Veteran sportswriter, member of the WDVE Morning Show and hockey aficionado Mike Prisuta has been covering the Pittsburgh sports scene for over 20 years. He has covered Pittsburgh sports as a reporter for the Beaver County Timesand as a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and has had his pulse on the happenings of each of the professional organizations and college programs in the area. A graduate of Michigan State University, Prisuta got his start in the profession covering the Spartan hockey program and possesses knowledge of the college hockey world unmatched in the region.

Throughout the 2011-12 season, Prisuta will serve up weekly stories surrounding Colonial hockey as well as the latest notes and news around college hockey.

Prisuta on Pucks: Every Game Counts

After being outshot 16-3 in the final 20 minutes while watching a 4-1, third-period lead dwindle to the slimmest of margins before eventually holding on for a 4-3 victory last Friday night at Connecticut, the RMU contingent suspected the home team would come out even more determined in Saturday night's rematch.

Connecticut didn't disappoint.

The Huskies' Jordan Sims took a five-minute major, with an accompanying game misconduct, for checking from behind at 11:19 of the first period in the second game between the two teams last weekend.

At that point it was on.

And from that point the Colonials did what was required to finish off the sweep with a 2-1, come-from-behind triumph.

“You could see their battle level and compete level was going to be high,” head coach Derek Schooley said of Connecticut's early effort in the second game. “There was a scrum at the beginning, they got the five-minute major and you knew it was going to be a different game.

“I can't say enough about how proud I am of how well we played and how well we responded.”

This time it was the Colonials who were the stronger team in the third period.

Their continued effort and execution eventually produced results from senior forward Cody Crichton at 3:35 and senior forward/captain Trevor Lewis at 13:46, goals that finished off RMU's second win of the season in a game it had trailed after two periods.

“It was physical, nasty, playoff-type hockey,” Schooley said. “It was a fun game to be a part of.”

The two victories left Robert Morris at 12-9-3 overall and third in the Atlantic Hockey Association at 10-4-3 for 23 points, two behind first-place Mercyhurst (25) and two ahead of fifth-place Niagara (9-8-7 overall, 8-4-5, 21 points, AHA).

RMU and Niagara will do battle in a home-and-home series this weekend (7:05 p.m. Friday at the Island Sports Center, 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Niagara).

More of what the Colonials were able to muster against Connecticut will be desired against Niagara, and might be required.

It's the time of the season where nothing figures to come easy.

That dynamic apparently wasn't lost on RMU at UConn.

“I liked our battle level and compete level,” Schooley said. “We played with good pace and good energy. We played physical and we did it on back-to-back nights.

“It was exciting to see.”

Schooley was likewise pleased to see his team playing with great attention to detail.

With the standings still tight and the points at stake seemingly more precious as teams continue scrambling for postseason positioning, Robert Morris is looking more and more like a team that knows where it wants to go and how it intends to get there.

“We're not searching,” Schooley said. “We know what our identity is. We made sure we advanced pucks in the neutral zone and we forechecked well. We got it off the glass and out of the defensive zone instead of trying to force it up the middle of the ice. We went to the net in the offensive zone instead of staying on the perimeter.

“Our attitude has been great this week in practice. We're feeling good about ourselves and we know how we have to play. If we play that way we'll have a chance, game in and game out.”