The RMU NCAA men’s hockey team kept their hopes of a first round bye alive when they defeated Atlantic Hockey Association opponent, Air Force in a 2-1 overtime victory.
“It felt great. We played a complete sixty minutes, so especially after tying our last two it felt great to get a win and the two points,” said senior captain, Trevor Lewis.
Scoring the game winner for the Colonials was senior forward, Ron Cramer.
Cramer’s second goal of the season came 1:59 into the extra frame.
“Blandina came down and made nice contact with the guy coming out of the zone and created a turnover,” described Cramer. “The puck was just kind of laying there so I threw it on net and I followed it up with my rebound. I don’t know it Torf kind of lost it or what but he went down so I just chipped it over his shoulder.”
The other Colonials goal was scored on the power play by junior forward, Adam Brace, at 8:32 of the second period with the assists going to freshman forward, Cody Cartier, and freshman defenseman, Tyson Wilson.
In the 2-1 victory, two program records were tied and one was broken. The senior class has now tied the all-time win record set by the Class of 2011 with 53 wins. With Saturday night being Senior Night, the class of 2012 now find themselves with the chance to break the record in a memorable way.
“It’s kind of weird that it worked out that way. Our goal is to get four points this weekend so we want to do whatever we can to win and get the four points,” said Lewis. “It’s just an added bonus to be able to do it on senior night.”
Lewis now holds the record for games played with 137 and has tied Denny Urban’s record of 117 consecutive games played.
“It’s pretty cool, I’ve been pretty fortunate to stay healthy most of my career and not have any serious injuries, so I’m more fortunate than anything and just happy to have played that many games,” said Lewis. “I’m obviously not the biggest guy, so just being smart and making sure I don’t set myself up for really big hits and just being aware on the ice has helped me be able to play so many games especially in a row.”
With a victory on Saturday and wins from Niagara and Bentley as well as Canisius victory or tie would give the Colonials a first round bye in the AHA playoffs.
“We aren’t looking at it too much because a lot has to happen, we just want to make sure we come out and give a sixty minute effort and try to just get the win and let the rest take care of itself,” said Lewis.
“It would be important to have a week off and get rested and get some guys healthy,” added Cramer. “At the same time if we don’t get it, we’re just going to go right back to work next week and look forward to whoever we play.”
Saturday’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:05pm at the RMU Island Sports Center with Senior Night festivities right before the drop of the puck.
