Lewiston, NY - Robert Morris University men's hockey collected its first win of 2018 with a 3-1 victory over Niagara University on Tuesday night at Dwyer Arena.

Junior forward Alex Tonge netted a pair of goals and added an assist, surpassing the 20-point mark for the season with his seventh career two-goal game. Senior forward Timmy Moore's third period was his fifth of the season, also adding an assist to eclipse 20 points in his senior campaign. 

Sophomore goaltender Francis Marotte recorded 24 saves, playing 55:55 of shutout hockey before Niagara cracked onto the scoreboard using a 6-on-4 matchup with an extra attacker on top of a power play.

Robert Morris and Niagara skated a fairly even first period. The Colonials struck the first blow with just 12 seconds remaining on the clock when senior forward Brady Ferguson backhanded a pass right to the stick of Tonge who chipped in the goal on the right side of the crease past Niagara netminder Brian Wilson to give RMU a 1-0 lead.

With 3:47 to play in the second, Tonge tallied his second of the night. This time, a power play goal for Tonge, the 14 man-advantage strike of his career, ranking him 16th best among active NCAA players. The play began with junior defenseman Eric Israel skating up at the blue line, banking a pass off the board to Moore, who then skated behind the goal, teeing up Tonge for the one-timer, to power the Colonials to a 2-0 advantage through two periods of play.

The trio connected once again in the third period, this time Moore putting the puck home to extend the Colonials lead to three. Tonge sent a cross-ice pass to Israel who flipped the puck towards the net, where Moore batted it out of the air and into the goal for his fifth goal of the season, with 8:10 remaining in the third.

Niagara pulled its goaltender with more than seven and a half minutes remaining and the Colonials played a man down for nearly the entire remainder of the game. The Purple Eagles power play broke up the shutout with 4:05 remaining and a two-man advantage (power play and extra attacker/empty net).

The win gives the Colonials two points in the Atlantic Hockey standings, moving RMU into fourth place, though the team is off this coming weekend.

Robert Morris (9-12-1, 8-7-1 AHC) is back in action at home on Friday, January 19 hosting Bentley at 7:05pm, with a puck giveaway courtesy of Freuhauf Manufacturing. The weekend concludes with a 4:05pm puck drop on Saturday.


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