Colorado Springs, Colo. – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team experienced the cruel side of overtime back in November, when Air Force escaped with an extra-time win at 84 Lumber Arena.

On Friday night at Cadet Ice Arena, the Colonials returned the favor.

Defenseman Tyson Wilson scored his second goal of the game 2:48 into sudden death, giving 20th-ranked Robert Morris its fifth consecutive victory, 5-4 over the Air Force Academy.

Wilson, who didn't have a goal this season until Friday, completed a thrilling comeback with an extra-attacker tally in the final minute of regulation. First-place Robert Morris (18-5-4, 15-3-3 AHC) stretched its lead atop the Atlantic Hockey Conference to six points with the improbable result.

RMU trailed 3-1 in the second period and 4-2 in the third before rallying for its first win in the Rocky Mountains since joining Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials' previous triumph at the Academy occurred on Feb. 25, 2006; since then they had endured seven straight losses in the thin air.

In addition to breaking that skid, they also cut down Air Force's six-game winning streak, which was tied for the longest in the nation.

"That just shows the character of this group," said RMU head coach Derek Schooley. "Our guys sold out and it was good for us to get rewarded. That's probably one of our better come-from-behind wins in the history of this program."

The Colonials dominated the faceoff circle, controlling 66 percent of the draws (50 for 76). Three of their goals directly resulted from faceoff wins, including Wilson's equalizer with 53 seconds left in regulation. After an Air Force icing, Zac Lynch won the draw straight back to the blue line, where Wilson wired a shot through a maze of bodies and past goalie Connor Girard.

"It was pretty surreal," said Wilson, a redshirt junior who had six goals in 96 collegiate games entering the weekend and had never scored twice in one contest. "I've been getting a lot of good chances, but they just haven't been going in. It was good to get the monkey off my back."

And so the two teams went to overtime for the third time in three meetings this season. Not long after RMU goalie Dalton Izyk made a sharp shoulder save, Wilson stepped up to hold the puck in the Air Force zone. He fed to Scott Jacklin at the right post, who dished it right back.

Wilson somehow wedged the puck into the top-left corner of the net while being pulled down at the edge of the crease, producing one of the Colonials' more memorable wins in 11 years of Division I hockey.

"I told them between the second and third (periods) that we can either mail it in and prepare for tomorrow, or we can come out and give it our best," Schooley said. "Even when it was 4-2 we still kept pushing forward, and then Tyson gets two late goals on two big-time plays."

Sophomore winger Daniel Leavens made two significant plays in the third period, starting with a blistering one-timer off a David Friedmann faceoff win that cut the Air Force lead to 3-2. Although Erik Baskin restored the Falcons' two-goal advantage at 7:36, Greg Gibson kept the Colonials in it with a power-play goal about a minute later.

Leavens factored in on that goal, too, snapping a one-touch pass from the left boards to an open Gibson between the circles. Leavens, Jacklin and junior blueliner Chase Golightly finished with two assists apiece, while Lynch had a goal and a helper to stretch his scoring streak to five games (5g, 7a).

"I was impressed with the (Cody Wydo)-Jacklin-Lynch line, they played hard," Schooley said. "Our defense played hard. We outshot them, we out-faceoffed them, out-special-teamed them, but it's tough when you're chasing the scoreboard the whole game."



Even though none of the current Colonials had ever won a game in Colorado, they were strong right from the start, keeping the puck in the Air Force zone for long stretches of play. Lynch had the best chance of the opening minutes when he picked off a clearing pass, but his partial breakaway was denied by Girard.

Izyk responded with two incredible saves of his own, the first of which was on George Michalke from the right edge of the crease. After denying a point shot, Izyk sprawled to make an arm save on Michalke's rebound attempt.

That stop made the crowd gasp, but Izyk made the Colonials' save of the year just moments later. Following an RMU turnover, Air Force center Ben Carey stepped out in front of the net for a wide-open forehand, only to have Izyk pluck a sure goal out of the air with his glove hand.

"(The coaches) did a good job preparing us for what this team does," said Izyk, who finished with 24 saves in his 10th win of his sophomore season. "They use the back-side guy a lot and get a lot of guys to the net."

However, Izyk had no chance on the game's opening goal, netted by Chad Demers with 7:10 left in the first. Cole Gunner took a pass from Scott Holm in the left corner and whipped the puck to Demers on the doorstep for a well-placed one-timer.

RMU trailed after one period for the second consecutive game, but just like last Saturday at Holy Cross, Lynch tied it up early in the middle period. Lynch buried the rebound of Golightly's wrist shot just 34 seconds into the frame, as the Colonials took advantage of Jacklin's clean faceoff win.

But Air Force netted the next two goals to carry a 3-1 lead into the third. The Falcons jumped back on top at 4:42, when Mike McDonald's backhand pass caromed off Izyk's stick directly to Jordan Himley at the right post.

The Air Force advantage grew to two goals at 10:22, as defenseman Johnny Hrabovsky burst up the left wing and fired a wrist shot through traffic that found the twine. The Colonials kept pushing – outshooting the home team 14-11 in the second period – but they couldn't translate possession time into another goal until Leavens struck 54 seconds into the third.

RMU outshot Air Force 13-6 in the third period and 39-27 for the game.

"We knew what we had to do before the third," Golightly said. "Everyone was ready to put in some work and start chipping away."

The two teams will square off again at 9:05 p.m. Saturday.