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: RMU Poised for AHA Playoff Run
For the eighth-year Division I program at Robert Morris, the
playoff run that commences at the Island Sports Center on Friday night against
American International represents another shot.
For the Colonials' 10 seniors, it's their last shot.
“It's now or never,' senior defenseman James Lyle observed.
That senior class came within an overtime goal of reaching
the 16-team NCAA Tournament as freshmen back in 2008-09.
The program hasn't come as close to capturing that
much-anticipated, first NCAA bid since.
And it'll be tougher to do this time than it was back then.
As a College Hockey America member in '08-'09, two
postseason victories were required.
This time, two victories will be needed (in three tries)
just to advance to the second round of the Atlantic Hockey Association
postseason tournament, where the Colonials would then play another
best-of-three series on the road against one of the AHA's top-four finishers.
All of that has to happen before the AHA Final Four in
Rochester, N.Y., and the eventual awarding of the league's NCAA bid.
Knowing as much head coach Derek Schooley wants his players
looking no further down the road than Game 1 against AIC.
That message has been sent and repeated as necessary,
perhaps even re-tweeted.
But in looking back at the one that got away, the Robert
Morris seniors can glean an appreciation of just how real their goal of making
an NCAA Tournament can become, and of how critical little things will be in
determining whether or not they achieve it.
That 2008-09 CHA Championship game was lost when Bemidji
State won an offensive-zone face-off, executed a pick-play that allowed for a clean
shot opportunity and then converted a rebound at 8:05 of overtime for a 3-2
triumph.
Matt Read scored that game-winning goal for Bemidji. He's
scored 16 more in his first 59 games with the Philadelphia Flyers this season.
Lyle has seen a few of those while watching games or
highlights; every time he does the same reminder is inspired.
“Every time I see him play I still kind of re-live that goal
in my mind,” Lyle said. “It's still a little bit of an open wound.
“I remember that game like it was yesterday. I remember
every goal. I remember the feeling when that puck went in and having to trek
home on the bus. It felt like it was a four- or five-day bus ride heading back
on the sleeper bus. That's still fresh in our minds, believe me.”
RMU senior forward and captain Trevor Lewis hasn't
forgotten, either.
“Probably the worst feeling I've had in any type of playoff
I've been in,” Lewis said. “There was a face-off in our end after an icing. How
many times does that happen in a game? An innocent face-off, it gets magnified
in the playoffs.
“We have to be in every play and make sure we're mentally
there in every play.”
That's a message and a mentality Schooley can use, against
AIC and beyond.
“Everybody's goal is to get to the next round and keep
advancing so you have to do the little things you need to do to be successful,”
he said. “You have to take care of the details, pucks need to be advanced.
“You don't want to be the one that turns the puck over on a
key goal.”
The challenge of not being that guy starts on Friday night.
The challenge of playing a relentless team game will present
itself as long as there is another game to be played.
“It's going to come down to who is doing the little things
and playing smart hockey,” Lyle said. “Everybody's going to be working hard
this time of the year. You're going to have to play smart hockey and execute on
systems and, hopefully, get a couple of bounces,”
Added Lewis: “Playoff time is a special time. We just want
to make sure we take care of business on Friday night and set ourselves up for
something good on Saturday night.
“This being the last one, we want to make it something
special.”
