University Park, Pa. - The score was not indicative of the game on display, as Robert Morris University men's hockey came up just shy of forcing a tie in the final minutes of a road contest, an eventual 7-4 loss at No. 18 Penn State, in the Colonials first ever contest at Pegula Ice Arena.

Senior Spencer Dorowicz scored the first of his two goals just 27 seconds into the game to put the Colonials up 1-0. Michael Louria and Luke Lynch earned assists on the play. The Nittany Lions scored three consecutive goals to grab a 3-1 advantage, a pair by Colorado Avalanche draft pick Denis Smirnov and one by Nate Sucese.

Robert Morris challenged one of the goals, questioning goaltender interference after a Penn State player made contact with the glove of Colonials goaltender Andrew Pikul, but the call on the ice of a goal would stand. Pikul was briefly pulled after the third goal, simply as a maneuver to break Penn State's momentum, after RMU lost its timeout on the interference challenge.

As time was winding down in the first, with the Colonials on the penalty kill, senior Brady Ferguson stole the puck from PSU and raced up the ice, was joined by Timmy Moore on the rush, and fed the puck to Moore for a give-and-go pass at the top of the crease before he buried the shot past Nittany Lions netminder Peyton Jones. Ferguson's second shorthanded tally of the season made it a 3-2 game, cutting the RMU deficit to one with just 8 seconds left in the period.

Less than five minutes into the second, Penn State's Trevor Hamilton scored its second power play goal of the game to extend the Lions advantage back to two. The 4-2 score held until the final minute of the frame once again. With 41 seconds left in the period, Louria collected a rebound in the slot and ripped a shot reminiscent of his first career goal against Canisius in the second game of the season. Lynch and defenseman Eric Israel picked up assists on the goal and once again, the Colonials were within one.

Back-to-back penalties in the first five minutes of the third gave Penn State a prime opportunity to do some damage, but the Colonials penalty kill stood tall through a minute of 5-on-3 hockey, a total of 3:04 of power play time, with Alex Bontje, Elias Ghantous and Dorowicz handling the bulk of the kill.

Penn State would push its lead back to two with an even strength goal by Penguins draft pick Nikita Pavlychev with 8:12 remaining. The Colonials, though, did not back down. Dorowicz fought for his second goal of the evening, matching a single-game career high with two goals and recording a new single-season career high with his eighth goal of the year. Louria earned an assist on the play, wrapping up a three-point night, his first career three-point game for the Colonials.

Trailing 5-4, RMU continued to work, eventually pulling Pikul for the extra attacker. Penn State's Sucese buried the dagger with the empty net goal with 54 seconds remaining to give the Lions a 6-4 advantage, and PSU was simultaneously awarded a power play as RMU was called for a trip as Sucese fell to the ice near the Colonials bench while firing the shot. Chase Berger put home an additional power play goal in that "garbage time" padding the Penn State lead at 7-4 with 7 seconds left in the game.

Penn State outshot RMU 44-37 but the Colonials unofficially outchanced the Lions 21-15. Pikul made 37 saves including some big-time stops on Smirnov, to prevent the Avs draft pick from recording a hat trick.

"I thought our energy was outstanding, I thought our emotion was outstanding," said head coach Derek Schooley following the game.

"We asked them to play 60 minutes. We have not been doing that consistently and I thought we did a very good job at that consistently tonight."

"You have to give Robert Morris a lot of credit," said opposing head coach Guy Gadowsky. "They're an incredibly gritty team and probably deserved a better fate tonight."

Robert Morris (5-11-1, 5-7-1 AHC) returns to Atlantic Hockey action next weekend with another home-and-home series against another in-state rival as the Colonials host Mercyhurst at the RMU Island Sports Center on Saturday, December 16 at 7:05pm before traveling up I-79 to Erie to close out the semester with a 4:05pm contest on the Lakers home ice.


COLONIALS MEN'S HOCKEY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Snapchat  |  YouTube