Men's Hockey | 10/22/2015 8:37:00 AM

College hockey aficionado and Pittsburgh media personality Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary on the RMU men's hockey team. This is his latest:
 
Moon Township, Pa. – They came up just shy of the sweep they'd been seeking, but the Colonials still did enough for openers.
 
"A good first weekend for us," Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley assessed of last weekend's 5-1 victory over and 3-3 tie with Air Force. "Our guys played well."
 
RMU gradually got better in its 2015-16 debut and gradually took over the game.
 
In the rematch Saturday, the Colonials found themselves down, 2-0 and 3-1, before rallying in what Schooley had initially characterized as a "nasty, dirty, physical hockey game."
 
The weekend had a little of everything, including a collective "dejection" in the locker room last Saturday night that betrayed where Robert Morris is coming from and where the Colonials think they're headed this season.
 
"They felt like they lost," Schooley reported. "I think they expect to win every game.
 
"I reminded them last year when Air Force came in here (to the Island Sports Center) it took three of four (points) from us. This year we got three. I'll take it."
 
Goaltenders Dalton Izyk and Terry Shafer each started a game and four of the freshmen played both nights.
 
RMU got goals from six different players, including two apiece from senior right wing Zac Lynch and sophomore center Brady Ferguson, and points from 10 of 18 skaters, led by Lynch's four.
 
The penalty killing was perfect all weekend (a combined 5-for-5) and the power play produced more puck movement and good looks at the net than its combined 1-for-7 effort would suggest.
 
RMU will head to Niagara this weekend (7 p.m. Friday and Saturday) looking to build on what it began to establish over the regular season's opening weekend.
 
The plan all season long will be to continue to generate growth and momentum.
 
"We have a lot of guys that need to take steps and a lot of guys that are able to take steps," said senior defenseman Tyson Wilson, RMU's captain. "We have nine seniors. We have all of our 'D' back, all of our goalies back.
 
"We have a good foundation here to build on. We just have to take steps progressively."
 
Even the freshmen had gotten Wilson's attention prior to the Air Force series.
 
"(Winger) Alex Tonge is getting a look on the first line, he's on one of the power-play units," Wilson continued. "He reminds me a lot of Cody Wydo, just a natural goal-scorer, smart on the ice, a smooth skater.
 
"(Winger) Kyle Eastman is a physical presence out there, hits hard. (Center) Kyle Horsman works his tail off out there. (Eric) Israel is a skilled defenseman and (center) Brandon Watt is kind of a combination of all of the forwards put together, a little bit of skill, a little bit of grit."
 
Israel didn't play against Air Force. But contributions from the freshmen that hit the ice helped RMU compensate for sophomore center Spencer Dorowicz and junior winger Ben Robillard being unavailable due to injury.

The relatively seamless transition of the first-year members into the group in the early going and the pedigree of the returnees had Wilson, among others, perceiving the Colonials as capable of surpassing what they've accomplished in each of past two seasons.
 
And both of those were banner years.
 
"We advanced through the Atlantic Hockey Tournament one year and we won the league the next," Wilson said. "So now we're looking to put them both together this season." 

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