ROCHESTER, NY – Robert Morris' Cody Wydo scored with 10 seconds left in regulation to lift the No. 19 Colonials (21-5-5, 18-3-4 AHC) to a wild 4-3 win over the RIT men's hockey team (12-14-5, 11-9-5 AHC) in front of 2,920 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Friday night.

Tied 3-3 in the final minute, both teams had their top lines out looking for the win. RIT had Robert Morris trapped in its own zone for the majority of the time and had three great chances get blocked. A shot from the left point was partially fanned on came right to Zac Lynch in the slot. He flipped a long breakaway pass to Wydo, who got behind the RIT defense. RIT goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) came out to try and win the loose puck, but Wydo was a split-second faster and pulled the puck around the RIT goaltender for his 19th goal.

"I thought it was a great game, very competitive with two tough teams really going at it," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "Unfortunately, it was a tough bounce for us on the winning goal. I feel good about how our team played tonight, and how we regroup tomorrow is key."

Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) scored his first collegiate goal for the Tigers, while Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), and Max Mikowski (Cheekotwaga, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) also scored for RIT. Ruby stopped 31 shots in a losing effort.

Greg Gibson scored a pair of goals for the Colonials, who clinched the Atlantic Hockey Regular Season title with the win. Chase Golightly also scored for Robert Morris, who rallied from a 3-1 second period deficit. In goal, Dalton Izyk earned his 12th win of the season, stopping 30 shots.

Robert Morris out-shot RIT, 35-33. The Colonials were 2-for-5 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-3. The Tigers came into the game with the fifth best penalty-killing unit in Division I.
 
RIT set a Division I program record for the fastest goal to start at game, just 12 seconds in, as Mitchell took a perfect saucer feed from Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) on a 2-on-1, made a shoulder fake and beat Izyk up high under the crossbar to make it 1-0. Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) made a pass to Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) in the neutral zone, who one touched the puck to Garbowsky, creating the odd-man rush.

Ruby had to come up big moments later on Robert Morris' first shot of the game, sliding across to rob Matt Cope on an odd-man rush.

After playing over five minutes without a whistle, RIT took an offensive zone penalty and Robert Morris made them pay, as Gibson was in the right place at the right time at the side of the net to fire in a loose puck over Ruby at the 7:32 mark to tie the game at 1-1. David Friedmann fired a shot that Ruby stopped, but the rebound that Brandon Denham fed right to Gibson, who had the open side for his ninth goal of the year.

Izyk made a huge save on Garbowsky all alone in front on a nifty passing play to keep the game tied at 1-1.

After great work by the Tigers 5-on-5 after the Robert Morris power-plays, RIT was rewarded at the 15:58 mark, as Mikowski took a feed from Alex Perron-Fontaine (St. Mathieu de Beloeil, Quebec/Chilliwack Chiefs) in the neutral zone, came in on the right wing and fired a seemingly harmless shot that handcuffed Izyk and went in for his second goal of the season.

With RIT pressing late in the period, a giveaway led to a partial breakaway from Robert Morris' Zac Lynch. Lynch tried to go to the backhand, but Ruby got a piece of to keep RIT in the lead.

Both teams scored once in a wild second period, in which Robert Morris held an 18-14 edge in shots.

Right after a Robert Morris penalty expired, Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) took a perfect cross-ice feed from Mark Golberg (Ottawa, Ontario/Cumberland Grads) and roofed a shot over Izyk from the left face-off circle for his first collegiate goal. Greg Amlong (O'Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell) also assisted on the goal, giving RIT a 3-1 lead 5:12 into the period.

Ruby and the RIT penalty-killing unit kept the Colonials off the board on a pair of man-up attempts, as the RIT goaltender gobbled up seven straight shots to keep it 3-1.

Gibson would get his second of the game with 4:30 left in the period, crashing the net and slamming home a rebound off a shot from John Rey to make it 3-2 Tigers.

RIT would dominate play the rest of the period and had three excellent chances to score, but could not get the puck past Izyk. Mitchell made a perfect feed to Garbowsky in front while the teams were playing 4-on-4, but Izyk kept the puck out. On the next shift, Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) came in on a 2-on-1 with McGowan, but whistled a shot wide. With RIT on a power-play in the final minute of the period, a loose puck was in the crease for Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers), but somehow, Izyk kept the puck from crossing the line.

The Colonials would tie the game 3:51 into the third period on the power-play, as GolIghty fired a shot from the right wing boards that somehow eluded Ruby under the crossbar.

From there, both teams had great chances, playing an exciting brand of hockey before Wydo stunned the Polisseni Center faithful.

The Tigers and Colonials met earlier in the season on Oct. 30-Nov. 1, with Robert Morris winning both games at home by scores of 6-3 and 4-2.  Robert Morris leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-4-4. RIT is 1-3-3 all-time against the Colonials in Rochester.

The two teams close out the regular season series on Saturday night from the Polisseni Center, also at 7:05 p.m.

"We have to pick ourselves up off the mat for tomorrow and play a full 60 minutes," said Wilson.