Watertown, Mass. – Robert Morris University men's hockey came up just short at Bentley University in a highly contested 4-3 game.
Matthew Graham,
Brady Ferguson and
Alex Bontje each scored goals for the Colonials who wound up with eight players recording a point.
Francis Marotte made 31 saves for Robert Morris, with the Colonials record falling to 8-5-2 overall, 6-4-1 in Atlantic Hockey.
Bentley took a 2-0 lead through the first twenty minutes of play. Falcons leading scorer Max French fired a shot past, deflected by Ryner Gorowsky past Marotte just 3:51 into the game to giving Bentley a 1-0 advantage. Defenseman Mike Berry ripped a hard shot past the Colonials with 3:59 left in the first to make it a 2-0 Bentley lead. Tyler Deresky picked up an assist and Gorowsky nabbed his second point of the game. Gorowsky was the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week last week after a four-point weekend against Canisius.
Robert Morris outshot the Falcons 12-11 in the opening period and played well offensively, particularly in the early part of the physical game, generating several chances.
Matthew Graham took a pass from
Spencer Dorowicz and nearly put it home to tie the game 1-1 but Bentley netminder Jayson Argue was there to hold the Colonials off the board. Both teams were 0-1 on the power play in the first frame.
In the fast-paced second period, the Colonials found the scoresheet.
Rob Mann played the puck up ice where it was later picked up by
Jacob Coleman and passed off to Graham who shot the puck past Argue for his third goal of the season, cutting the Falcons lead to one. RMU once again outshot Bentley in the second, 11-8.
Robert Morris and Bentley traded power play goals in the first half of a four-goal third period. The Falcons scored on the final second of a period-opening power play when Max French scored his first goal of the game. Seven minutes later, the Colonials answered.
Brady Ferguson made no mistake on his shot, scoring his seventh power play goal of the season just 27 seconds into the penalty.
Daniel Leavens and
Timmy Moore set up Ferguson, passing around the Falcons defense before Ferguson tossed the puck into the net.
The Colonials continued to apply pressure late in the game as the contest remained physical. Robert Morris would not, however, see another whistle in the period. The Colonials were able to pull Marotte with 1:38 remaining, but French scored his second of the game, an empty-net goal, with 52 seconds remaining, putting the game seemingly out of reach.
Robert Morris kept going strong, with
Luke Lynch and Graham working the puck towards the net.
Alex Bontje was able to get a stick on it and pop the puck past Argue with 31 seconds left, closing the gap to one. The Colonials pulled Marotte again for the extra attacker but the lone shot attempt from Bontje was blocked by the Falcons and Bentley held on for the 4-3 victory.
The Colonials were outshot 16-10 in the final frame and 35-33 for the game. Robert Morris was 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. Graham and Mann finished plus-two for the Colonials, while Lynch and
Eric Israel each had to blocked shots with the team credited with eight total blocks. Ferguson went even on faceoffs (15-15) and did freshman
Michael Coyne (4-4), but Bentley got the better of the draws, 37-31, with French winning 21 of 32 faceoffs.
RMU's struggle to find the win column on the road against Bentley continued as the Colonials are now 1-5-1 all-time at John A. Ryan arena, 0-4-1 as members of Atlantic Hockey.
Robert Morris (8-5-2, 6-4-1 AHC) and Bentley (4-7-4, 3-5-3 AHC) square off again Saturday at 4:05pm at the John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown, Mass.
Live stats and a
live video stream ($) are available and play-by-play updates will be provided on the Colonials twitter account.
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