BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team picked up an extra point courtesy of an Aiden Beck shootout winner Friday night at the Harbor Center, earning a 1-1 draw against the host Canisius Griffins.

With two points secured, RMU's overall record improves to 10-16-5 overall as well as 10-10-5-1 in Atlantic Hockey play.  Darcy Walsh scored the lone goal in regulation for RMU, his third of the season.  Goaltender Reid Cooper made his second consecutive start and third straight appearance in net for the Colonials, stopping 33 of 34 shots on goal to secure the pair of points for RMU.

"I really commend our guys' effort," head coach Derek Schooley said.  "We've been decimated by the flu all week, we had guys playing with little to no energy, and we came out and found a way to get two points in a tough place to play. I couldn't be more proud of our players."

An up-and-down game that saw two separate Canisius goals wiped away after official review started off with RMU nearly cashing in in the opening five minutes.

An early power play chance after the Griffin's J.D. Can was whistled for a rough gave the Colonials an early injection of momentum.

Nick Jenny teed it up three seperate times on the man advantage, however all of his shots were either blocked away by the Canisius PK unit or swallowed up by goalie Jacob Barczewski before they could cross the line.

Another flurry of saves on Nick Prkusic and Brendon Michaelian helped Canisius escape the early kill without sustaining any damage.

Another power play at 5:58 of the opening frame provided a golden opportunity for RMU to open the scoring, however again Barczweski and the Griffs PK held firm.

RMU did a solid job limiting Canisius' scoring chances at even strength, but a few careless  penalties of their own threatened to put them in an early hole again as the game dragged on into the second.

The Griffins appeared to take a 1-0 lead 2:07 into the second frame, however the goal was waved off after an extensive review determined that Canisius had six skaters on the ice at the time the goal was scored.

A third power play chance for RMU yielded no result despite a number of big face-off wins from Daniel Mantenuto to set up the RMU PP with some good zone time.  The senior pivot would finish 17-9 in the dot on the evening, the best mark of any skater on the ice.

A charge on Garrett Clegg put RMU down a man for the first time midway through the second frame shortly before a Mantenuto trip on the PK gave the Griffins a 5-on-3 for 1:11. Big faceoff wins from Jacob Coleman and and Aidan Spellacy loomed large as the Colonials managed to hang on and avoid shooting themselves in the foot.

Walsh finally managed to break the stalemate at 3:09 of the final frame as the line of he, Clegg, and Roman Kraemer capped off a hard shift in the offensive zone with a hard-fought goal in the paint, poking the puck past an outstretched Barczweski to put the Colonials on top for the first time.

"That line played with alot of energy because they're healthy," Schooley said.  "Good for them on getting a puck to the net and whacking it in. We needed everyone whether they were healthy or sick. We needed everyone to step up. Wish we could have held the lead to get three points, but we found a way to gut out two points."

RMU pushed hard for a second goal and some breathing room, but Canisius would eventually tie it up for good after having a second goal disallowed.  Kevin Obssuth finished off a nice back-door feed from David Melaragni for a tap-in past Cooper to knot it at 1-1 with 3:30 left to go in regulation.

An eventful but ultimately indecisive first overtime gave way to three-on-three, where RMU nearly one it in they dying seconds, however Mantenuto could not finish off a one-time feed from Prkusic at the mouth of the net.

Despite only playing a single shift all game, Beck got the nod to shoot first for the Colonials. The reigning shootout champ from practice the previous week tested his skills out in a game and was rewarded, waiting out Barczweski on the backhand before tucking the shot under his glove to give RMU the extra points headed back to the Island.

"Aidan has won shootouts before, and is the current champ from practice," Schooley said.  "We used to just do a loser in the drill, but this year we decided to start doing a winner too and he has won a few of them this year." 

RMU closes out its regular season home schedule tomorrow when they host Canisius at 7 p.m. on Senior Day.