Rochester, NY - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team used a four-goal second period to rally for a 6-5 victory over the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday night.

Junior forward Brady Ferguson netted his first career hat trick with the game-winning goal in the third period, while sophomore forward Alex Tonge picked up the first, and later the second, goal of his college career. Ferguson finished the night with three goals and three assists totalling six points, a Robert Morris program record. Freshman goaltender Francis Marotte made 27 saves in 39:06 of play to collect his first career win.

RIT held a 5-1 lead at the 10:56 mark of the second period, before Robert Morris scored four power play goals in less than two minutes to tie the game at five. Ferguson scored the game-winning goal less than six minutes into the third period. Marotte and a host of shot-blockers held the Tigers out of the net from the 10:56 mark of the second period on. RIT fied 22 shots in that span of 29:04 shutout minutes of play by Marotte and the Colonials.

Ferguson opened the game with an even strength goal, just 85 seconds into the contest, with an assist from Eric Israel. RIT strung together three power play goals to take a 3-1 lead out of the first period. The Tigers scored their first even-strength goal of the game 54 seconds into the second frame, ending the night of junior Andrew Pikul who made his first career start, recording ten saves in 20:54 of ice time.

"We kind of left him (Pikul) out to dry," Ferguson stated. "We took some stupid penalties and they capitalized on them."

Marotte entered the game, making 13 saves in a second period in which Robert Morris was able to take advantage of several RIT penalties. The first power play goal of the second period came on a 5-on-3 opportunity. Tonge collected the rebound of a Ferguson shot and lifted it home for his first collegiate goal, beginning a four-goal burst for the Colonials in the span of a minute and fifty-two seconds. Thirty-six seconds later, Ferguson scored his second of the night, firing the puck over the shoulder of Tigers goaltender Mike Rotolo.

Ferguson kept the puck moving on a third consecutive 5-on-3 opportunity for Robert Morris, feeding the puck to Tonge who blasted the puck into the net for his second of the night. The fourth power play goal in that stretch of less than two minutes started off the stick of freshman Matthew Graham who collected his first collegiate point with a pass to Ferguson who sent the puck to Israel for the goal to tie the game at five apiece. Israel factored in on five of the Colonials six goals, with one goal of his own and four assists.

"I've never been a part of a game where the power play just keeps clicking like it did," said head coach Derek Schooley.

Ferguson's goal in the third period to break the stalemate was the result of a Tigers turnover in their own end. Matt Abt made an errant pass right to Ferguson and he easily tossed the puck into the net to complete the hat trick and set a school record with his sixth point of the night.

"We've won a lot of hockey games here in the last couple of years, but I don't think any one is more satisfying than that," Schooley said.

"That's a big win for a young team. Unbelievable night for Brady Ferguson. Six points, I don't think has ever been done by a Colonial," said Schooley.

"Then you've got Franky Marotte getting his first college win, coming off the bench cold and making a huge save at the end. You've got Luke Lynch with some bigtime blocks, guys just selling out."

"Really happy for our guys," Schooley said. "Tough place to play, left for dead and to come back and win that game 6-5 is big going into a bye week."

YOU CAN QUOTE ME

"To get that first goal under my belt is huge. It's a huge confidence booster for me and it was just awesome." - Alex Tonge on his first career goal

"They (RIT) were pushing hard at the end. The defense did a really good job of blocking shots and making sure I was seeing the puck. It was a whole team effort. I got the win but the guys worked super hard for it." - Francis Marotte on finishing out his first career win

"When Tonge put the first one in, it was 5-2. After that, I think we all felt some confidence and ended up getting another power play and scored there. We're only down two. I figured, what the heck, why not score some more?" - Brady Ferguson, talking through the Colonials comeback and his six-point night

"After last night, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and gave them so many power plays. Coming back from down 5-1 with such a young team, the confidence is very high right now in the locker room. We've just got to ride that wave and keep building it each game, learn from our mistakes and gain confidence as a group." - Eric Israel after his five-point night and Colonials first win of the season

UP NEXT

Robert Morris (1-1-0, 1-1-0 AHC) is off next weekend with a bye week and returns to action on October 21 and 22 for a pair of 7:35pm games against Canisius at the Harborcenter in Buffalo, New York.

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