Men's Hockey | 12/4/2017 1:04:00 PM

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. -  At 5-9-1 overall through 15 of their 34 regular-season games, the Colonials are clearly still searching for their game.

It wasn't at Bentley.

It hasn't been evident, for the most part, anywhere except the RMU Island Sports Center this season.

Robert Morris has been particularly unrecognizable on the road, where it has won just one time in eight tries.

"We haven't found a way to steal a game, haven't found a way to finish games when we have a lead," head coach Derek Schooley observed of the Colonials' 1-7-0 road showing. "I think our killer instinct is missing a little bit right now. I hate to characterize it as a complete lack of killer instinct because we have found a way to get the job done at home."

What hasn't been happening away from home was apparent in the 3-1, 6-3 sweep the Colonials absorbed last weekend at Bentley.

The Saturday night loss to the Falcons, which dropped RMU to 5-7-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Conference, was particularly revealing.

Trailing 2-0 after 20 minutes, the Colonials battled back for a pair of goals in the second period and achieved a 3-2 lead on a goal by junior winger Michael Louria at 2:56 of the third.

But the sequence that followed almost immediately included a puck that was cleared over the glass rather than out of the defensive zone, a face-off that was lost in the defensive zone, a shot that could have been blocked that wasn't, another lost face-off in the defensive zone, another shot that could have been blocked that wasn't and, finally, the game-tying goal at the 5:00 mark.

"Within a matter of two or three minutes, we have five opportunities to make a play and instead we're tied," Schooley lamented. "We're pinned (in the defensive zone) because we didn't make the correct play at the right time or we get mentally fatigued.

"We worked to address that last week."

The Colonials were off last week in advance of a home-and-home series with Penn State (Dec. 8 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and Dec. 9 at the Nittany Lions' Pegula Ice Arena).

Schooley is determined to find that timely shot block, that big save at a critical juncture, or that elusive heads-up play in a given situation that likewise changes a game.

The search has been ratcheted up this week out of necessity.

"Our schedule was completely changed," Schooley said regarding how RMU had initially intended to handle its bye week. "We're working to rectify our mental toughness during the off week."

The Colonials' efforts to make corrections have been intensified because the mistakes they keep making are proving more costly in a more balanced, more competitive conference, which the AHC has clearly been this season.

"If we can realize the key points of the game and mentally break through the barrier we're putting up for ourselves, we can be very good," Schooley insisted. "That has been proven at home."


COLONIALS MEN'S HOCKEY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Snapchat  |  YouTube