Pittsburgh, Pa. - Robert Morris University men's hockey earns four points in the Atlantic Hockey standings with a 4-3 win and sweep of American International College at 84 Lumber Arena. Freshman forward Matthew Graham recorded his first career two-goal game, helping RMU secure the victory. The win is the fourth straight for the Colonials and goaltender Francis Marotte.
 
The scoring opened in the first period when freshman forward Luke Lynch tapped the puck in past AIC goaltender Alex Murray for his third goal of the season, 9:50 into the period. Brandon Watt picked up the assist on the goal, marking the third consecutive game Watt has recorded a point in his four games since returning from injury.

Both teams notched a pair of goals in the second period, AIC striking first with an unassisted goal by Joel Kocur to tie the game at one apiece less than three minutes into the frame.

Robert Morris regained its one goal lead with a power play goal by Eric Israel with 5:36 remaining in the second period. Daniel Leavens worked the puck away from AIC in the corner and passed it out to Spencer Dorowicz, who teed up Israel for the shot and gave RMU a 2-1 lead. The Colonials struck again 96 seconds later. Graham was taken down in front of the net when Robert Powers sent the puck in. A redirection by Leavens left the puck out in front of Graham who was able to stand back up and punch it into the net for his fourth goal of the season, giving RMU a 3-1 lead.

AIC cut the two-goal lead in half with just 15 seconds remaining in the second period. Hugo Reinhardt zipped a shot just inside the post to pull the Yellow Jackets within one.

Both teams battled hard for every opportunity in the third, with AIC bringing pressure in on Marotte.

With 9:43 remaining in the third period, Graham pushed the Colonials lead back to two, firing home his fifth goal of the season and second of the game to put RMU out in front 4-2. Graham's fellow freshman, Lynch and Daniel Mantenuto, earned assists on the play. AIC made things interesting with a Johnny Mueller goal with 2:15 to play but Marotte and the defense held through the end of the game, including a blocked shot by Alex Bontje at the buzzer.

Graham's two-goal performance marks a career-high in goals and ties his career-high two-point game (Dec. 9, 2016 at Bentley). With a goal and an assist, Lynch records his first career two-point game. Leavens and Dorowicz both netted two-point games with a pair of assists each and Powers picked up his second assist of the season.

The Colonials penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3 in the game, with the power play going 1-for-2. RMU won the faceoff battle 35-28 and blocked 12 shots. RMU led shots on goal 21-18 through two periods but were outshot by AIC 14-6 in the final frame.

Robert Morris (13-6-3, 9-5-2 AHC) has a bye week next weekend and returns to Atlantic Hockey play at home against Air Force on January 20-21 in a battle of two of the top teams in the conference.

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