Buffalo, NY – Penalties proved costly for Robert Morris University men's hockey in a 6-3 loss against Canisius Friday night.

The Griffins scored five power play goals -- two in the first period, two in the second, and one in the third -- taking a 6-1 lead over the Colonials before RMU added a pair of goals in the third.

Trailing 1-0, Brady Ferguson tied things up, driving to the net around defenders to score, tucking the puck between the goalie's pad and the post for his fifth goal of the season. Matthew Graham and Daniel Leavens recorded assists on the goal. Ferguson extended his scoring streak to three games to start the season.

Midway through the second, Graham was taken down as he raced up the ice towards the goal and was awarded a penalty shot, but didn't score.

Graham later found the scoring touch, lighting the lamp for his first collegiate goal in the third period. Down 6-1, the Colonials power play was able to covert one of their three power play opportunities into points. Graham took a centering pass from Alex Tonge and ripped it home for his first career goal, bringing his season points total to three.

Ben Robillard netted his first of the year with 25 seconds remaining, tipping in a shot from John Rey. Jacob Coleman notched his first collegiate point with the second assist on the goal. 

Dalton Izyk started the game in goal, playing two periods and stopping 15 of the 19 shots he faced. Andrew Pikul closed the game making seven of nine saves in the final frame.

The Colonials led the shots advantage 30-28, scoring one power play goal on seven shots on the man advantage. Canisius went 5-for-8 on ten shots on their man-advantage opportunities.

"I liked a lot of things about our game," said head coach Derek Schooley. "It's tough to say we played poorly, except for one facet of special teams. Our penalty kill didn't get the job done and the rest of our game was pretty good."

"There were a lot of things I liked from our freshmen," Schooley remarked. "I thought Daniel Mantenuto was very good tonight. I thought Kevin Lavoie played hard. I liked a lot of our game."

"We really did some good things 5-on-5. We were not good 4-on-5."

"I had a lot of chances throughout the game, so I was pretty frustrated," said Graham. "To finally get it and get the monkey off the back, it felt good."

"I want to help the team win and obviously, we didn't get the result we wanted," Graham continued, "so it's back to the drawing board."

Robert Morris (1-2-0) will face Canisius once again Saturday night at 7:35pm at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, NY.


Follow Pittsburgh's college hockey team on Social Media
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Snapchat  |  YouTube