PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's hockey team completed a sweep over RIT Sunday night at Clearview Arena, taking down the Tigers 4-3 for their third victory in four days.
The win moves RMU to 8-3 on the season and 6-1 in Atlantic Hockey play, their best overall start to the season since the 2014-15 campaign.
For the ninth time in eleven games this season, RMU managed to strike first, opening the scoring just 3:52 into the first.
Matthew Guerra potted his second of the season on the newly-minted second line of him, Nick Prkusic and Randy Hernandez for the Colonials, taking a nice feed from Gavin Gulash on a 2-on-1 after Gulash made a great play to spring the rush with a poke check at the RMU blue line.
The finish from Guerra proved to be the difference in the first frame as RMU took a 1-0 lead into the locker rooms with shots even at nine apiece.
An RIT penalty at the end of the first gave the Colonials a truncated power-play to open the second, and an opportunistic Colonials squad took advantage of the chances given to them once again.
Grant Hebert's rip from the left circle after a nice Aidan Spellacy feed managed to sneak under Brackett's left pad just before time expired on the man-advantage, giving the junior his team-leading 14th point of the year and a 2-0 cushion to RMU.
Meanwhile Noah West continued his stellar play at the other end, making a couple of huge saves off a flurry of chances from Will Calverly and Caleb Moritz to keep it a 2-0 Colonials lead.
Randy Hernandez gave the Colonials a commanding 3-0 cushion after his game-winner a night ago, firing a one-time off the rush after a great feed from Prkusic through the slot.
RIT pushed back in a big way, however, and soon cut it down to a 3-1 lead after Kyler Head was given five and a game for boarding. Despite the goal, a few big saves from West and a number of gutsy shot blocks helped keep the RMU lead at two despite a lopsided 20-6 SOG disparity in the middle frame for the Tigers.
Prkusic restored the three-goal lead and put RMU firmly in control in the third, finishing off a broken play in the offensive zone after a great job from Guerra to knock a clearing attempt out of midair at the blue line.
RIT would cut it to a one-goal game with two tallies in the final eight minutes but RMU held on for their third straight win.
SCORING PLAYS
Guerra, 3:52, 1st - Assists: Gulash
Hebert, 1:40, 2nd - Assists: Spellacy, Michaelian
Hernandez, 10:33, 2nd - Assists: Prkusic, Guerra
Bruce, 15:30, 2nd (PP) - Assists: Dupuis, Seiferling
Prkusic, 7:08, 3rd - Assists: Hernandez, Guerra
Willett, 12:32, 3rd - Assists: Calverley, Walker
Hamacher, 19:25, 3rd - Assists: Joffe, Willett
QUICK HITS
RMU improves to 7-2 when scoring first this year…Guerra recorded a season-high three points (1G, 2A)…Prkusic and Hernandez each recorded multi-point efforts…first sweep vs. RIT since 11/1/14…Grant Hebert leads RMU with 14 points…8-3 is best start for RMU since the 2014-15 season…RMU has won six straight AHA games since dropping the opener to Canisius in November
QUOTEABLES
"We found a way to get a nine big points in three days. There's a lot of heart and a lot of guts on this team. We had guys stepping up and stepping into new roles, Matt Guerra was one oof those tonight and Geoff Lawson gave us some energy as well. We found a way to hold on." - Derek Schooley
"We talked about how when you're a little more fatigued you have to take care of the simple details, don't turn pucks over in the neutral zone and things like that. We really just tried to play a structured game today and let the puck do the work." - Nick Prkusic
NEXT UP
The Colonials will play a trio of games against Niagara next week, heading up to Lewiston for a Thursday night showdown before returning to Clearview for a two-game set on Saturday and Sunday.
