Men's Hockey | 1/19/2018 8:29:00 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. - They've played just one game since Dec. 30 and only three in more than a month, but inactivity hasn't been an issue for the resurgent Robert Morris University Colonials.

"I think it's breeding more confidence," head coach Derek Schooley said of all the recent time off. "It gives us more time to think about how good we've been.

"In the last six games we've been outstanding."

That's a six-game stretch that commenced with a 7-4 loss on Dec. 9 at No. 18 Penn State and has continued through a 3-1 win on Jan. 9 at Niagara.

A 4-2 record over those last six games has pushed the Colonials back over the .500 mark in the Atlantic Hockey Conference at 8-7-1.

RMU trails AHC co-leaders Canisius and Holy Cross by five points (22-17) and has 12 regular-season games remaining, beginning with this weekend's hosting of Bentley (7:05 p.m., Friday; 4:05 p.m., Saturday, Island Sports Center).

"Now, it's up to us to have a tremendous finish," Schooley said.

The Colonials believe that's still possible.

They're starting to believe anything's possible again after reaffirming their belief as a team and a coaching staff following a 5-2 loss to Penn State on Dec. 8, a setback that dropped RMU's overall record to 5-10-1.

The Colonials have been a different team since then while improving to 9-12-1 overall.

And their consistent play has allowed them to much more closely resemble the team they thought they'd be all along this season.

Getting healthier has also helped.

The recent returns of forwards Matthew Graham and Brandon Watt have lengthened and solidified the lineup.

"I really like where our top-nine group is now," Schooley said. "We're still looking for our best fit among our bottom three forwards. Until we find that fit we'll continue to make some changes."

The top three lines appear sent at present and all things being equal it's also likely that four of the six defensemen dressing will remain constant from game to game.

"We're getting our lineup back to what we want and what we expect," Schooley said.

The difference that's been making was on display in the Colonials' win at Niagara, which had beaten RMU, 4-3, in overtime, in the regular-season opener on Oct. 6 at Niagara.

"We had a complete game from start to finish," Schooley said.

This weekend's series against Bentley offers a similar chance to make amends.

Bentley swept Robert Morris, 3-1 and 6-3, on Nov. 24-25 at Bentley.

"Our belief, we were trying to find that," Schooley said. "We played Bentley the week before we played Penn State. We weren't playing together. We didn't have confidence in our group as a whole, that wasn't there.

"Since Bentley swept us, which we remember, our belief is high."

A relative lack of games of late hasn't slowed the momentum generated by the Colonials' newfound belief.

"It keeps growing," Schooley insisted.

On and off the ice.


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