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 2012-13 season, Prisuta will serve up weekly stories surrounding Colonial hockey as well as the latest notes and news around college hockey.

Prisuta on Pucks: What Could Have Been

It went into the books as a 2-2 tie but it went down in history at Robert Morris.

The first shootout in the Colonials' eight-plus years of playing NCAA Division I hockey.

A couple of had-to-have-'em shootout goals from David Friedmann and Zach Hervato.

Three clutch shootout saves by Eric Levine, including one with the glove that settled the issue once and for all.

And in the end, celebration and elation in front of an Island Sports Center-record crowd of 1,589.

This was one draw in which the Colonials absolutely, positively made their point.

“It may not count as a win in the standings but that team knows it and we know it and the fans know it,” Levine said.

What wasn't known prior to the drop of the puck on Saturday night was what might happen in the event the Colonials and Ohio State Buckeyes concluded 60 minutes of regulation and the standard five-minute overtime period still even.

Shootouts are the protocol in Ohio State's home conference, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, but their results are taken into account only in the CCHA standings (three points are awarded for a win, one point for an overtime tie and one point for a shootout victory).

The NCAA does not recognize shootout victories.

But that didn't stop RMU head coach Derek Schooley and OSU's Mark Osiecki from opting for an impromptu ending to what had been a highly-competitive home-and-home series.

“I said, 'You want to have a shootout?'” Schooley relayed. “He said, 'Sure, let's do it.'”

“Why not give the fans something for fun?”

The fun started with Cody Wydo of Robert Morris being bested by Ohio State goaltender Brady Hjelle.

Then Levine stopped the Buckeyes' Alex Carlson.

Friedmann scored on his attempt, but that goal was countered by one off the stick of Ohio State's Alex Szczechura.

After RMU's Adam Brace and OSU's Tanner Fritz were stopped in succession, Hervato hoped over the boards.

He did so with a plan that had been honed in practice.

“Every Thursday or Friday we do a drill called 'pink socks,' where every forward takes a penalty shot and the loser at the end of the day has to wear pink socks for the week,” Hervato explained. “I like to go in on my forehand and then go top shelf over the glove.

“I came in and did a little dipsy-doodle with my stick just to fool him a bit and then just flicked it top shelf.”

After that it was up to Levine to deny Ohio State's Darik Angeli.

“That's kind of what every goalie lives for,” Levine said. “I remember my goalie coach always telling me every time you get a breakaway you always say to yourself, 'It's a chance to show the rink I'm the best goalie here.' I've said that to myself before.

“The guy came down, made a move. I just tried to let him make the first move and luckily he shot it into my glove.”

The Colonials poured onto the ice to greet their goaltender as if a great victory had just been secured.

It was an appropriate response given the 3-2 win they had secured on Friday night in Columbus and the 1-0-1 result from a weekend spent battling an Ohio State team that had four NHL draft picks in its lineup on Saturday night.

“To play against a team that's considered better than us, bigger than us, gets better recruits, there's every reason they should beat us,” Levine said. “There's something special about this (RMU) team, for sure.”

The tie improved RMU's overall record to 6-4-2 and extended the Colonials' unbeaten streak to four (2-0-2), which ties Robert Morris for the sixth-longest current run in the nation.

The Colonials were rewarded with five votes in this week's uscho.com Top 20.

Had their shootout victory been officially recognized by anyone other than those in attendance, the resulting fallout might have been even more profound.

But Levine wasn't complaining.

“That's fun,” he said. “That's how you play hockey.”