The Robert Morris University NCAA men’s hockey team earned three out of four possible points this weekend in games against Niagara on Friday and Canisius on Sunday. With their 2-2 tie on Friday, they tied the programs unbeaten streak, and with their 2-1 win on Sunday they broke the record, with a now seven-game unbeaten streak.
Brooks Ostergard got the start in net both nights for the Colonials and is now 4-4-2 on the season after a 47-save effort on Friday and a 24-save night on Sunday.
In Friday’s contest against Niagara, the game was scoreless through the first 25:18 until senior forward, Nick Chiavetta, got the Colonials on the board with a shorthanded goal. With just 1:51 left in the second, senior forward and team captain, Trevor Lewis made the score 2-0 RMU with a shorthanded goal of his own.
“Obviously when our power play is struggling a little bit, and we can get a shorthanded goal it’s really rewarding,” said Lewis. “It was nice to get two tonight and we got pretty fortunate so we’ll take them anytime we get them.”
The Colonials gave up two goals in the third, one on the power play and one with just 1:08 left in the game after Niagara pulled their goaltender.
The game ended up a 2-2 tie, but the Colonials are happy they made it out of there with at least one point. They also realize the importance of getting points especially against Atlantic Hockey Association opponents.
“It’s really important, for us to get a point tonight was a good result. We didn’t play our strongest, we could have had two points but one is probably what we deserved,” said Lewis. “Last year our seeding was messed up by one point. This year to get this one kind of helps a little bit.”
Saturdays 2-1 win against AHA opponent Canisius improved the Colonials to 8-6-2 on the season and 6-2-2 against AHA opponents.
All three goals in the game came in the second period. Freshman forward, Cody Wydo, scored both Colonials with the first one being just 58 seconds into the second period and eventual game winner being scored 4:11 in. Canisius was able to pull within one just over four minutes later, but that would end up being the last goal that either team would score.
Head Coach, Derek Schooley, was proud of his team’s effort after their win against Canisius. “Tonight was a good win for us, and we’ve really found our identity lately. Kudos to our guys for setting a new program record,” said Coach Schooley. “It feels good to win a couple games, and our guys have been putting in the work day-in and day-out to get it done.”
The Colonials will continue their schedule against AHA opponents when they take on Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on Saturday, December 17 with the opening faceoff set off for 7:05pm.
