Pittsburgh, Pa. –  A hot start from the Colonials not enough for a victory as Robert Morris University men's hockey ties Mercyhurst Friday night at 84 Lumber Arena.

It took all of 87 seconds for Zac Lynch to score the first goal of the game off a pass from Alex Bontje, his eighteenth of the season, giving the Colonials a 1-0 lead. With 5:42 remaining in the opening frame, Brandon Denham reaches for a puck at the front of the net and flips it home for the goal. Denham and Spencer Dorowicz battled for the puck along the wall. Dorowicz won the puck out of the scrum, tossing to Timmy Moore who shot from the blue line. Denham reached for the rebound and buried his sixteenth goal of the season.

The Colonials outshot the Lakers 19-10 in the first period. Terry Shafer stopped all ten shots and hasn't allowed a goal in the first period in each of the last five home games and has only allowed one first period goal at 84 Lumber Arena this season.

Mercyhurst appeared to score its' first of the game 5:10 into the second period, but the goal was ruled no good after official review due to the net being dislodged. The Colonials defense held the Lakers at bay for much of the second period before Tommaso Bucci scored with 3:14 left to make it a 2-1 game.

A physical third period led to a string of penalties but didn't result in a power play goal for either team. With 6:17 remaining screened, Chris Makowski tossed a puck towards the Colonials net and deflected off one of a sea of bodies screening Shafer, tying the game 2-2.



Robert Morris dominated possession in overtime, not allowing a Mercyhurst shot and attempting six shots during a power play, nine total in the extra session but none that found the back of the net.

"It seemed in the second [period] we were turning too many pucks over in the neutral zone and the pucks were coming back our way," said Zac Lynch. "We have to fix that up for tomorrow, play tighter in the neutral zone and get pucks in. I feel like that's kind of where it fell apart a little bit."

"I thought turning too many pucks over cost us and allowed them some odd-man rushes," said Head Coach Derek Schooley. "We want to play with speed but we also need to play in their end and we can't be careless with the puck in the neutral zone."

The Colonials outshot the Lakers 52-37 with 14 of those shots coming during RMU's three power play opportunities. Zac Lynch tied an RMU single-game record with 12 shots in the game (Nathan Longpre, 12 shots vs. Niagara February 27, 2009). Rob Mann continued a trend of blocking shots, recording five in Friday's game, maintaining his Atlantic Hockey lead in the category. The Colonials blocked a total of 21 shots, their tenth game with at least 20 blocked shots this season.

"I trust my defense not to let that pass get across," said goaltender Shafer, speaking to the Lakers odd-man rush opportunities. "They did a great job all game long of really forcing them to shoot. I can just step out and take my ice and fortunately I was big enough in net that I didn't get beat on a 2-on-1 tonight."

The Colonials wore camouflage jerseys bearing the logo of the "It's About the Warrior" Foundation in honor of Military Appreciation night. Colonel Gregg A. Perez, the Commander of the 171st Air Refueling Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard did the ceremonial puck drop.

Robert Morris (14-7-4, 11-4-4 AHC) and Mercyhurst (11-11-1, 9-7-1 AHC) face off against Saturday night at 7:05pm at 84 Lumber Arena in Pittsburgh. The first 600 fans in attendance will receive a white replica jersey.