WALTHAM, Mass. -- A moment of Manny Magic has the Robert Morris University men's hockey team one win from another trip to the Atlantic Hockey semifinals.

Michael Louria buried a perfect pass from Daniel Mantenuto with 1:35 left Saturday night at Bentley Arena, boosting the Colonials to a season-saving 2-1 win in Game 2 of their Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series.

After Bentley turned the puck over to Mantenuto at the defensive blue line, RMU's junior center charged down the right wing, drew two defenders and flung the puck to the left, where Louria was lurking for a bang-bang one-time shot past goalie Aidan Pelino.

"I thought I had a step on the defenseman there," said Mantenuto, who earned his 21st point of the season in the most dramatic fashion. "I just took the puck wide and I saw Mike driving. ... I knew if I got it to Mike, he would bury it. He's 'Showtime.' "

Louria's ninth goal of the season and second in as many nights set up a decisive Game 3 on Sunday afternoon at 4:05. The senior wing has made a habit of coming through when the stakes are high, as he scored in a Game 3 first-round win over Bentley last spring, followed by the overtime winner in the AHA semifinal round two weeks later.

On Friday night, RMU (15-21-2, 14-16-2 AHA) fell into a 1-0 hole in the best-of-three series when Bentley scored late in the third to break a tie. This time, the Colonials got their hero moment, culminating a third period in which they carried the play.

RMU outshot Bentley 31-29 for the game, but the majority of the play in the final 20 minutes took part on the Falcons' side of the surface. Pair that with a strong start and the Colonials' performance was much more even than in Game 1.

"We were good with pucks," head coach Derek Schooley said. "We put pucks in deep. We got pucks to the net. Would've loved to get a few more goals earlier, because we had a lot of chances. We're excited to be in Game 3. You get down 1-0 (in the series) and the pressure is on the trailing team, but we handled it well, we played our game."

Mantenuto and Louria also factored in on RMU's first goal, from defenseman Eric Israel on a second-period power play that tied the game, 1-1. Mantenuto now has four points (1g, 3a) in four playoff games this month and 16 points (4g, 12a) in 15 NCAA postseason contests.

"He's done the same thing in playoffs the last two years," Schooley said. "He's been a big-time playoff performer. He's scored some big-time goals and made some big-time plays for us, going back to his freshman year. It's good to see he rises to the occasion. He wins face-offs, he kills penalties."



Speaking of short-handed situations, the Colonials faced six of them and had just two of their own. They'd do well to reverse that for Sunday's battle to reduce the strain on Francis Marotte and the penalty killers, although they've held up well in these playoffs, allowing just one goal on 14 chances against.

"I think we played well, generated a lot five-on-five," said Mantenuto, who himself had a couple of Grade-A scoring chances early in the third. "I think if we are a little more disciplined and come with the same work ethic tomorrow, we'll be good."

And lest we forget, Marotte stood firm in his 15th playoff start, collecting his 11th postseason victory with a 26-save outing. Although he wasn't taxed much in the third, his sprawling stop on Bentley's Drew Callin with about three minutes left in regulation kept the Colonials in position to fend off an early summer.

"Frank's been unreal for us all year," Mantenuto said. "He's been our rock, just like he's been all three years."

An action-filled first period somehow ended with just one goal on the board, to Bentley's Jake Kauppila at 1:33. The Falcons' junior center cruised through the slot on an early power play and redirected Alexey Solovyev's point wrister past a helpless Marotte.

The Colonials ended up with 14 shots on goal in the first, attempting 25 in all. Falcons goalie Pelino held them all out, although Luke Lynch might disagree after his driving stuff ended up stopped right on the goal line … and maybe over it. However, video replay was inconclusive so RMU remained behind.

Louria had two outstanding looks at the net in the period, too, but missed high on one and tapped Brendon Michaelian's pass off the right post on the other.

Marotte was strong in the first, denying Kauppila of a second goal on a right circle opportunity and helping kill a Bentley two-man advantage with a couple of clutch stops.

After 27 combined shots in the first period, the two teams locked it down better in the second, yielding just 16 between them.

Only one of those went in, off Israel's stick during the Colonials' second power-play look. Louria cracked a sharp-angle shot from the side of the net that Pelino stopped, but Israel jumped on the rebound and whipped a wrister through the goalie's five-hole at 1:26.

Alex Tonge ended up with the Colonials best opportunity to go ahead before second intermission, but Pelino ripped his snap shot out of the air. Game 2 developed into a goalie duel worthy of two All-AHA performers, as Pelino made the second team and Marotte was named to the third team.

Bentley ended up with two more advantages later in the second, giving the home team six power plays through 40 minutes. Outside of Jonathan Desbiens' hitting the outside of the post with Israel in the box, the Falcons didn't get much.

Unfortunately for the Colonials, there seemed to be a lid on the Bentley net, too, with Pelino getting in front of several good looks. Until the final 90 seconds, that is.

"You just gotta stick with it," Mantenuto said. "We were facing elimination. You just have to believe you're going to get one. None of us want our season to end, so it was good to pull one out."

The victory over second-seeded Bentley (17-14-5, 14-10-4 AHA) not only kept RMU alive for a sixth consecutive trip to the AHA's final four, it also meant the program's eight-series winning streak in the postseason is still solvent. (The Colonials are 11-7 all-time in AHA elimination games.)

Now, they'll have an opportunity to spoil the Falcons' first playoff series in the year-old Bentley Arena. Eighth-seeded RMU has eliminated Bentley from the postseason in two of the past three season, requiring the full three games both times.

"We're in the same situation tomorrow that we were tonight," Schooley said. "Every game from here on out is a must-win. We've got to play the game the same way and make sure we're focused and determined and ready to go."