York, Pa.- The Bryn Athyn College men's ice hockey team defeated #8 Robert Morris 7-1 in the semi-finals of the Atlantic Regionals.
Travis McCurdy led the Lions with four points, recording three goals and one assist. Scott Witmyer recorded a hat-trick, while David DalCortivo added two assists and one empty goal.
Robert Morris got on the board first at 14:25. The Lions went on to score seven unanswered goals. At 6:43 McCurdy took a shot that dribbled through and Witmyer tipped the puck in to tie the game at 1-1. One minute later Witmyer scored an unassisted goal five hole to give the Lions a 2-1 lead going into the break.
Bryn Athyn came out hungry in the second, scoring three goals. At 15:30 Dustin Synnestvedt found McCurdy in the neutral zone and McCurdy deked a defender and recorded a diving goal to take a 3-1 lead. Three minutes later Cade Gurney connected with McCurdy who recorded his second goal of the evening top shelf from the right wing. With a Bryn Athyn player in the box for slashing, Billy Martin recorded a key block at 8:44 during the penalty kill to keep Robert Morris off the board. At 6:42 Kyle Watters recorded a save on a breakaway and Sean Feyler cleared the rebound to rob the Colonials of a goal. At 2:14 the Lions took a 5-1 lead when Terrence Johnson and DalCortivo found Witmyer for his third goal of the night. With :03 left in the period, Gurney blocked a shot during a penalty kill to keep Robert Morris from chipping away at the Lions' lead.
During the final period Bryn Athyn notched two more goals. At 10:52 Benjamin Silvers forced a Robert Morris player to the boards on a breakaway, keeping the Colonials from getting a shot off. At 9:25 DalCortivo connected with McCurdy in the neutral zone. McCurdy skated up the right wing and hit a one- timer to give the Lions a 6-1 lead. With a Bryn Athyn player in the box for holding at 3:24, the Colonials pulled their goalie for a 6-4 man advantage. But it wasn't enough, as Ray Weissler cleared the puck and notched an empty netter goal to give the Lions a 7-1 victory.
McCurdy expressed, "After a great week of practice, we came out strong. It was a team effort and we will need it from everyone tomorrow. "
Head Coach Andrew Burke said, "Good team win, they put in work for the full 60 minutes. Looking to take the momentum into tomorrow's game against UPJ."
The Lions will face Univ. Pitt-Johnstown in the Atlantic Regional Finals tomorrow at 12:15 pm.
Photo credit: Figge Bryntesson