Robert Morris hit the ice for their final game against Bentley of the 2016-17 season after losing 3-0 the night before.

Coach Schooley would go with Francis Marotte again between the pipes while Bentley would go with Aidan Pelino once more.

The Colonials needed these two points now more than ever having dropped two against Bentley on Friday. Bentley was tied with RIT at 22 points, only four behind RMU.

The first period was heavily in favor of the Colonials. They outplayed the Falcons in all aspects of the game. The Colonials’ penalty kill was outstanding as always, killing the two power plays by Bentley.

RMU was taking a lot more shots than they were on Friday, unfortunately, none of them went behind Pelino. Marotte stood tall at his end keeping the game scoreless.

The frustration from the day prior was apparent early led by none other than Luke Lynch. Lynch would be a force for the entire first period for the Colonials. Near the end of the period, on one of the RMU penalty kills, Lynch took on four Falcons and held the zone for 15 seconds before he received some support.

The middle 20 minutes showed that Bentley wasn’t backing down as they outworked the Colonials for the majority of the period including two minutes of constant attack at even-strength which ended with a penalty on Timmy Moore. Moore was not pleased with himself as he immediately skated to the box and slammed his stick off of the boards in frustration.

The Falcons finally broke through Marotte with 13 minutes to go. Falcon’s Kauppila scored on a backdoor pass, Marotte didn’t have a chance. A clean pass and a clean goal for Bentley put them up 1-0 in the game.

There would be no more scoring in the period as it came to a close with Bentley up.

Robert Morris was looking to get a goal and snap their 101-minute goal drought. Brady Ferguson was not going to let the Colonials get shut out again. Five minutes into the third, Daniel Leavens had the puck and got it to Alex Tonge who was below the goal line. Ferguson rounded the faceoff circle and cut below the hash mark where Tonge hit him with a beautiful feed. Ferguson took the puck on his forehand and transferred to his backhand where he released it inches in front of Pelino through Pelino’s five-hole.

A veteran shot by the junior who scored his 18th goal of the season to tie the game at one with plenty of time remaining. The following 15 minutes would end scoreless which meant overtime was a must.

Overtime began with a scary collision in the Bentley zone. The Colonials were on the power play and it was just about to end when the net was crashed by the offensive unit for RMU. A Colonial landed on top of Pelino which drove his head into the ice. Alex Tonge and Chris Buchanan also threw each other to the ground. A silence swept over the crowd as they realized Pelino was not moving much. Trainers from both sides came out and it took quite a while for Pelino to get to his feet. He eventually stabilized himself and was okay to play. Tonge and Buchanan were the only two to receive penalties, two minutes for roughing both ways.

Robert Morris fired seven shots in the five-minute overtime and held Bentley to 4. There would be no scoring in the overtime period and the game would end in a tie 1-1.

The Colonials would pick up just a single point over the weekend. One is better than none this late in the season. Robert Morris will take on Mercyhurst in Erie on Feb. 17 looking to continue rising in the standings.

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