DATE: November 10, 2006
Conley and Clarke notch a goal and assist apiece to lead Colonials

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - Robert Morris’s Doug Conley and Aaron Clarke pick up a goal and an assist apiece to lead Robert Morris to the 3-2 Conference Hockey America victory. The victory is just the second win for the Colonials in nine contest against the Beavers and it was the first victory at the John S. Glas Fieldouse for Robert Morris.

Robert Morris scored one goal in each period, and held the lead through out the game to secure the win. BSU was only able to answer Robert Morris goals in the second and third period and was unable to come up with a game tying goal to send the game to overtime late in the third period.

Robert Morris needed almost the whole first period of play to score the game’s first goal. With under a minute to play in the first period Aaron Clarke would tally his third goal of the season capitalizing on a three on one break away with assists from Ryan Cruthers and Doug Conley at 19:13 of the period. Clarke’s goal was the lone goal in the period and it gave the Colonials the 1-0 lead going into intermission.

The one-goal advantage held until the midway point of the second period, Matt Allen (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) was called for interference at 10:40 of the period. The Colonials would use the man-advantage to push its lead to 2-0, when Jason Towsley would net the power-play goal just twenty-three seconds into the man advantage with the assist coming from Ryan Cruthers, his second assist in the contest.

The Colonials Jeff Gilbert picked up a interference penalty at 16:41 of the period to give the Beavers its own power-play opportunity. Travis Winter (St. Cloud, Minn.) would find the back of the net with twenty-one seconds left on the power-play for his third goal of the season. Picking up the helpers on Winter’s goal was Brandon Marino (Riverside, Calif.) and Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia). Winter’s goal brought the Beavers back within a one goal deficit.

Doug Conley would push the Colonial back to two goals when he would net an even strength goal at 12:41 of the third period. Bemidji State would try and mount a comeback late in the period when Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta) would fire a slap shot over the left shoulder of the Robert Morris goaltender to bring the Beaver back within a one goal deficit with just :52 seconds left in the contest. Helping on Sirianni’s goal was Shane Holman (Hibbing, Minn.), this was Holman’s second assist of the season.

The Beavers would pull goaltender Matt Climie (LeDuc, Alberta) to get the extra attacker on the ice but would be unable to notch a game tying goal in the final seconds of the contest.

Climie would pick up the loss for the Beavers, stopping 25 of 28 shots in 58:33 of work. With the loss Climie drops to 1-2-1 on the season.

Robert Morris netminder Christian Boucher picked up the victory for the Colonials stopping 27 of 29 shots faced in 60:00 of work and would improve his record to 3-2-0 on the season.

The teams combined for 14 penalties for 28 minutes - eight for 16 against BSU alone. Both teams would pick up a power-play goal on the evening with Bemidji State going 1-for-5 and Robert Morris going 1-for-7 on the man-advantage.

Bemidji State (2-4-1 / 0-2-1 CHA) and Robert Morris (3-4-0 / 2-1-0 CHA) wrap up their two-game conference series tomorrow evening. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:07 p.m. Central time at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse.

--beavers--