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. – In a quarterfinal series that saw Robert Morris extended to the limit by Bentley, in a three-game confrontation that tested the Colonials' patience and persistence, the predicament and the necessary response was personified by senior winger David Friedmann.
 
Alone in the slot midway through the second period of game three and with more than enough time to pick his spot and call his shot, Friedmann unleashed a rocket that was somehow stopped by Falcons goaltender Gabe Antoni.
 
Such occurrences had become more than a trend against Bentley, but Friedmann simply shrugged it off. Moments later he found the puck on his stick again.
 
This time it ended up in the net, a process that would play out again after another 1:40 had elapsed.
 
Friedmann's two goals were part of a Colonial uprising that lit the light five times in the second period on Sunday night at 84 Lumber Arena, an explosion that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead.
 
The Colonials eventually finished off Bentley, 6-3, and punched their ticket to Rochester, N.Y., and this weekend's Atlantic Hockey Tournament semifinals.
 
The ability of Friedmann and his teammates to maintain their focus and their composure amid an uncomfortable number of potentially frustrating moments had everything to do with it.
 
"It's just one of those things," Friedmann said of the golden opportunity that got away. "Hockey's a funny game. You never know when you're going to get your next chance. You can't dwell on the ones you miss. You can come back on the next shift, the next period or in the next game, so you just kind of stay positive and be confident in your abilities."
 
The time for bouncing back in the next game has passed.
 
The next time RMU loses, the Colonials' season will be over.
 
But if they can play on Friday against Army as they had in the second period of Game Three against Bentley, their season may just be getting started.
 
"This program could go on a run of epic proportions," head coach Derek Schooley suggested.
 
Should they beat Army, the Colonials would earn a spot in Saturday night's Atlantic Hockey championship game at Blue Cross Arena against the winner of Friday night's RIT-Air Force semifinal.
 
The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament, which has been the goal all along for the Colonials.
 
Winger Daniel Leavens scored the first two goals in RMU's Game Three blasting of Bentley, Friedmann followed with his two and Hobey Baker Award-finalist Zac Lynch provided the exclamation point.

It was a product of effort, execution and attention to detail.
 
"We played in their end," Schooley assessed. "We played with emotion. We played physical. We took pucks to the net. We capitalized on chances. We played hard down low. We were advancing pucks.
 
"We stuck with the process and we were doing things the right way and we were determined."
 
Such precision was apparent in RMU's game in that exquisite 20 minutes against Bentley.
 
But there was also a belief that was palpable, a confidence that had seemingly momentarily eroded as the Colonials were in the process of outshooting Bentley, 48-28, out-attempting the Falcons, 73-56, winning 51 of 77 face-offs and registering 20 scoring chances to Bentley's 11 while absorbing a hard-to-swallow, 4-3 loss in Game 1.
 
The Colonials rallied individually and collectively and won the two elimination games that followed to get to Rochester.
 
And after doing so they're more convinced than ever that they have it within them to keep winning.
 
"We have confidence in this group," Friedmann insisted. "We know what we can do.
 
"We just have to be more confident than the other group no matter the score."

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