Watertown, Mass. – A pair of first power play goals by Bentley University were enough to sink Robert Morris University men's hockey 3-1 in Friday night's series opener at the John A. Ryan Arena.

Both teams came out strong in the first period. The Falcons took advantage of their man-advantage opportunities. Connor Brassard tallied the first goal of the game 7:08 into the first on an unassisted power play goal. With 2:22 to play in the opening frame, Bentley struck again. This time, it was Drew Callin with the power play goal to put the Falcons up 2-0 to end the period. The goal for Callin marked his fifth goal in seven career games against Robert Morris. Bentley improved on their league-worst penalty kill with a successful 3-for-3 first period.

The Falcons held a 14-13 lead in shots on goal in the first period, while RMU held a 15-11 advantage in the faceoff circle.

Robert Morris played with a more noticeable energy in the second period, coming out and firing four of the first five shots of the frame. The Colonials weren't able to score on a 5-on-3 and extended power play in the period, but outshot Bentley by two in the second stanza.

With 5:09 to play in the second period, the game was delayed approximately 20 minutes to make a repair to the rink.

After a real intermission, the Colonials would get 20 minutes to try to even the score, the Falcons ahead 2-0. Bentley extended its lead to three just under four minutes into the period. Matt Riggleman scored, with the goal assisted by Ryner Gorowsky.

Robert Morris drew a pair of penalties twelve seconds apart, and finally cashed in on the power play to cut into the Bentley lead. Junior forward Michael Louria fired home his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Eric Israel and Alex Tonge, to make it a 3-1 game with 14:18 left to play. Louria now has 14 points on the season (4G-10A), tied for the team scoring lead with sophomore Luke Lynch (9G-5A). The assists were the fifth of the season for Israel (1G-5A) and the sixth of the season for Tonge (3G-6A).

The Colonials continued to press, outshooting Bentley 7-6 in the final frame, and pulling goaltender Francis Marotte with 2:21 to play, looking for the late comeback. Marotte made 27 saves on the night. Freshman goaltender Dyllan Lubbesmeyer entered the game for the final ten seconds, officially making his NCAA debut.

RMU outshot Bentley 32-30 and won the faceoff battle 40-28, going 1-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill. The Colonials line of Tonge (7), Louria (5) and Brady Ferguson (5) combined for 17 shots, more than half the team total. Israel also collected four shots.

Robert Morris (5-8-1, 5-6-1 AHC) plays its final game in the history of "The JAR" on Saturday afternoon, a 4:05pm start against the Falcons (2-7-3, 2-6-3 AHC). Follow the action with live stats or the video stream ($) or look for in-game updates on Twitter.


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