Although he was a late arrival, Eric Levine still found a way to become the life of the party.

Levine watched the entirety of Robert Morris' 6-2 start from the bench as the Colonials' backup goaltender. But with RMU down 3-1 after surrendering a pair of goals in the final minute of the first period last Friday night against Sacred Heart head coach Derek Schooley decided to pull starter Brooks Ostergard.  

"Brooks has been hot and Brooks was not at fault for any of the three goals," Schooley explained. "Our defensive-zone coverage was at fault. Our ability to kill a penalty was at fault, not Brooks Ostergard.

"That was a team pull."

Levine responded by stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced in the final two periods. And his Robert Morris teammates responded by scoring three goals over the final 40 minutes, two in the third period and one with Levine pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute of regulation.

Levin was equal to the task one more time in OT and the Colonials wound up achieving a 4-4 tie, part of a three-point weekend that also included a 5-1 triumph on Saturday night.

"Obviously, Brooks has been playing out of his mind all year," Levine said. "It's been really good for the team and he's taken us to a 6-2 record. He should get a lot of credit for our start, he's played phenomenal.

"I'm just happy I could come in and step up and really help our team get a point. I think at the end of the season we're going to look back and really be thankful we were able to be resilient and pull out a tie."

The Colonials are already thankful.

The extra-attacker goal scored in the final minute was the first to tie a game in the program's seven-year history. And the point earned, coupled with Saturday night's victory improved Robert Morris to 7-2-1 on the season and helped vault the Colonials into the U.S. College Hockey Online.com Top 20 for the first time.

RMU checked in at No. 20 in the Nov. 15 USCHO poll with 50 points, 40 behind seven-time national champion and No. 19 Minnesota.

The Colonials will make their debut as a Top 20 team on Friday night at the Island Sports Center against Mercyhurst (7:05 p.m.), then visit Canisius on Saturday night (7:05 p.m.).

Levine will be at the ready, as he was against Sacred Heart.

"Eric did a good job," Schooley said. "He was called upon to respond and he responded."

"That's a backup goalie's job," said Levine, a sophomore from Wheeling, Ill. "You gotta be ready when you're called upon. That's my job right now and that's what I take pride in."

Levine went 1-3-3 with a 3.66 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage last season.

His best work during his 2010-11 debut occurred with Robert Morris' trailing 4-3 and attempting to kill a penalty early in the third period. Levine denied sacred Heart's Ben Ketuchum coming out of the corner and then Reid MacLeod from the slot twice in succession.

"They had a couple of chances," Levine said. "That's my job, to make saves. At that point it was a pivotal time because we were only down by a goal. I knew I needed to hold the fort so our guys would have a chance. They pulled through in the end.

"Of course you have a little bit of the jitters. A couple of pucks might have bounced off my pads not where I like to see them. But you kind of feel your way through the game. The team did a good job offensively making my job easy tonight.

"I think the biggest thing is our team has been really fast in practice. Our practices have been almost like games. So for me to be able to be practicing with these guys at the speed that we are really makes it comfortable when I do get a transition into a game."

Schooley was pleased to see it. And he was elated to see his team reverse what had been a troublesome early-season trend of playing from behind early in games by jumping Sacred Heart for three goals in the first 15 minutes on Saturday night.

"We have to realize that when you're a first-place team (in the Atlantic Hockey Association) and now when you're ranked in the Top 20 you have to bring your 'A' game," Schooley said. "You have to be ready to play all of your games.