Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – October 19, 2013 - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took to the ice at the 84 Lumber Arena for the first this season.  Its opponent was the reigning Atlantic Hockey regular season champion, the Niagara Purple Eagles.  It a tightly contested contest, the two teams would skate to a 3-3 tie after 65 minutes of play.

Just a week after going one of fifteen with the man advantage in a two-game series, Robert Morris (0-2-1, 0-0-1 AHA) would net a pair of power-play goals in the contest against Niagara (1-2-1, 1-0-1 AHA).  The Colonials' offense was fueled by Scott Jacklin (Kimberley, British Columbia / Trail Smoke Eaters) who had a hand in each of the three goals including primary assists on each of the two power-play goals.

Just five minutes into the opening period, Niagara would open the scoring with a goal from Brock Edwards.  Edwards punched in a cross-crease pass behind the Colonials' starting goaltender Terry Shafer (Penfield, N.Y. / New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) after the Purple Eagles cycled the puck in Robert Morris' defensive zone to give Niagara an early 1-0 advantage.

Niagara's lead would last less than three minutes as Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets) capitalized on a two-on-one rush.  Picking up the puck in the defensive zone, Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) fed an outlet pass to Jacklin who had gotten behind his defender.  Jacklin entered the zone with Wydo trailing him on the left wing and patiently fed a pass through the lone Niagara defender to the tape of Wydo.  Wydo quickly let go of a wrist shot that beat Niagara's Adrian Ignagni over the shoulder to tie the game, 1-1.

The stalemate would continue until midway through the second period when Robert Morris would collect one of its two power-play goals on the evening to take the lead.  With the Colonials controlling the puck behind Niagara's crease with the man advantage, David Friedmann (Toronto, Ontario / Toronto Jr. Canadiens) found Jacklin parked at the bottom of the right wing circle.  Jacklin quickly sent a one-touch pass across the goalmouth to Ben Robillard (Ottawa, Ontario / Ottawa Jr. Senators) who tapped in his first collegiate goal to give RMU a 2-1 lead.

With less than a minute remaining, Niagara would tie the score with a power-play marker of their own as a point shot from Tyler Akeson found its way through traffic and by a screened Shafer.  The second period would come to an end just 35 seconds after the Purple Eagles tying goal.

Robert Morris would regain the lead with its second power-play goal of the night coming less than seven minutes into the third period.  An initial shot from the point by John Rey (Turnersville, N.J. / Amarillo Bulls) would be stopped by Ignagni who pushed the rebound out to the slot.  Jacklin corralled the rebound and backhanded a pass to Friedmann who released a snapshot from the top of the right wing circle that beat Ignagni to give RMU a 3-2 lead.

Five minutes after the Colonials had reclaimed the lead, Niagara would again battle back to tie the score on a one-time shot from Isaac Kohls that made the score 3-3.

With less than four minutes remaining in the third, the Colonials would have to kill off a five-minute penalty that extended into the overtime period.  RMU's penalty kill would stand tall as the unit allowed just three shots on goal, all of which were stopped by Shafer.  Shafer's biggest stop of the three came as he slid to his left and stopped a point-blank shot from Niagara with less than a minute remaining in the third period.

The final minutes of the overtime period would tick away as the Colonials returned to full strength after killing the major penalty.  The two teams skated to a 3-3 tie with each squad earning a point in the AHA standings.

Shafer would finish the game with a career-high 36 saves, one more than Ignagni's 35 stops.  Along with Jacklin's three assists, Friedmann also recorded a multi-point game with his power-play goal and assist.  Along with Robillard's first collegiate goal, Rey recorded his first collegiate point with his assist on RMU's third goal.

The two teams were virtually even in every statistical category except faceoffs.  The Colonials recorded 38 shots on goal while Niagara had 39.  The Colonials had two more power-play opportunities, five, than Niagara's three opportunities.  Niagara held the edge in blocked shots over RMU, 24-21.  However, in the circle RMU won ten more draws than its opponent, a 46-36 edge.

Friedmann's all-around effort continued at the faceoff dot where he won a game-high nine faceoffs for the Colonials.  He also recorded five shots on goal, an amount equaled by Lynch on the evening.  Andrew Blazek (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Topeka Roadrunners) recorded six blocked shots, the most by any skater.

After just the single game against Niagara this weekend, the Colonials will take on Ohio State in a home-and-home series starting on Friday at Ohio State.  Last season, RMU went on the road and beat the Buckeyes, 3-2, before skating to a 2-2 tie the following evening in Pittsburgh.  Robert Morris will face off against Ohio State at 7:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio before returning to the 84 Lumber Arena on Saturday for a 7:05 start.