ROCHESTER, N.Y. – March 21, 2014 – The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team advanced to its first AHA Championship game with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory against Niagara on Friday night.

"I was so proud of them the way they played in overtime," said head coach Derek Schooley, "they were outstanding."

At the intermission between the third period and overtime after Robert Morris (18-17-5, 13-9-5 AHA) squandered a 4-2 lead, Schooley asked his team who wanted to be a hero and the answer came from Scott Jacklin (Kimberley, British Columbia / Trail Smoke Eaters) with five minutes remaining in the overtime stanza.

Jacklin played hero with the game winner as he sat alone at the right post and called for a pass.  Trying to quickly get off the shot before Teichroeb could slide from right-to-left; Jacklin nearly fanned on the shot and propelled the puck forward with the heel of his stick past the netminder as jubilation ensued.

Robert Morris would open the scoring less than three minutes into the first frame.  Intercepting a clearing attempt in the offensive zone, the puck found its way to the slot where Greg Gibson (Burlington, Ontario / Amarillo Bulls) unleashed a wrist shot that beat Niagara (15-20-5, 11-11-5 AHA) goaltender Jackson Teichroeb to make the score 1-0.

Almost four minutes into the middle stanza, Niagara would tie the game with a goal from Hugo Turcotte.  RMU starting netminder Dalton Izyk (Oswego, N.Y. / Indiana Ice) muffed a shot on goal and the resulting rebound laid in the crease where Turcotte slammed it home to make the score 1-1.

Midway into the contest, Matt Cope (Lakewood, Colo. / Wenatchee Wild) would find the back of the net to give the Colonials a 2-1 lead.  Cope fired a shot from the slot that beat Teichroeb for the goal that gave RMU the lead into the third period.

In the third period, Niagara capitalized on a 3-on-1 to tie the game, 2-2, almost nine into the third stanza.  Stephen Pietrobon was on the end of tic-tac-toe passing for the Purple Eagles that resulted in a tie score.

Three minutes later, Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) put Robert Morris back on top, 3-2.  South stabbed away at a loose puck that sat near Teichroeb's pad and got it behind the netminder and across the line.

The Colonials would take the game's first two-goal lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period when Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets) finished off an odd-man rush for his 27th goal of the season to put RMU ahead, 4-2.

With three minutes remaining, Niagara would pull within a goal, 4-3 after a shot from the right point was deflected by Pietrobon and past Izyk.

The Purple Eagles would tie the game with almost two minutes remaining in the third period when Turcotte put home a loose puck in Izyk's crease to send the game into overtime where Jacklin advanced RMU to the AHA Championship contest.

Izyk finished the overtime contest with 51 saves, the highest total of his career and an amount that makes him the fourth goaltender in RMU history with a 50+ save performance.

"I thought [Izyk] was good, he made some big saves and was in the right place," remarked Schooley, "more importantly he won the game."

Izyk is now 4-0-0 in the AHA Playoffs this season after coming into the third game of the AHA First Round against Army on March 9.  In those four games, Izyk has posted a 1.55 goals-against average with a .957 save percentage.

The Colonials will take on Canisius in the AHA Championship after the Golden Griffins needed two overtimes to advance to the final contest. 

"To be a champion, you have to go through the champions," said Schooley.

"The goal we set in the beginning of the year was to win the championship and now we are one of the teams left playing for a championship tomorrow," the coach continued.

Faceoff between RMU and Canisius is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.; the game can also be heard on 970 AM ESPN.