Pittsburgh, Pa. - It took just 27 seconds in overtime for Robert Morris University men's hockey to complete a late comeback and win its first home game of 2018, 3-2 over Bentley.

Trailing 2-1 with a minute to play and the goalie pulled, Alex Tonge knocked the puck down to keep it in the zone and chipped it into the left wing corner to Brady Ferguson. Ferguson eyed up Michael Louria alone on the backdoor and Louria flipped the shot over the glove of Aidan Pelino to tie the game 2-2 and send it to overtime.

That's when Tonge continued to work, backchecking to take the puck from Bentley in front of goaltender Francis Marotte and passing to Ferguson who raced up the ice. Ferguson passed to Timmy Moore, who's pass deflected off a Bentley stick and landed at the feet of Tonge who finished the end-to-end play by firing home the game-winning goal just 27 seconds into overtime.

"We just tried to keep the momentum going," said Tonge after the game. "After Mike scored with like 50 seconds left, the bench was going so we just wanted to keep the momentum going."

"I think we had a lot of good looks the last five minutes," said Louria. "Fergy made a great pass in front. I was alone there for awhile."



After a hard-hitting first period, the game was scoreless. Bentley opened things up 8:26 into the second on an even-strength tally by Connor Brassard put the Falcons up 1-0.

Just over two minutes later, the Colonials took advantage of their chance to even the score on the power play. Tonge worked the puck around the back wall, turned and passed across the crease to the far side of the net, where Moore buried the shot top shelf for his sixth goal of the season, tying the game 1-1.

RMU nearly escaped the period with the game tied 1-1 but a late Falcons power play goal by Michael Zuffante with 12.5 seconds left in the second gave Bentley a 2-1 advantage through 40 minutes of play.

It was nearly a full twenty minutes before anyone would score again. The Colonials and Falcons racked up 13 shots apiece in the third period, five of RMU's coming on the power play, but it wasn't until that last shot by Louria sailed past Pelino with 52 seconds remaining in regulation, that the home team was able to capitalize.

With all the momentum, the Colonials first line of Tonge, Ferguson and Moore, once again combined for the score, this time, the game-winning goal 27 seconds into the extra frame. The game-tying and game-winning goals came 79 seconds apart.

The win marks the first of the season for the Colonials over the Falcons, after a Thanksgiving weekend series sweep RMU wanted to put in the rear view mirror for good.

"We dropped two games at Bentley that we didn't want to drop," said Tonge. "Coming into the third, we knew we had to do something about it, and came out and did it."

"Definitely gives us a lot of momentum but we know they're going to come out flying," said Louria of Saturday's rematch. "We went to their building and they took it to us. We want to get a little revenge on them here and hopefully we can close out the weekend."

Tonge finished the night with the game-winning goal and two assists, his second consecutive three-point game, moving him into second place in scoring for the Colonials with 24 points. Moore had a goal and assisted on the game-winner, his second consecutive multi-point game, giving him 23 on the season, just two points shy of his career-high.

With three assists, Ferguson is tied with Nathan Longpre '11 as the RMU all-time assists leader with 90 helpers. The senior forward and Hobey Baker nominee now has 149 career points, one point behind Cody Wydo '15 for second place all-time in scoring at RMU and 7 points back of all-time scoring leader Zac Lynch '16. 

Sophomore Francis Marotte made 28 saves for his 10th win of the season, stopping all 13 shots faced in the third period. Marotte has allowed just two even-strength tallies in his last four games.

The Colonials blocked 12 shots to Bentley's 14, and outshot the Falcons 31-30. Shot attempts were 66-48 in favor of RMU. Robert Morris went 1-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The win marks the first come-from-behind victory the Colonials have had this season, aside from erasing a 1-0 first period deficit at Mercyhurst on Dec. 17 in a 5-3 winning effort.

Robert Morris (10-12-1, 9-7-1 AHC) and Bentley (7-12-5, 4-10-4 AHC) face off on Saturday at 4:05pm at Colonials Arena in the regular season series finale. Saturday's game will be the 500th game in Robert Morris program history and the 500th game for Derek Schooley as head coach.

The Colonials welcome the Arctic Foxes youth hockey program to celebrate the second Arctic Foxes night of the season, with a postgame autograph session in the lobby is available to all for any cash donation made to the RMU Student Assistance Fund. Team posters will be provided.

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