Men's Hockey | 12/28/2016 11:04:00 AM

College hockey aficionado and Pittsburgh media personality Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary on the RMU men's hockey team. This is his latest:

Pittsburgh, Pa. -  As tournament fields go, the one assembled for the 2016 Three Rivers Classic is representative of a Frozen Four.

Two of the teams competing this week at PPG Paints Arena, Boston College and Quinnipiac, were in the Frozen Four last season.

A third, Ferris State, played in college hockey's National Championship Game in 2012 (the Bulldogs lost, 4-1, to Boston College) and played in the NCAA West Regional Final last season.

And host Robert Morris has won either the Atlantic Hockey Conference postseason or regular-season championship in each of the last three seasons.

Can it get any better than that?

Maybe if the NHL's Penguins were playing.

"I think it's going to be a great tournament," Penguins assistant general manager Bill Guerin assessed.

"You have all teams that won some sort of championship last season and you have a rematch from the national semifinals," Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley agreed.

"That's a really good field."

The tournament opens with No. 6 Boston College taking on No. 14 Quinnipiac at 4:30pm Thursday, followed by Robert Morris and Ferris State 7:30pm.

The two first-day losers will meet in the third-place game at 4:30pm Friday, followed by the two first-day winners battling for the Confluence Cup at 7:30pm.

The Colonials are already in possession of two of those, having beaten Penn State and No. 5 Miami in the inaugural Classic in 2012, and No. 14 Penn State and No. 8 Massachusetts-Lowell last season.

Robert Morris beat No. 20 Penn State and lost to No. 17 Colgate in the 2014 Classic.

"We have played very well since the inception of the Three Rivers Classic," Schooley acknowledged. "I hope that continues this year."

Boston College beat Bowling Green and Penn State on the way to winning the Classic in 2013.

Guerin, who played at BC in 1989-90 and 1990-91, is excited about the return of Boston College.

And he's been impressed in recent seasons by what he's seen from Robert Morris.

"I like that they get better every year and they're producing players that are playing at the next level," Guerin said of the Colonials. "For what's considered a younger program they've put a lot of players out."

"The college free-agent search is a pretty important part of our (professional) game right now. We're always looking for players and it's nice to have somebody right in your own back yard. We have one of their players, coming to our development camp this summer."

"I think that's a real credit to Derek. You look around and there are a lot of his former players at least playing minor-league hockey right now. They're a good program."

The college game will also be on display in a high-profile, NHL setting.

And Guerin has long been a fan of the college game.

"It's not as structured as the NHL but I'll tell you what, these kids play hard," he said. "They go after each other every single game and there are some really talented kids out there. Especially nowadays, these kids are working 12 months a year on their game and they're putting everything they have into it."

"If you like college football better than pro, you might like college hockey better than pro. It's exciting, you don't know what's going to happen. You go to these rinks and the atmosphere is fantastic. You have the crazy student sections, you have the bands playing, it's a blast."

"I loved my college years, all two of them. Honestly, it's such a great, great route for a hockey player to go. You'll never, ever, ever regret it. Wherever you go, if you go to BC, Ferris, RMU or Quinnipiac the experience is going to be great. They have great programs surrounded by great people and great educations (available). It's a great way to go."


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