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 Times and as a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review while having 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 2013-14 season, Prisuta will serve up weekly stories surrounding Colonial hockey as well as the latest notes and news around college hockey.
Prisuta on Pucks: It Isn't Going to be Easy
They know it isn't going to be easy. But given the circumstances there's still nowhere the Robert Morris Colonials would rather be than at Connecticut this weekend.
"After being eliminated up there last year, this is the matchup I wanted again," senior forward Colin South announced.
Head coach Derek Schooley wasn't as emphatic as RMU's captain, but nor was Schooley complaining.
"I talked in a team meeting on Monday about how we're going to a place where we've had success," Schooley said. "We're 2-3-1 in league (play). We went in there this year and won handily. Two years ago we had two tight, tough, physical games (3-3 and 2-1 in January of 2012).
"I like the matchup. I certainly like it better than what I thought it was going to be."
The thought heading into the Colonials' March 1 regular-season finale against Mercyhurst had been if the Colonials lost (which they did, 5-2) they'd wind up with a second-round postseason date at Air Force, assuming they could survive their opening-round best-of-three home series.
But Connecticut's loss to Sacred Heart on March 1changed the Atlantic Hockey Association standings and with them that dynamic.
So here we go again.
It's fourth-place Connecticut (18-12-4 overall, 15-9-3 AHA) hosting fifth-place Robert Morris (15-17-5, 13-9-5) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) in Storrs, Conn.
The winner advances to the AHA Final Four, March 22-23, at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.
And the winner there earns an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
The Colonials advanced with a 3-1 win on Sunday in Game 3 of their opening-round best-of-three series against Army.
UConn has been idle since that March 1 loss to Sacred Heart.
The Huskies eliminated the Colonials in last season's quarterfinal round, 4-1 and 4-3.
The teams split a pair of meetings this season on Jan. 9-10 in Storrs, with Connecticut initially prevailing, 5-1, and Robert Morris bouncing back in the second encounter, 6-1. Â Â
"I wouldn't be surprised if it went three games," South assessed. "We're definitely two evenly-matched teams.
"They really took it to us the first game up there this season but (defenseman) Evan Renwick and myself were out. We came back the second night and were able to take it to them pretty well, too."
The Colonials faced senior goaltender Matt Grogan (10-11-2, 2.45 goals-against average, .924 save percentage) at the outset of both games in January but Schooley expects the Huskies to turn to freshman Robby Nichols (8-1-2, 1.81, .942) this time.
Robert Morris had to resort to freshman Dalton Izyk (1-1-0, 3.19, .901) in the second period of Game 3 against Army after losing sophomore Terry Shafer (14-15-5, 3.02, 911).
Izyk played 51:25 of the first game at Connecticut (three goals against, 32 saves) after relieving Shafer two shots after the drop of the puck with the Colonials trailing, 2-0.
RMU played inspired hockey after Izyk came on for Shafer against Army.
Schooley maintained it'll take more of the same against Connecticut no matter who's in net.
"It's going to be tough," he said. "It's going to be very similar to Army where they pack it in around the net and we're going to have to get to the net.
"We're not going to get the pretty goals. We're going to have to get the ugly, dirty, grimy greasy goals."
The Colonials are also going to have to rediscover the maturity of focus they found in Game 3 of the Army series.
They've succumb to distraction periodically this season (most recently in Game 2 against Army, a penalty-filled, 4-2 loss) and when that's happened it has cost them.
If they can maintain mental discipline they like their chances.
"I don't think there are too many teams who can play with us for very long if we stick to our game and don't really deviate from what it is we do well," South said. "It's when we let other teams dictate play and they get us off our game that we get into trouble.
"When we're our best there aren't many teams who can hang with us for 60 minutes."
