After 258 days, the Robert Morris men’s ice hockey team (1-0) returned to the ice to face Alabama-Huntsville (0-1) and came out victorious, winning 5-2.

All the emotions showed in their first game back as the Colonials overcame a 1-0 deficit in the third period as they piled on five goals en-route to their victory.

“Right now I couldn’t be more ecstatic with what we accomplished today,” head coach Derek Schooley said after the game, “I thought we got better as the game went on.”

Rust from the Colonials showed early and often throughout the first two frames as penalties and missed opportunities surrounded their team.

The Colonials began the game in the penalty box, after Justin Addamo received a two-minute minor penalty for roughing.

The Chargers would make no mistake with the man-advantage as Bauer Neudecker cleaned-up the loose rebound behind goaltender Dyllan Lubbesmeyer to make it 1-0 just 252 into the game.

The chippiness would not subside after the opening tally as both teams exchanged five-minute major penalties. Darcy Walsh of the Colonials was ejected for boarding at 3:47. For Alabama-Huntsville, Connor Merkley hit the showers early after receiving a game misconduct for contact to the head on Garrett Clegg, who was visibly shaken up.

Starting the second period still on the power play, RMU still could not find the back of the net as several Colonials could not put a shot on goal including a whiff attempt from freshman Randy Hernandez in the slot.

13 seconds after the completion of the five-minute major penalty, Brian Scoville put the Colonials back on the power play after he got called for holding. Once again RMU could not capitalize after a sloppy attempt on the man advantage.

The penalties would not stop there for the Chargers as Conor Witherspoon received a minor penalty for hooking and again the Colonials were unsuccessful. Alabama-Huntsville’s penalty kill unit stood tall blocking two shots from Nick Jenny. Justin Addamo had the best chance of the game for Robert Morris on the Witherspoon penalty as he fired one past David Fessenden’s blocker but it rang off of the post.

It finally clicked in the third period for Robert Morris as junior transfer Jordan Timmons tapped one in on the goal line past George McBey, who came in after Fessenden experienced an injury prior to the third period puck drop.

“You keep battling, you keep hoping… you are going to break that seal and we did,” Schooley said.

After a missed chance on the power play, Nick Jenny would help the Colonials rebound after the failed conversion when he walked in from the point and ripped one glove side on McBey to make it 2-1.

“I thought our d did a good of moving the puck up the ice and playing down their end,” Schooley said. “Credit them they blocked a lot of shots, we have to do a better job of getting pucks through and we found a way to do that in the third period.”

Just over a minute later, the Colonials struck again with Grant Hebert putting one top shelf past a sleeping McBey, who got caught staring behind the net watching the play.

The Colonials added their fourth unanswered goal with Nick Lalonde sniping one past the Chargers’ netminder off of a Gavin Gulash faceoff win. Lalonde finds himself on the score sheet early this year after only scoring two goals last season.

“Nick took till January of last year to score, so it was good for him to get that monkey off his back early,” Schooley said.

Tyr Thompson would stop the bleeding for the Chargers as he put one home to cut the lead in half and make it 4-2 in favor of the Colonials.

However, that would not be the last of RMU as Jordan Timmons scored his second goal of the night on a slight breakaway going forehand to backhand to beat McBey. Timmons impressed in his Colonials debut with three points and nine shots on goal.

“You don’t score 25 goals in the USHL, one of the premier junior hockey leagues in the country without being able to compete and be able to score,” Schooley said. “We knew that he had that in him and knew he had the opportunity and we were going to give him that opportunity to take advantage of it.”

Dyllan Lubbesmeyer received the nod in net and he had a solid outing as he stopped 11 of 13 shots. The Colonials also added 10 blocked shots in front of Lubbesmeyer.

“[I] really liked the intensity in our own end and our work-ethic,” Schooley said.

With the first game under the Colonials belt, it will become a norm to play without spectators in the stands.

“We were here to compete, I didn’t notice a lack of fans,” Schooley said. “I noticed a compete of both teams. You don’t compete the way that both teams competed if you’re noticing the fans.”

The Colonials and Chargers will face off at 4:05 today to complete their two-game series.