Box Score

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – November 16, 2013 – The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took to the road for a single game at Air Force on Saturday evening.  After falling behind by a score of 4-1 to start the third period, the Colonials would stage a late rally that included a pair of goals in a span of 2:19 but the game-tying goal would elude them as they dropped a 4-3 contest to the AHA-leading Falcons.

With the loss, Robert Morris (1-7-1, 1-2-1 AHA) has now lost the last five meetings against Air Force (6-3-0, 4-1-0 AHA) as well as the last seven games played at the Air Force Academy.

Despite allowing a first period goal, RMU stayed with Air Force in every aspect of the game until the Falcons recorded a pair of power-play goals over a span of 91 seconds in the second period to pull away from the Colonials.  The second goal with the man advantage for Air Force would turn out to be the game winner after Robert Morris battled back in the third period to make the game a one-goal contest.

After seeing action in a pair of games for Robert Morris in relief, freshman goaltender Brandon Lane (Oakville, Ontario / Kanata Stallions) recorded his first collegiate start for the Colonials.  Lane entered the contest going 44 minutes without allowing a goal while recording 20 saves.

Air Force would get on the board first at the 7:24 mark of the first period with a goal from Chad Demers.  Demers originally deflected a pass towards the Robert Morris net that was blocked down by a RMU defender, but the puck bounced right back to Demers who quickly released a shot past Lane to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead that would last for the remainder of the opening period.

Seven minutes into the second period, Air Force would double its lead with a goal from Mike McDonald.  The Falcons would win an offensive zone faceoff and the puck made its way back to McDonald who let a shot go from the left point that found its way through traffic and by Lane as the Colonials faced a 2-0 deficit.

Two minutes later, the Falcons would extend their lead while on a two-man advantage.  After Robert Morris committed a pair of penalties within six seconds of each other, Air Force capitalized to make the score 3-0.  Chad Demers picked up his second goal of the game as he converted a cross-ice pass and ripped a one-timer past a sprawling Lane.

Killing off the second penalty, Robert Morris would get on the board with a short-handed goal from Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) just 37 seconds after the Air Force power-play goal.  Lynch picked up the puck at the offensive blue line after Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) cleared the defensive zone and skated in all alone on Air Force goaltender Jason Torf.  Torf would stop Lynch's initial shot by the forward gathered up his own rebound and chipped the puck over the goaltender to make the score 3-1.

Despite the RMU goal, the Colonials still had to kill off the remainder of the second penalty but instead they allowed Air Force to regain its three-goal advantage less than a minute after Lynch's tally.  George Michalke saw a loose puck bounce to his stick in the slot and backhanded a shot over Lane's outstretched pad to make the score 4-1.

Entering the third period down three goals, RMU would do its best to mount a comeback, but the Colonials did not pick up their second goal until there were under four minutes remaining in the final period.  On its third power-play of the period, Robert Morris picked up a goal with the man advantage to make the score 4-2.  A Chase Golightly (Temecula, Calif. / Prince George Spruce Kings) blast from the right point would sail past Torf off of a one-time feed from Tyson Wilson (Brockville, Ontario / Brockville Braves).  Lynch would earn his second point of the evening after winning the faceoff and getting the puck back to Wilson.

With Lane pulled for an extra attacker, Robert Morris would cut its deficit to a single goal with one minute remaining.  Ben Robillard (Ottawa, Ontario / Ottawa Jr. Senators) picked off a clearing attempt by Air Force in the slot and quickly released a shot that beat Torf to make the score 4-3.

Robert Morris would spend the final minute in search of the game-tying goal, but it was to no avail as the final horn sounded on the 4-3 loss.

After allowing three second period goals, the Colonials have been outscored, 19-6, during the second 20 minutes of play.  Despite the second period troubles, RMU has now scored a third-period goal in seven consecutive games while outscoring its opponents, 12-6, in the final frame.

Coming into the game averaging a conference-best 34 shots on goal, the Colonials would send 40 shots on the Air Force cage while Lane faced 31 Falcon shots and stopped 27 of them.  Matt Cope (Lakewood, Colo. / Wenatchee Wild) led the shooting brigade for the Colonials with five shots on goal.  Defensively, David Rigatti (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Texas Tornado) blocked three shots while RMU blocked 13 shots as a defensive unit in front of Lane.

Coming into the contest with the third-worst penalty kill in the NCAA, Robert Morris committed just two infractions against Air Force.  Despite committing just two penalties in the game, RMU allowed a pair of power-play goals for the second straight game.  The Colonials have now allowed a power-play goal against in seven consecutive games and eight of nine games this season.

Robert Morris has recorded a power-play goal in seven of its nine games this season.  Both of Golightly's goals this season have come in the third period while the Colonials were on a power play.

With a goal and an assist, Lynch notched his fifth career multi-point game and the fourth such game this season for the sophomore.

Robert Morris returns to the 84 Lumber Arena for a pair of home contests against Holy Cross.  The series starts on Friday, Nov. 22 with a 7:05 p.m. faceoff.