West Springfield, Mass. - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team concluded a weekend trip to American International with a 5-4 victory on Saturday afternoon.  Three goals in the first seven minutes of play opened up an early lead for the Colonials who improved to 12-7-2 on the season.  Two goals by defenseman Andrew Blazek paced the Colonial attack while five skaters recorded multi-point efforts.  Senior Zach Hervato capped off the scoring with the game-winning goal in the final minutes of the third period.

The Colonials would open the scoring less than three minutes in to the first period as Cody Wydo (Southgate, Mich. / Motor City Metal Jackets) would pick up his tenth goal of the season.  Wydo would find the back of the net off of a pass from Evan Moore (Grosse Point, Mich. / Sioux Falls Stampede) at the 2:47 mark of the period.  Freshman David Friedmann (Toronto, Ontario / Toronto Jr. Canadiens) would also be credited with an assist on Wydo’s goal.

Just 63 seconds after RMU’s first goal, the Colonials would open up a two-goal advantage as defenseman Andrew Blazek (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Topeka Roadrunners) netted his first of two goals in the game.  Blazek’s sixth goal of the season came after a pass to the point from forward Mac Roy (Chilliwack, British Columbia / University of Alabama-Huntsville).  Freshman Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) was credited with the secondary assist on the Colonials’ second goal.

Robert Morris would gain a 3-0 advantage as Roy would pick up his first goal as a Colonial at the 6:03 mark of the first.  Friedmann would pick up his second assist of the game on Roy’s goal.  Also assisting on Roy’s marker was Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers).

American International would make the score 3-1 heading in to the first intermission after netting a power-play goal with less than a minute remaining in the first.  The Yellow Jackets would then cut the Robert Morris lead to a single goal with their second power-play goal of the game at the 13:48 mark of the second period.

Blazek would again give the Colonials a two-goal lead as Robert Morris capitalized on a two-man advantage.  Blazek’s second goal of the game came with ten seconds remaining in the second period and was assisted by Wydo and senior Adam Brace (Cobden, Ontario / Canisius College).

AIC would again cut the RMU advantage to one as the Yellow Jackets would score while shorthanded less than two minutes in to the third period to make the score 4-3.

In the final minute of the third period, the Colonials would make the score 5-3 while picking up a short-handed, empty-net goal.  The goal, scored by Zach Hervato (Stittsville, Ontario / Smiths Falls Bears), would turn out to be the game-winning goal as the Yellow Jackets would score on the power play with 16 seconds remaining in the game.  Assisting on Hervato’s goal were Brace and assistant captain Tyler Hinds (Orleans, Ontario / Nepean Raiders).

Senior Eric Levine (Wheeling, Ill. / Pembroke Lumber Kings) would make 30 saves while improving his record to 11-5-2.  Leading the way for the Colonials in the shot department was Hervato who had eight shots on goal.  One of those eight shots resulted in Hervato’s 50th career point as the native of Ontario reached the milestone with his goal in the third period.  With two assists in the victory, Brace moved even closer to the 100-point plateau as the forward now has 95 career points.  Friedmann recorded his first career multi-point game with his two assists during the first period of play.  Roy also picked up his first multi-point game as a Colonial; the transfer from Alabama-Huntsville recorded six such efforts while playing two seasons with the Chargers.  Robert Morris entered the series with a penalty-kill unit ranked in the top-15 of the NCAA (86.6 success rate), but allowed three power-play goals to be scored by the Yellow Jackets in the contest.

The Colonials conclude their four-game road trip with a two-game series against the Air Force Academy next weekend.  The two games, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, are set for a 9:05 ET faceoff in Colorado Springs, Colo.