Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – December 27, 2013 - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team entered the 2013 Three Rivers Classic on Friday evening looking to defend their title from a year ago.  Facing in-state rival Penn State for the second time this season, the Colonials would let a 2-1 lead slip away in the third period and suffer a 3-2 defeat.

Despite the loss, sophomore goaltender Terry Shafer (Penfield, N.Y. / New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) set a single-game program record for Robert Morris (2-11-2, 2-5-2 AHA) with 59 saves.  Shafer eclipsed the previous record of 58 saves that was held by last season's Three Rivers Classic Most Valuable Player, Eric Levine, who made 58 save on October 31, 2009 against Quinnipiac.

"I thought Shafer gave an A-plus performance," said head coach Derek Schooley. He continued, "Terry deserved better, we had a chance to steal te game because of our goaltending."

Despite a combined 29 shots on goal in the first period, 19 of which were Penn State (4-9-1, 0-2-0 Big Ten) shots stopped by Shafer, neither team was able to get on the board in the opening 20 minutes.

The Colonials would get on the board first just 2:20 into the second period.  Needing just two seconds of power-play time, defenseman Tyson Wilson (Brockville, Ontario / Brockville Braves) picked up his first goal of the season to give RMU a 1-0 advantage.

Penn State responded before the midway point of the period and tied the score with a power-play goal from Nate Jenson to make the score 1-1.

Despite 27 second-period shots from Penn State, it would be Robert Morris that came away with a 2-1 lead after two periods of play.  The Colonials regained the advantage with a goal from David Friedmann (Toronto, Ontario / Toronto Jr. Canadiens) in the final two minutes of the frame.
Holding a third-period lead, the Colonials allowed a pair of goals to Penn State in the final period.  The first of the two goals came from Tommy Olczyk midway through the third that tied the game, 2-2, while Penn State was on the power play.

Penn State would take its first lead of the game with less than two minutes remaining with a goal from Eric Scheid that forced RMU to pull Shafer in favor of an extra attacker as the Colonials looked to tie the game.

Despite his record dropping to 2-9-2 on the season, Shafer raised his save percentage to .906 with his performance against Penn State.

"I can't say enough about [Shafer's] goaltending tonight," expressed Schooley, "you look back and reminisce a little bit about last year with Levine doing the same thing."

The loss to Penn State relegates RMU to the consolation game of this year's Three Rivers Classic in which they will face Bowling Green at 4:35 p.m. 

"We need to make sure we get the effort that we need," said Schooley when asked about taking on Bowling Green tomorrow afternoon.  The coach added, "Anybody can beat anybody on a given night , you've seen that a lot [in college hockey] and it's just who shows up and who doesn't. as well as who performs at their highest level."

Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com of at the Dick's Sporting Goods Box Office at CONSOL Energy Center.