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

Derek Schooley's radio interview at the conclusion of the first period of the Colonials' second game against Air Force last weekend opened with a one-word declaration.

"Wow," the Robert Morris head coach gushed.

Imagine how Schooley might have reacted had the Colonials scored a goal in the opening 20 minutes last Saturday night.

"I challenged our team this morning to have a great start and, wow, were we good," Schooley continued. "Holy cow, were we good.  The only thing we didn't do was score.

"We had chance after chance, sustained pressure, pucks in their end, pucks around the net; great period. We're putting pucks behind their 'D,' we're cycling, we're bigger, we're stronger, we're physical, we've done everything right.

"You almost wish that period didn't end."

Eventually it did, as did the series against Air Force.

And when it did, the Colonials had just one point to show for their two nights of hard work after settling for a 3-3 tie last Friday and falling 2-1 in overtime, last Saturday.

But in doing so Robert Morris found and maintained a pace and a level of play the Colonials believe will serve them well should they prove able to consistently recreate it, beginning with this weekend's visit to American International.

On Saturday night, in particular, the Colonials dominated.

RMU out-attempted Air Force, 70-47, and outshot the Falcons, 45-24, a disparity Schooley characterized as "stupid."

The Colonials attacked and cycled and forechecked and shot the puck and hunted rebounds and did pretty much everything their coach demands that they do for more than 60 minutes.

That they still weren't able to win is attributable mostly to the outstanding play of Air Force goaltender Chris Truehl - and perhaps at least partially to the inevitable ebb and flow of a season.

"It was going to happen sooner or later," Schooley said of loss No. 1, a setback that snapped RMU's record-tying, nine-game unbeaten streak.

The tie with and loss to Air Force dropped Robert Morris to 7-1-2 overall, to 5-1-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association and from No. 17 to No. 20 in the USCHO.com poll.

But the way the Colonials played for the majority of the games, especially on Saturday night, reaffirmed what they believe they can become if their compete level stays as high as its been and if they continue to possess the puck as often as they did against Air Force.

"Absolutely," Schooley maintained. "You set that pace and that tone, there's no way teams can keep up with us and play at that level. We're going to get rewarded more often than not if we play that hard.

"I like our hockey team. I like our depth and I like our work ethic."

That's one reason why Schooley's postgame interview on the 970 ESPN broadcast of Saturday night's overtime loss was as complimentary as his between-periods assessment.

"I'm really proud of our hockey team," Schooley said. "I thought we were outstanding. That was the best game we've played all year; we just didn't get rewarded, and that's hockey.

"But we were really good."

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.