Pittsburgh, Pa. – Robert Morris University men's hockey earned a 3-0 victory over American International College at the 84 Lumber Arena on Friday night. Freshman goaltender Francis Marotte didn't face many shots, but stopped all 22 en route to his second career shutout. For Marotte, the shutout is his second in the last three games, nabbing his first career shutout in the opening game of the Three Rivers Classic, the first of three straight wins for the first-year netminder.

Senior forward Daniel Leavens and sophomore defenseman Eric Israel each tallied a goal and an assist to lead the Colonials scoring. Brandon Watt accounted for the other goal, his first of the season, in his third game back from injury.

In the first period, Leavens took a feed from Israel and buried the shot past Zackarias Skog for his eighth goal of the season to give the Colonials a 1-0 lead. With 5:35 to go in the frame, Spencer Dorowicz tapped a faceoff back into the corner where Elias Ghantous stripped it from AIC and chipped the puck up the wall past AIC and Brandon Watt scooped it up and took it all the way to the goal to put the Colonials ahead 2-0. The goal was the first of the season for Watt, the first assist of the year for Ghantous as well.

An issue with the ice sent the teams back to their respective locker rooms for more than 20 minutes following the first intermission. The ice was repaired and play resumed after the delay. Neither team really found a flow in the second after the delay and traded penalties off and on throughout the period.

Robert Morris led 2-0 heading into the third period. Francis Marotte faced only 14 shots through forty minutes and had no trouble handling eight more in the final frame. Dominik Florian had a point blank chance on the right side of the goal but shot it directly into Marotte. Later in the period, AIC had their best look of the night tossed away by the nation's save percentage leader in front of the net. Israel's third period marker 6:42 into the frame came on the power play and was enough to keep the game out of reach for the Yellow Jackets. Leavens and Brady Ferguson added assists on the power play strike, extending Ferguson's scoring streak to 15 games with his 35th point of the season, tied for third best in the NCAA scoring race.

The Colonials penalty kill went 4-for-4 and improved on its high-calibur performance, ranked fifth in the NCAA since the start of November. RMU was 1-for-7 on the power play, taking 12 of its 26 total shots during the man-advantage. Nine different Colonials blocked shots including a three-block effort from Israel and two from junior forward Timmy Moore.

Robert Morris is now tied with RIT for 18 points in the Atlantic Hockey standings, just one point back of both Army West Point and Air Force. The Black Knights are idle Saturday night, while RIT hosts Sacred Heart and Air Force visits Mercyhurst.

The Colonials (12-6-3, 8-5-2 AHC) take on AIC (4-10-6, 3-6-5 AHC) once again Saturday night at 7:05pm at 84 Lumber Arena in Pittsburgh. Tickets are available at the door, by calling 412-397-4949 or visiting RMUtickets.com



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