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: Jones Finds Success at RMU

Josh Jones came to Robert Morris to play hockey but also to get a degree and, eventually, to get a job.

And when his interests in the latter conflicted with the former, Jones found himself in a difficult position.

Jones, a senior and a mechanical engineering major, landed an interview with Lincoln Electric in Cleveland as a potential technical sales representative. The problem was the interview was to take place last Friday night and Saturday morning, and completing it would preclude Jones taking part in the Colonials' game last Friday night at Niagara.

So Jones had a tough decision to make.

Fortunately, he didn't have to make it alone.

“The team and the coaches were really understanding,” Jones said. “I talked to all the guys and let them all know I wouldn't be there. It was tough, but at the same time, in talking to all the guys, they said, 'you have to go do this. We're not going to be here six or seven months from now (as a team). This is what you're here to do.'

“It was nice having their support.”

That's the type of camaraderie and perspective the Colonials will take into this weekend's home-and-home series against Canisius (7:05 p.m. Friday at the Island Sports Center, 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Canisius).

“You want the guys who are moving on to jobs to be successful but you also want the team to be successful,” head coach Derek Schooley explained. “Josh talked to the team, the captains. He talked to us (the coaching staff). Although we missed having Josh in the lineup everybody supported the fact that this was a dream job and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him.

“We're about developing people as well as hockey players. If we had just looked at the athletics aspect you'd have said 'he's gotta play.' But looking at the human aspect of it, this is something Josh really wants to do. You want to make sure he's very successful in what he does after hockey.”

The good news is Jones was able to rejoin his team for Saturday night's game at Niagara.

The better news is he got the job.

“This is really exciting for me,” Jones said. “I've been trying to take hockey as far as I can while furthering my education. Now, it's been able to help me get a job out of school.”

The unfinished business on the ice for Jones and RMU continues this weekend against Canisius (8-14-3 overall, 8-8-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association).

The 2-1, 2-1 sweep the Colonials endured at Niagara left them at 10-6-3 and tied for fifth in the AHA and 12-11-3 overall.

RMU trails fourth-place Air Force by one point and first-play RIT by four points in the race for a top-four AHA finish and a first-round bye in the AHA playoffs.

It's already been a memorable year for Jones, who is tied for the AHA lead in plus/minus at plus 12.

Securing the job he landed last weekend has put the capper on Jones' RMU career, but the Serra Catholic High School graduate knows what would make it even better.

“Winning the conference (tournament) and going to the NCAA Tournament,” Jones said. “That would make it the best.”