HENRIETTA, N.Y. -- The Robert Morris University men's hockey team soared at the start of Saturday's road rematch with R.I.T., but the Colonials had to settle for a 2-2 tie after the Tigers' third-period rally. 

R.I.T. co-captain Erik Brown's third power-play goal of the weekend with 5:04 left in regulation forced overtime at the Gene Polisseni Center, with neither team scoring in the five-minute sudden-death session. It was RMU's first OT game since a win Dec. 1 at Sacred Heart and its first tie since Oct. 17 vs. Army West Point.

Novelty aside, the result meant the Colonials (10-20-2, 9-15-2 Atlantic Hockey) earned just one of a possible four standings points on the weekend, so they have work to do in the season-closing home-and-home against Mercyhurst if they want to host an AHA playoff series. RMU remains two points behind Army and Holy Cross for the eighth position, the lowest spot that gets home ice in the first round.

Considering RMU came back Friday night to force a 3-3 tie before falling in regulation, this trip to greater Rochester feels like a missed opportunity to make up some ground in the league. Indeed, Saturday was the first time in 10 chances this season that the Colonials couldn't convert a 40-minute lead into a victory.

"We played well enough to win," RMU head coach Derek Schooley said. "We played hard. We need to find ways to win games right now instead of what's been happening. Not anything schematic, but we didn't make the plays -- offensively or defensively -- to finish the game."

The finish might not have been there, but the start surely was. Freshman Aidan Spellacy scored on a two-on-one rush just 14 seconds into the game, lifting the rebound of his initial shot over R.I.T. goalie Logan Drackett for RMU's quickest goal of the season. Classmate Justin Addamo added another before the 10-minute mark, taking advantage of a friendly bounce off the end boards to bury his second goal in as many nights after enduring a three-month drought.



Overall, the Colonials' 2-0 lead after 20 minutes was honestly earned, with scoring chances a-plenty generated before the third-place Tigers (15-13-4, 13-9-4 AHA) could find their bearings. Spellacy, who had been centering seniors Alex Tonge and Michael Louria, was put between the tenacious duo of Nick Prkusic and Jacob Coleman to start the game, a plan Schooley said was intended to give RMU a reliable "energy line" at the outset.

"I thought we kept it simple, put pucks behind them," said Spellacy, who has five goals and two assists in his first 22 NCAA games. "We tried to make plays where we saw fit, and it worked for us early on."

Penalties began to pile up in the second period, though. The Colonials were nabbed for three minors in the middle frame, but R.I.T. barely got a sniff against a penalty-kill group that had a rare off night Friday, allowing two goals on five chances. 

RMU's PK was perfect on its first five opportunities Saturday, but an early third-period goal by the Tigers' Kobe Walker injected some serious uncertainty into the proceedings. Nick Bruce slid an accurate pass through bodies to the right post for Walker, who spoiled Francis Marotte's bid for his eighth career shutout.

Big blocked shots for Nick Jenny and Daniel Mantenuto kept RMU ahead entering the final several minutes of regulation, but the sixth Tigers power-play look proved to be too much, with Brown wiggling free to deposit Adam Brubacher's cross-rink dish from the top of the crease.

"We didn't get the kill when we needed it," Schooley said. "We're giving up too many tap-in goals. It's away from the puck."

Although the five-on-five overtime period was largely uneventful, Colonials got their best chance to win the game when they were awarded their second power play with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the third. Tonge, Mantenuto and Eric Israel each had wonderful looks at the net, but they couldn't find the twine behind Drackett.

In the end, though, the 10-plus minutes the Colonials spent short-handed limited their scoring opportunities as much as anything that happened through the rest of the game. RMU entered the weekend as the most penalized team in the AHA.

"We all know we have to stay out of the box," Spellacy said. "We knew going in they had a good power play, but our penalty kill had a lot of big kills. We just have to limit our penalties."

At the very least, Marotte didn't have to absorb a loss while holding the line behind the Colonials. The program's all-time wins leader made 35 saves, the third-highest total of his junior season. He stopped 112 of 120 shots in the four-game season series with R.I.T., which the Tigers won 2-1-1, with an overtime win in Pittsburgh back in October.

Robert Morris will conclude its 15th regular season with a two-gamer against in-state rival Mercyhurst. The Colonials will play their fifth consecutive road game in Erie, Pa., on Friday, followed by senior night festivities next Saturday at the RMU Island Sports Center.

Until then, the Colonials will have to think about their lone blemish of the season when carrying a lead into the third period.

"We did everything we needed to do (at the start)," Schooley said, "but when you have a two-goal lead, you need to finish that."