STORRS, Conn. – March 14, 2014 – The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team earned a 3-0 victory on Friday evening in the first game of a best-of-three series against Connecticut in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals.

"I really liked that hockey team tonight," said head coach Derek Schooley.  The bench boss continued, "We stuck with it the whole game tonight and our penalty kill was good when it counted."

Behind a 33-save performance from freshman goaltender Dalton Izyk (Oswego, N.Y. / Indiana Ice) for his first-career shutout, all Robert Morris (16-17-5, 13-9-5 AHA) needed was a second-period goal from Jeff Jones (Revelstoke, British Columbia / Merritt Centennials) to secure the victory.

"[Izyk] was really good tonight," said Schooley, "he made the big saves early and got into the flow of the game and was poised and composed down the stretch."

The two teams would play a scoreless first period, the busiest period for Izyk who turned away all 13 shots he faced from Connecticut (18-13-4, 15-9-3 AHA) while the Colonials mustered eight shots on the UConn net in the opening frame.

The second period looked to be heading towards a scoreless affair as well until Jones picked up his ninth goal of the season with just 46 seconds remaining.  A shot from the blueline would be stopped by Connecticut netminder Robby Nichols who positioned himself at the top of the crease for the blast.  Nichols did not get all of the puck as it found a way behind the netminder to Jones who was positioned at the left post and jammed home the loose biscuit for the 1-0 lead.

"We bent a couple of times in the first period, by boy did we respond in the second period," said Schooley about his team's composure and determination.

After the eight shots in the first period, the Colonials flipped the table in the second and fired 17 shots on the Connecticut cage.

The second stanza saw Izyk turn away ten shots from the Huskies while keeping Connecticut off of the board during a power play for the home team.

RMU's lead grew to a pair of goals seven minutes into the third period when Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets) potted his RMU-record 26th goal of the season.  Wydo gathered a loose puck in the offensive zone and fired a knucklepuck that fluttered over the shoulder of Nichols to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead in the final frame.

With fewer than two minutes remaining, Brandon Denham (Milton, Ontario / Oakville Blades) sealed the victory with his 11th goal of the season.  Denham originally controlled the puck along the goalline in the left-wing corner before throwing the puck towards the cage.  The pass hit a Connecticut defender in front of the net and fell to the ice where Denham followed his pass and hacked away at the puck until it flipped of Nichols and deflected off of the crossbar before settling in the cage for a 3-0 Robert Morris advantage.

Despite another ten-save period for Izyk, the RMU goaltender and his defensive unit held Connecticut at bay on three different power plays for the Huskies, allowing UConn to manage just one shot on goal while the Colonials were killing the three third-period penalties.

With shots relatively even, 34-33 in favor of the Colonials, RMU played airtight defense in front of Izyk, blocking 13 UConn shots and limiting the majority of the attempts to shots from the outer edges of the attacking zone.  Defenseman Tyson Wilson (Brockville, Ontario / Brockville Braves) led the defensive effort with four blocked shots while forwards Matt Cope (Lakewood, Colo. / Wenatchee Wild) and Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) each blocked a pair of shots.

Izyk becomes the fourth freshman goaltender at Robert Morris to record a shutout, but the first to do so in postseason action.

With his goal in the third period, Wydo inches closer to 100 career points and the RMU career goal record.  Wydo now has 99 career points, 60 of which have been goals which places the junior just four goals away from tying the program record.

The victory was the first in the quarterfinals for Robert Morris since the program joined the AHA prior to the 2010-11 season.  The two previous times that RMU had made the quarterfinals, the Colonials were swept in two games.

Robert Morris will look to advance to the AHA Semifinals with a victory tomorrow evening when the two teams will meet again at 7:05 p.m.