PITTSBURGH, Pa. – January 18, 2014 - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team concluded its two-game series against American International on Saturday afternoon.  Just one day after earning a tie against the Yellow Jackets, RMU would pick up a decisive 5-2 victory to collect three points in the Atlantic Hockey standings on the weekend.

Robert Morris (6-13-3, 6-6-3 AHA) was led offensively by Greg Gibson (Burlington, Ontario / Amarillo Bulls) who opened the scoring in the game and provided the final goal for either team.

Gibson's first of two goals would come with two minutes remaining in the first period.  Chasing after his own dump into the offensive zone, Gibson retrieved the puck in the left-wing corner and threw it towards the net where it hit off of a defenseman for American International (6-15-1, 5-9-1 AHA) and deflected past Ryan Kerpan, the starting goaltender for the Yellow Jackets for a 1-0 RMU lead.

The Colonials would add to their lead 66 seconds into the second period when a goal from Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets).  Wydo ripped a shot from the slot past Kerpan after RMU forced a turnover to keep the puck in the offensive zone.  Wydo's team-leading 15th goal of the season made the score 2-0 in favor of Robert Morris.

American International would get on the board two minutes later and cut the score to 2-1 after Chris Porter got the puck past RMU netminder Terry Shafer (Penfield, N.Y. / New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs).  Porter capitalized on a defensive turnover at the blueline by Robert Morris and streaked in on Shafer before letting off a shot from the right-wing circle past the goaltender.

At the 6:48 mark of the second period, the Colonials would regain their two-goal lead with a beautiful goal from Jeff Jones (Revelstoke, British Columbia / Merritt Centennials).  After a neutral-zone turnover by the Yellow Jackets, Jones picked up an outlet pass and split the American International defense as he entered the attacking zone.  In all alone on Kerpan, Jones deked from his forehand to his backhand and flipped the shot over Kerpan to make the score 3-1.

With just 70 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) provided Robert Morris with its fourth goal of the game.  After a flurry of saves on the penalty kill by Shafer, the puck was cleared out of the defensive zone and bounced to the stick of Lynch who was in all alone on Kerpan.  Lynch released a quick shot after settling the puck down in the slot to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Colonials after two periods of play.

Only two minutes remained on the clock in the third period when the Yellow Jackets would pick up their second goal of the game.  A shot from the slot by Nick Campanale would get by Shafer to make the score 4-2 in favor of RMU.

With Kerpan pulled in favor of an extra attacker for American International, Gibson would pick up his second goal of the game with an empty-net tally to make the final score 5-2.

Shafer earned his sixth victory of the season while making 31 saves to improve his record to 6-11-3.

Since the calendar read 2014, the Colonials have gone 4-1-1 while earning nine of a possible 12 points in the AHA standings and currently sit in a three-way tie for fifth place in the league.

In the midst of a six-game homestand, Robert Morris will return to action at the 84 Lumber Arena on Friday when the Colonials will play host to Air Force for a pair of contests beginning at 7:05 p.m.