The Colonials have already done something this season they hadn't done previously.

For an encore they'll attempt to win a game or two at Air Force.

That hasn't happened since Robert Morris joined the Atlantic Hockey Association, now the Atlantic Hockey Conference, for the 2010-11 season. RMU is 0-6 at the Cadet Ice Arena since then.

"All of the games have been fairly close and they've all been well-played hockey games," Colonials head coach Derek Schooley assessed. "We just haven't been able to win in that building."

That's history, not prophecy, as NBC's Doc Emrick is fond of explaining in such situations.

Particularly heading into a weekend set in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Friday and Saturday, 9:05 p.m.) in a season that has already seen the Colonials win 14 games in conference for the first time in their five-year Atlantic Hockey existence.

No. 20 RMU (17-5-4 overall) leads the Atlantic Hockey pack with 31 points at 14-3-3, four points ahead of second-place Canisius (11-4-5, 27 points).

Air Force has been charging hard of late and stands fourth in the conference at 10-6-2 (23 points) thanks to a six-game winning streak.

The Falcons are 11-13-3 overall, including a 3-3 tie and a 2-1 overtime triumph on Nov. 14-15 at Robert Morris.

But the Colonials are likewise on a roll. They pushed their current winning streak to four with a 4-3, 2-1 sweep at Holy Cross last weekend and have won five of their last six games.

They've also gone 6-1-3 on the road in 2014-15.

"We've played very well on the road this year," Schooley said. "The only road game we've lost was at Mercyhurst (3-0 on Dec. 14) and we played outstanding in that game.

"We're a confident hockey team."

There are a number of reasons for that.

In addition to breaking back into the uscho.com Top 20 in the wake of the Holy Cross sweep, the Colonials emerged at No. 4 nationally in winning percentage (.731). Robert Morris is sixth in the nation in scoring margin (plus 1.31 goals per game).

Among the players thriving individually are forwards Cody Wydo and Brady Ferguson and goaltenders Dalton Izyk and Terry Shafer.

Wydo is No. 5 in Division I with 34 points (three behind Union's Daniel Ciampini for the national lead) and tied for fifth with 16 goals (four behind Ciampini).

Ferguson is fourth among freshman in scoring with 23 points.

Izyk is sixth in winning percentage (.750, 9-3-0) and Shafer is eighth (.731, 8-2-3).

But the 17-win effort to date (already tied for the fourth-highest victory total in RMU's 11-season NCAA Division I history) has been about much more than statistical brilliance.

Robert Morris' success this season is first and foremost a product of a collective battle level that's regularly been evident on the forecheck and the cycle in the offensive end and by all the shots the Colonials have blocked in the defensive zone.

This has also been a team that's for the most part handled adversity as necessary, including the loss of winger Matt Cope (concussion) early in the first period last Friday at Holy Cross.

RMU was also without blueline regular Rob Mann (upper-body injury) in the Holy Cross series, another two-game effort that was as much about perseverance as production.

No wonder Robert Morris is approaching its upcoming trip to Air Force with anticipation rather than trepidation.

"We're excited about the challenge," Schooley said.

History notwithstanding.

A longtime member of the WDVE Morning Show and a college hockey aficianado, Mike 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 Mike on Twitter at @DVEMike.