early lead. Furman South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) tied the game at one with his sixth goal of the season 1:01 later. The Lakers retook the lead at the 17:20 mark of the first period with a goal from Scott Pitt. Following the goal an altercation broke out between the Colonials and the Lakers which resulted in a minor penalty for Brooks Ostergard (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Bay State Breakers) and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty for Mercyhurst's Paul Chiasson. On the issuing Laker power play, Derek Elliott found the net to push the Laker advantage to two.
The Colonials cut into the Mercyhurst lead in the second period with a power-play goal from Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) at the 15:36 mark of the second period. Mercyhurst responded with the second goal of the night from Pitt, who found the net 26 seconds later.
Robert Morris played even in the third period until the Colonials pulled Ostergard for the extra attacker. Lewis found the net twice with extra-attack hammering home rebounds on shots from the blue line by Denny Urban (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ohio Blue Jackets).
The two teams played to a scoreless overtime period with Mercyhurst holding a 4-2 advantage in shot-on-goal in the extra period. Ostergard totaled 36 saves for the night while Ryan Zapolski turned away 33 shots for Mercyhurst. The Colonials finished the night 1-of-3 on the power play and 5-of-6 on the penalty kill, only allowing four shots on the penalty kill.
The Colonials return to action Saturday Feb. 19 at the Island Sports Center against RIT puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard live at RMUColonials.com and Pittsburgh Penguins HD radio.
Game Notes
- Denny Urban's three assists Saturday helped the senior assistant captain set the Robert Morris single season record for assists.
- Nathan Longpre has a point in 17 of his last 19 games with six multi-point games in that span.
- Adam Brace extended his point streak to seven games Saturday night. The sophomore forward also has six points in his last three games.
- The Colonials have killed off 17 of the last 18 power-play opportunities for their opponents.
- The mulit-goal game for Trevor Lewis is his third of the season.
