Pittsburgh sports media veteran and college hockey aficionado Mike Prisuta returns to RMUColonials.com to provide insights on the Colonials throughout the season.

After establishing that they'd learned how to win as a program a season ago, the Robert Morris University Colonials have spent the early portion of the current campaign leaving little doubt that they remember the drill.

By opening 4-0-0 RMU has matched the best start in the program's 10 previous seasons (2010-11). But it's the way the Colonials have gone about the business of winning that's been even more impressive.

"Our compete level has been very high," head coach Derek Schooley said.

Some of the Colonials' other attributes have likewise been showing during 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Lake Superior State, plus last weekend's 5-2 and 4-1 triumphs over Niagara.

Among those...

They're fast starters: RMU has gotten the first goal three times in four tries.

They're strong finishers: RMU has outscored its first four opponents by a combined 9-1 in third periods.

They get pucks to the net: RMU has outshot three of four opponents.

They're effective on special teams: The Colonials have clicked at a 21.1-percent success rate on the power play and have killed 89.5 percent of their short-handed situations.

They've gotten great goaltending: Dalton Izyk's save percentage is .984 and Terry Shafer's is .943 through four games (two starts each).

They've had balanced scoring: Nine players have goals and 15 have points heading into this weekend's series at Army.

Robert Morris has also been able to rise to the occasion when necessary. In both games last weekend the Colonials had to kill a 5-on-3 power play.

On Friday night Niagara's two-man advantage lasted for a minute in what was a 1-1 game late in the first period. Niagara was denied and the game stayed tied.

And on Saturday night Robert Morris survived two full minutes playing 3-on-5 and then got a short-handed goal seconds after the two-man advantage had been dealt with. Winger Matt Cope's shorty increased RMU's lead to 2-0 early in the third.

The Colonials have even managed not to let depleted lineups slow them down.

They lost winger Daniel Leavens to injury late in the second period last Friday night and had to finish without winger Jeff Jones (injured in the first period) and winger Cody Wydo (ejected in the second) last Saturday night.

The 4-0 start this season has RMU tied with Alaska (4-0), defending-national champion Union (4-0) and Alaska-Anchorage (3-1-1) for the longest current unbeaten streak in the nation. Dating back to January the Colonials are 21-6-3 over their last 30 games.

"We've been there a lot lately," Schooley said. "It becomes a habit. In a tight game we're confident in our abilities.

"In a tight game we know what we need to do."

The Colonials' discipline and focus are traditionally challenged in match-ups against Army, which is off to a 2-2 start after a pair of season-opening splits against Atlantic Hockey Association rivals Sacred Heart and Canisius.

Army was 5-22 in AHA play and 6-28 overall last season, when it was eliminated two games to one in a first-round AHA postseason series at Robert Morris.

"Our main focus has to be what we need to do right in front of us instead of getting involved in all the extracurricular activities," Schooley said.

That's something else the Colonials figured out a season ago. 

A longtime member of the WDVE Morning Show, Prisuta also previously served as a reporter for the Beaver County Times and as a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The Michigan State University graduate got his start in the profession covering the Spartan hockey program. Follow him on Twitter at @DVEMike.