The Robert Colonials beat the Niagara Purple Eagles 6-3 on Saturday night and swept their three-game Atlantic Hockey conference quarterfinal series two games to none.
It was the final home game of the 2014-15 season for the Colonials, as they conference semifinals and finals will be played at a neutral site: Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.
For the second consecutive night, Robert Morris got out to a lead, only to see the Purple Eagles claw their way back into the game
Junior forward Greg Gibson got the Colonials on the board first with another deflection goal – the Colonials had two goals on deflections in game one on Friday night. John Rey and Zac Lynch assisted at 3:33 of the first period.
Niagara tied it up at 14:10 of the first period when Hugo Turcotte found a rebound in front of the net and pushed it past Colonials netminder Dalton Izyk to even the game at 1-1.
The Robert Morris top line of Lynch, Gibson and senior captain Cody Wydo continued to push the RMU offense forward. The Colonials earned a 5-on-3 power play late in the first period and they scored twice – Lynch from Jacklin and Tyson Wilson at 18:24 on the two-man advantage and the Jacklin from Wydo and Wilson at 19:34 of the first period.
Colonials head coach Derek Schooley said after Friday’s game “the hardest thing to do is end a team’s season.” The Purple Eagles certainly did not go down quietly, as a pair of second-period goals from Matt Chiarantano and Keegan Harper drew the game to even yet again heading into a pivotal third period.
It was Lynch, a Shaler native, who came up big again for the Colonials, blocking a shot on the penalty kill and taking off on a breakaway at 4:30 of the third period. He beat Jackson Teichroeb with a nifty move to the backhand to the give Robert Morris a 4-3 lead.
Gibson added an insurance goal when he also scored his second of the game at 7:48 of the final frame. Brandon Denham and Rey assisted on the play.
David Friedmann added an empty-net goal to seal the Colonials victory and send them to Rochester to battle for the conference title for the second consecutive season.
The Colonials’ semi-final game will be on Friday at 5:05 p.m. and will play the winner of Sunday’s game three between the Bentley Falcons and Mercyhurst Lakers.
Photo credit: Brian Mitchell
