Men's Hockey Shoots Down Air Force, 5-2, Friday Night
 
The Robert Morris University men’s ice hockey team defeated Air Force, 5-2, in College Hockey America action on Friday night at the RMU Island Sports Center, giving the Colonials back-to-back wins for just the second time in team history. The win also catapults Robert Morris (7-15-2, 3-7-1 CHA) past Air Force (5-15-1, 3-8-0 CHA) into fifth-place in the CHA standings.

The win comes on the heels of a 5-2 victory over Princeton on Tuesday night and pushes the team’s record at home to 5-5-1. RMU is 5-2-1 in their last seven home games outscoring their opponents 27-20 during the run. Robert Morris is now one win shy of matching their victory total from 2004-05 when they went 8-21-4.

The Colonials jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Friday night when freshman Chris Margott (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Bay State Breakers) scored 2:14 into the first period. Margott collected an errant shot by senior Kurt Wright (Barnstable, Mass. / Univ. of Findlay) behind the net and wheeled around the left face-off circle where he let a wrist shot go that beat Air Force goalie Peter Foster.

The lead was stretched to 2-0 with 5:05 left in the opening frame this time with Wright finding the net on a nice pass from freshman Jason Towsley (Lasalle, Ontario / Leamington Flyers). Towsley backhanded the puck from behind the net out into the slot where Wright one-time it past Foster for his team-leading eight goal.

Following the first intermission, Air Force cut the lead in half just 52 seconds into the period. Matt Bader jumped on a rebound from a shot by Michael Mayra to score his fourth goal of the season and cut the lead to 2-1.

Robert Morris sophomore forward Joel Gasper (Crookston, Minn. / Billings Bulls) answered the goal with two of his own before the end of the period. After going 25 games without a goal, Gasper now has four in the last six games. He scored on a slap shot from the right point at 14:00 and then put in a backhand from right in front of the net with 51 seconds left in the period to put RMU up 4-1 headed to the second intermission.

The Falcons came out quickly again the third period, scoring 44 seconds into the frame. This time it was Mike Phillipich jumping on a rebound from an Andrew Ramsey shot. Colonials’ sophomore goaltender Christian Boucher (Orleans, Ontario / Cumberland Grads) dove out of the crease to corral the loose puck, but Phillipich beat him to the puck for the goal.

Trying to cut down the two-goal margin, the Falcons pulled Foster for the extra attacker with 3:14 left in regulation. Colonials’ sophomore Sean Berkstresser (Apollo, Pa. / Pittsburgh Forge) took advantage 59 seconds later hitting the yawning net from the opposite blueline after blocking a shot. Berkstresser finished with a goal and an assist as did Wright.

The Colonials were outshot in the game, 41-21, but Boucher made 39 saves to run his mark on the year to 6-14-2. Foster finished with 16 saves. Neither team scored on the power play despite four chances for both.

These two teams meet again tomorrow, Saturday, February 4, in a 7:35 p.m. game at the RMU Island Sports Center.

 
Released: 2/03/2006