PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team earned a 4-3 win Saturday night on The Island, taking down Atlantic Hockey foe Canisius on Senior Night.
A pregame ceremony to honor the careers of RMU's seven seniors kicked things off, as Daniel Mantenuto, Luke Lynch, Jacob Coleman, Michael Coyne, Alex Robert, Sean Giles, and Justin Kapelmaster each got a moment to be thanked by the crowd for their contributions to the program in their time as Colonials.
Four seniors recorded a point on the night as Coyne and Lynch both scored while Mantenuto added an assist and scored the game winner with 52 seconds left in regulation. Coleman also posted an assist, Kapelmaster stopped 30 of 33 shots on goal to earn his 10th win of the season.
"Exciting game for the fans, and we got the job done in the end," head coach Derek Schooley said. "Our power-play stepped up and won us a hockey game."
Kapelmaster in particular made his presence felt early on in his regular season home finale, coming up with a number of key stops in the games first ten minutes to prevent the Griffins from rushing out to an early lead.
Though Canisius was buzzing all over the RMU zone for much of the opening frame, they could not find a way to put one past Kapelmaster, who pulled out big stops on back-to-back chances from J.D. Pogue to stem the tide of a heavy Griffins forecheck.
Despite the saves from Kapelmaster, the lack of zone time for RMU soon became an issue, and before long the Griffins finally managed to break the stalemate after Kevin Obssuth swatted a loose puck into a yawning cage to make it 1-0.
A truncated power play in the final minutes of the opening frame provided RMU with their best chance of the period. Justin Addamo nearly re-directed a slap-pass from Brendon Michaelian as it expired that would have knotted things at one, but it sailed over the goal.
A refocused Colonials bench got back to their game in the second, going hard to the net and using their physicality to sustain zone time while not allowing the Griffins much in the way of quality looks.
Roman Kraemer knotted things up at 1-1 by being in the right place at the right time, crashing the net and cleaning up a loose puck after a Nick Jenny point shot deflected off Nick Lalonde on its way to the cage. The freshman knocked in the loose puck for his third goal of the year to pull RMU even.
Reinvigorated by the goal, the Colonials began to assert themselves and dictate play, utilizing a mobile defense to keep pucks in at the blue line and generating chances off of the cycle.
A bout of extended zone time set up the go-ahead tally after Mike Coyne found an opening in the slot before collecting a beautiful feed from Santeri Hartikainen from behind the net, the senior's third of the year and first in six games.
Riding the momentum like a wave, Luke Lynch pushed the lead to 3-1 less than a minute later, keeping the onslaught rolling after his wrister from the high slot beat Griffins keeper Jacob Barczewski high glove for his second goal in three games.
"We put it all together," Schooley said. "We played in their end, we tilted the ice. We worked hard, and when you go down the list of things we did, all of our goals were coming from the goal-line out."
Despite the outpouring of offense, RMU put themselves in a precarious position heading into the third. Nick Prkusic's cross-check as time expired in the second put them on the kill to start before Coyne was given a major and game misconduct for a hit from behind 1:48 into the period
Though they killed off the Prkusic minor, Sean Giles was whistled for a hook near the end of the major to put RMU down two men for nearly two full minutes.
The Colonial PK unit came up big with a number of clears and shot blocks, however Canisius finally managed to score after nearly seven straight minutes of power play time, making it 3-2 after Grant Meyer beat Kapelmaster from the side of the net.
The Griffins appeared to tie it up just moments later, but a lengthy review determined that Kapelmaster was interfered with as the Colonial bench breathed a sigh of relief.
Despite catching a break, a bench minor for too many men on the ice at 11:19 put the Griffins PP unit back out for a fifth time. They converted one that would count as Ryan Miotto ripped a one-timer from the left circle over Kapelmaster's blocker.
The roller coaster ride continued, as the Colonials pushed for a regulation win after coughing up the lead for the second straight game. A late 5-on-3 power play gave them one final, golden opportunity to come away with a clean three points.
Fittingly, it was a senior in Mantenuto who played the hero on Senior Night, scoring on the two-man advantage with just 52 seconds left in regulation to put RMU up 4-3.
The win moves the Colonials to 11-16-5 on the year (11-10-5-1 AHA). They close out their regular season schedule next weekend when they head to Lewiston, N.Y. for a pair against Niagara on Friday and Saturday night.
"I think we're doing a good job of getting to our offensive principals that we weren't at the beginning of the year," Schooley said. "Getting pucks to the net, whipping pucks, having someone as a net-front presence. Things that Ryan Cruthers was preaching at the beginning of the year are finally starting to come in the direction we want it."
