Box Score
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – March 9, 2014 – With its back against the wall, the Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team faced an elimination scenario in game three of the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs First Round against Army on Sunday evening. Despite allowing the Black Knights to score first, RMU rallied with three-consecutive goals to advance to the quarterfinals, 3-1.
Down a goal, Robert Morris (15-17-5, 13-9-5 AHA) turned to freshman goaltender Dalton Izyk (Oswego, N.Y. / Indiana Ice) after Terry Shafer (Penfield, N.Y. / New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) was removed from the game. Izyk stopped all 15 shots he faced in relief of Shafer to earn his first collegiate victory.
After a scoreless first period, Army (6-28-0, 5-22-0 AHA) got on the board first two minutes into the second stanza. While the Colonials were on a power-play, the puck was misplayed in their defensive zone allowing Luke Jenkins of Army to corral the loose puck and fire it into the cage vacated by Shafer for the 1-0 lead.
A short time later, Shafer would be replaced by Izyk who was seeing his first action since Feb. 22 at Canisius.
Less than three minutes after Army's marker, Greg Gibson (Burlington, Ontario / Amarillo Bulls) would pull RMU even, 1-1, with his 12th goal of the season. After a blocked shot in the defensive zone, the Colonials broke out on an odd-man rush. The initial shot was saved Black Knight netminder Parker Gahagen but the rebound bounced right to Gibson's twig to tie the game.
Approaching eight minutes remaining in the second period, David Friedmann (Toronto, Ontario / Toronto Jr. Canadiens) picked up what would become the game-winning goal after an official review. Friedmann's ninth goal of the season made the score 2-1 after a pass to the slot bounced off of his paraphernalia and behind Gahagan as the Colonials held the lead for the first time in the contest.
Robert Morris held the 2-1 advantage entering the third period and that lead grew to a pair of goals when Andrew Blazek (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Topeka Roadrunners) potted his fourth goal of the season six minutes into the final frame. Blazek got off a shot from the right-wing circle that blistered by Gahagen to make the score 3-1.
The Colonials hunkered down in front of Izyk, allowing ten shots to get through to the netminder in the last stanza of Army's season.
Izyk and Shafer combined for 25 saves in the contest. Prior to tonight's contest all of Izyk's playing time came in road contests so the freshman made his first appearance in front of the home crowd en route to the victory.
After the two teams combined for 64 penalty minutes and 18 power-play opportunities on Saturday, all but ten minutes of the action was played at even strength on Sunday as Army went 0-2 with the man advantage and RMU was 0-1 on the power play.
Entering the tournament as the fifth seed, Robert Morris will now travel to Connecticut for a best-of-three series with the Huskies. The two teams met earlier this season, splitting a two-game series, with Connecticut winning 5-1 before RMU bouncing back the following night for a 6-1 victory.
Last season, it was the Huskies that ended RMU's 20-win campaign, ousting the fifth-seeded Colonials in two games during the quarterfinal round of the 2013 AHA Playoffs.
This season's series will begin on Friday, March 14 with a game one faceoff scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
