PITTSBURGH, Pa. – March 7, 2014 – Behind a six-goal second period, the Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team collected an 8-4 victory over Army to take the lead in the best-of-three playoff series.

Sixteen of the eighteen skaters dressed for Robert Morris (14-16-5, 13-9-5 AHA) as the Colonials were led by Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets) who recorded two goals and two assists.

Down a goal to start the second period, the Colonials busted things wide open in the middle frame, scoring six goals in ten minutes of play.

Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) tied the contest, 1-1, after stuffing a rebound past Army (5-27-0, 5-22-0 AHA) goaltender Parker Gahagen two minutes into the period.

Twenty seconds later, RMU took a 2-1 lead with a goal from Brandon Denham (Milton, Ontario / Oakville Blades) after he put home a rebound surrendered by Gahagen.

Two minutes after Denham's goal gave the Colonials the lead, Matt Cope (Lakewood, Colo. / Wenatchee Wild) put RMU ahead two, 3-1, after stabbing home a rebound that sat between Gahagen's pads.

Six minutes into the second period, Scott Jacklin (Kimberley, British Columbia / Trail Smoke Eaters) put Robert Morris ahead three goals, 4-1, after deflecting a shot from the point that founds its way past Gahagen.

A goal from Wydo midway through the frame would make the score 5-1 in favor of the home team and chase Gahagen from the net after Wydo positioned himself at the left post and deflected a shot-pass behind the goaltender.

Tanner Creel would replace Gahagen in net for Army but the change would do little to alter the fortune of the Black Knights as Daniel Leavens (Thornhill, Ontario / Newmarket Hurricanes) netted his first-career goal with a snipe shot over the glove of Creel to make the score 6-1.

After six goals in the second period, the Colonials picked up a pair of goals in the opening minutes of the third period to go ahead 8-1.

Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) scored 32 seconds into the final frame for a 7-1 advantage after a slapshot blazed past Creel.

Wydo netted his second goal of the evening while the Colonials were on a major power play to make the score 8-1 with his team-leading 25th goal of the season after finishing off some sweet tic-tac-toe passing to free up Wydo at the left post.

Army would open the scoring in the final minutes of the first period as Andrew O'Leary deflected a shot past Terry Shafer (Penfield, N.Y. / New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) to give the Black Knights a 1-0 lead.

After the eight-goal outburst by Robert Morris, the Black Knights would pick up three goals in the final nine minutes of play including two goals in the final 72 seconds.

Luke Jennkins made the score 8-2 before Maurice Alvarez and Garret Peterson rounded out the scoring in the 8-4 victory for Robert Morris.

Robert Morris put 55 shots on goal in the game, making it the second-consecutive game in which the Colonials have gotten at least 50 shots on goal.

Shafer collected his 14th win of the season while finishing the contest with 18 saves.

The Colonials will look to close out the series tomorrow evening when the two teams face off in the second game of the best-of-three series at 7:05 p.m.