Pittsburgh, Pa. – Robert Morris University men's hockey completes its first sweep of the season with a 4-0 shutout of American International College on Saturday night.

Sophomore goaltender Francis Marotte made 19 saves to earn his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career, now in sole possession of fourth all-time in shutouts at RMU.

The Colonials goals came from four different goal-scorers: freshman Nick Prkusic, junior Michael Louria, senior Brady Ferguson and senior Spencer Dorowicz.  

With 4:29 to play in the first, a pair of passes including a keep-in at the blue line by defenseman Robert Powers and slick slide through the slot by Luke Lynch, lead to a rocket shot by Prkusic to net his second goal of the year, both coming on the power play. The assist gave Powers his third point of the weekend and for Lynch, the assist gives him 14 points on the season (9 goals, 5 assists), tops on the Colonials and tied for second-most in Atlantic Hockey.

Eight minutes into the second period, Marotte made one of the more crucial stops of the game, stoning AIC's Joel Kocur on a shorthanded breakaway, to keep the Colonials in front 1-0.
 
Moments later, Ferguson won a faceoff back to Louria who used a nifty backhander to put the puck between the blocker and the right leg pad of AIC's Stefano Durante to put the Colonials in front 2-0.

Three minutes into the third period, Robert Morris makes it a 3-0 game on the power play. Louria connects with Eric Israel who slides the puck across the ice left to right near the blue line to Ferguson, who skates into the right circle and wrists home his sixth goal of the season, fifth on the man-advantage. Ferguson has 12 points on the season (6 goals, 6 assists, tied for 10th in AHC) and Louria is second on the Colonials with 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists, tied for 5th in AHC).

The Yellow Jackets pulled their netminder with five minutes and ten seconds to play, and Dorowicz forced a turnover, checking AIC defenseman Janis Jaks and stealing the puck away, battling past Tobias Fladeby and flinging in the goal to seal a 4-0 victory with his third goal of the weekend. The goal marks the sixth of the season for Dorowicz, the highest single-season total for the senior forward in his RMU career. He sits fourth on the Colonials in scoring with 11 points, tied for 14th in Atlantic Hockey.

The Colonials blocked 15 shots in the game, led by Alex Tonge with three. Defenseman Alex Bontje and Sean Giles both had a plus-two rating, placing Bontje in third place all-time at RMU with a plus-46 career rating.

"It all starts with playing hard," said Marotte after the game. "Right from the first period, we came out with great energy. I think that's the most important, to play a complete game."

Robert Morris (5-7-1, 5-5-1 AHC) travels to Bentley University next weekend before returning to Pittsburgh for a bye week, ahead of a series against Penn State, beginning December 8th with a 7:35pm contest at PPG Paints Arena and wrapping up with a 7:00pm start on the Nittany Lions home ice in University Park, Pa. on Saturday, December 9.

NOTES | Saturday's game marked the first ever Arctic Foxes night, partnering with the local youth hockey organization for an intermission shootout and postgame autograph session. Thank you to the many Colonials fans who brought canned food donations for the West Hills Food Pantry and gifts for "Toys for Tots."



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