NEVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania - Facing the American International College ice hockey team, Robert Morris University held its Teddy Bear Toss Night.

Josh Barnes made sure the tossing featured hats as well.

The junior forward scored three straight goals for the Yellow Jackets to help AIC overcome an early 2-0 deficit and win 4-2 over the Colonials in Atlantic Hockey America action on Saturday, November 30.

AIC improves to 5-10-1 overall and 4-6-0-0-0-1 in the AHA.

The home fans hardly had to wait to fling stuffed animals onto the ice. AIC took a penalty in the game's first minute and Cameron Garvey converted at 2:52. 

Robert Morris doubled the advantage just over nine minutes later, as Michael Felsing was able to put the puck into the net for the Colonials at 11:54.

AIC needed some puck luck, and found it with a power play. Though the Colonials were able to clear the puck, the forward who fired it down the ice had his stick snap in the process. In the chaos of that and a line change, Brett Bamber quickly fired the puck up the ice to the left side of the blue line for Jordan Biro. Biro spotted Barnes rushing down the middle, and he slid the puck through the goalkeeper's legs at 6:56 for his fifth of the season.

"[Biro] made a nice saucer pass to me...honestly, I lost the puck, and it still went in," Barnes said.

The Colonials drew a pair of penalties, but AIC's kill was relentless, and just as the second infraction expired the Yellow Jackets burst up the ice. Timofei Khokhlachev carried the puck in on the left side and fired a cross pass to Noah Serdachny. Serdachny one-timed a shot from the right circle and Barnes, who once again drove the middle, was there to flip the rebound inside the left post at 11:31 for his sixth of the year.

With the game tied heading into the third, AIC had momentum, and the Yellow Jackets exploited it. Off of a clean zone entry, the puck was played back-and-forth along the blue line by Brett Bamber and Evan Stella. Bamber located Barnes in the right faceoff circle, and Barnes wheeled with the puck into the slot before firing a shot through a screen between the left post and left pad of the goalkeeper to complete the natural hat trick and put AIC ahead for the first time all weekend at 4:14. The tally, his seventh of the season, tied Khokhlachev for the team's lead.

"That was huge. I'm so happy for him. He kind of took the team on his back there and he gave us a lot of momentum, and it was amazing to see," goalkeeper Chase Clark said of Barnes' efforts after the game.

Robert Morris made a goalkeeper change, pulling Dylan Meilun for Croix Kochendorfer, only to have AIC strike again. After a Rylance shot went wide, Biro was able to hold the blueline on a clearing attempt and turn the other way. He found Khokhlachev free on the right side of the slot and though his shot also went wide, it bounced off the glass right to Biro on the opposite side of the net, and he was able to bat the biscuit into the net at 4:44 for his second of the year, giving AIC a 4-2 advantage.

From there, Clark and the defense did its job. The third-year netminder made 16 of his 31 total stops in the final frame, and even the sixth attacker came up empty for the Colonials as AIC finished off the win to get the series split.

"Sticking to the basics, just knowing that my teammates are going to be there for me and I'm going to be there for my teammates...we battled through a lot of adversity on the road," Clark said.

"It's really incredible what he's doing," Barnes said of Clark. "He played terrific this weekend, he keeps us in there...we're really happy to have him back," he added.

AIC returns to the MassMutual Center on Friday, December 6 at 1:00 p.m. to face off with The College of the Holy Cross.