Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's hockey team opened the season with a 5-1 win over Air Force Academy on Friday night at 84 Lumber Arena.

Senior forward Brandon Denham scored the first goal of the Colonials season 11:30 into the first period. David Friedmann fired a shot from the corner that caromed off Falcons goaltender Billy Christopoulos and right onto the stick of Denham who fired the puck home.

With a 1-0 lead in the second period, RMU continued to apply pressure. Tyson Wilson took the puck from the Falcons and tossed a pass up the ice right to the hands of Greg Gibson who snapped a shot right over Christopoulos's left shoulder to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead.

The score remained the same into the third period. Daniel Leavens, who led the Colonials with 8 shots, won a puck battle and found Friedmann streaming up the right side. The senior from Toronto used patience on a cross ice pass to sophomore Brady Ferguson who buried a goal to put Robert Morris up 3-0 with 13:01 to play.

Just 24 seconds later, Gibson fed the puck to Zac Lynch who held off an aggressive pursuit by Air Force's Dylan Abood. Lynch scored to chase the freshman Christopoulos from the Falcons net for the first time in his three games played this season. Freshman Shane Starrett entered the game to face the first game action of his Air Force career.

The Falcons made quick on a faceoff win, scoring just 18 seconds after RMU made it a 4-0 game. Johnny Hrabovsky scored with assists going to Kyle Mackey and Ben Carey. Matt Cope added an empty net goal with 2:30 remaining to ice the game for the Colonials.

Dalton Izyk was phenomenal in net for the Colonials, stopping 40 of 41 shots to pick up his first win of the season.

Robert Morris starts the season 1-0-0 with their first win coming in Atlantic Hockey conference play. Air Force falls to 1-2-0 with an 0-1-0 start to the AHC season.

YOU CAN QUOTE ME
After the game...
"I thought Dalton Izyk was outstanding. He made a huge save in the middle of the third period right before we had to kill a penalty, then we scored two big goals." -- Head Coach Derek Schooley

" They [Air Force] played a tight series and beat Denver (#5) last week so we knew we had to bring our A-game to start. After that first goal, I think that just opened the floodgates for everyone, legs started to feel a little lighter and everyone just started playing better." -- David Friedmann

UP NEXT
RMU and Air Force face off again Saturday night at 7:05pm at 84 Lumber Arena. Fans have the chance to Skate With The Colonials after the game. Skates are $2.50 to rent or bring your own.
For tickets, call 412-397-4949 or visit RMUtickets.com

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