Pittsburgh, Pa  -  Robert Morris University men's hockey advances to the Atlantic Hockey final four championship weekend in Rochester, NY with a 3-2 win and two-game series sweep of Holy Cross.

After a scoreless first period in which the Colonials had to kill several penalties, senior forward Daniel Leavens scored two goals in the second, putting Robert Morris ahead 2-0 going into the third. Leavens first goal came at the 8:37 mark of the second on the power play off a feed from Eric Israel and Brady Ferguson. The junior center Ferguson assisted on Leavens' second goal as well, with 3:26 left in the second frame. Alex Tonge picked up the first assist on that goal, Leavens' 14th tally of the season.

Holy Cross scored with 3:51 remaining, ending Francis Marotte's shutout bid after Marotte weathered lengthy penalty kills throughout the game. With the Crusaders goaltender pulled, Alex Bontje found Ferguson who ripped the puck past defenders for an empty-net goal, earning his 55th point of the season. The empty-net goal proved to be an important one as Holy Cross was able to chip in a shot with 24 seconds remaining to make it a 3-2 game, but the Crusaders were unable to find the equalizer.

With 55 points this season, Ferguson ties the single-season scoring record set by Zac Lynch '16 in the 2015-16 season.

The win marked 88 wins for the Class of 2017 seniors -- Dalton Izyk, Daniel Leavens, Rob Mann and Ben Robillard -- surpassing the Class of 2016 to become the winningest class in program history.

"We were picked sixth and everybody thought we were going to be a team that was rebuilding," said Head Coach Derek Schooley. "We never wanted to take a step back. Our seniors wouldn't allow it."

"Our chemistry has been outstanding and our leaders have done a great job, it's a joy to coach," Schooley expressed. "This is one of those seasons, and you don't have many of them, that you don't want it to end. It's unfortunate that it will and we'll have to say goodbye to four really good people."

"They got us to Rochester and hopefully we get to play a lot longer with this group."



Robert Morris (21-11-4) advances to the conference semifinals in Rochester, NY, beginning Friday, March 17. The Colonials will face either top seed Canisius, that advanced with a 2-0 series sweep of Niagara, or No. 2 seed Air Force, that advanced with a sweep of Bentley. The lone series remaining between #3 Army West Point and #6 Mercyhurst will be decided in a third game on Sunday as their series is knotted 1-1. If Army wins, RMU will face Canisius and if the Lakers win, the Colonials get Air Force.

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