Pittsburgh, Pa. - A career first for Andrew Pikul leads Robert Morris University men's hockey to a 3-0 win over Dartmouth at the 84 Lumber Arena Saturday night. Pikul, a junior goaltender, takes home his first career win and shutout with a 33-save performance against the Big Green.

RECAP
First
Dartmouth fired eight of its 12 first period shots in the first ten minutes of the frame and couldn't put the puck past Andrew Pikul.

Brady Ferguson scored the first goal of the game with 6:15 to play in the period, off a feed from Daniel Leavens. Ferguson is now tenth in the NCAA in scoring and leads Atlantic Hockey (9G-10A-19P).

Second
Pikul stretched to make a pad save on Dartmouth's Alex Jasiek 1:02 into the second, preventing the Big Green from evening the score. Dartmouth outshot RMU 13-7 in the second but Pikul held steady in goal.

At 11:55 of the second, a passing sequence around the Dartmouth net leads to an RMU goal. Alex Tonge took the puck from behind the net, passing out front where Daniel Mantenuto tapped it to Daniel Leavens who put home his fourth goal of the season, in his fourth straight game.

Third
Pikul once again comes up big, stopping a patient shot from the slot by Corey Kalk, keeping Dartmouth off the board.

Robert Morris outshot Dartmouth 9-8 in the third, going 0-2 on the power play, with the Big Green killing off a five-minute major penalty by Tim Shoup with 8:05 remaining. 

Timmy Moore scored an empty net goal for the Colonials with 1:15 remaining to seal the win. Leavens assist on the empty-net goal was his third point of the game, his second three-point performance of the season and second in the last three games.

Junior defenseman Alex Bontje blocked a career-high six shots in the contest, more than one-third of the team total of 17 blocked shots.



TONIGHT'S MO-MENTUM
Andrew Pikul's solid performance in goal, making 33 saves, leads to the Colonials sixth win of the season. For Pikul, the win marks the first of his career and also his first ever shutout, becoming the sixth goalie to record a shutout in Robert Morris program history. Pikul is now 1-0-1 this season with a 1-0-3 career record. The junior goaltender improved his season and career numbers with the shutout (Season .897 sv%, 3.66 GAA; Career .924 sv%, 2.42 GAA).

UP NEXT
Robert Morris (6-3-2, 4-3-1 AHC) and Dartmouth (2-3-2, 1-1-2 Ivy) face off again Sunday at 2:05pm at PPG Paints Arena, the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.com

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