PITTSBURGH -- Exhibition or not, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team knew it was in for a challenge Sunday against Brock University. 

Not only were the visiting Badgers ranked 10th among their Canadian college brethren in a prominent preseason poll, they also took Penn State to the wire Saturday night before bowing by a single goal.

Less than 24 hours later, a young Colonials team overcame a competitive Brock side at the RMU Island Sports Center, winning 4-2 in preseason action. Despite giving up a pair of one-goal leads, RMU prevailed on Nick Prkusic's power-play game-winner with 3:30 remaining, the sophomore center's second goal of the game.

Prkusic's firm short-side wrister beat Brock goalie Mario Cavaliere from the right dot, capping an evening that saw RMU outshoot Brock 48-18 and spend more than a third of the game on the man advantage, going 2 for 10.

"I thought we just stuck with it," said Prkusic, who scored five goals in his freshman season. "We were getting some chances all night. There were a few lulls in the power play, but I guess that's how some games go. ... It was good to connect late."

By the time senior Alex Tonge stole a cross-rink pass and skated in for a lay-up of an empty-netter, the result felt honest. But while the win was nice to get, improving RMU to 11-1-1 all-time against Canadian university teams, process overrides outcome in exhibition play.

Because it was preseason, the Colonials got to dress 25 players, with only senior defenseman Eric Israel (upper-body injury) sitting out this one. That meant the 11 freshmen on RMU's roster all got enough playing time to find their game stride before the season officially begins Friday against Bowling Green.
 
"We got to work on a lot of things," head coach Derek Schooley said. "I was looking for our compete level. I was looking for us to win battles. I was looking for us to grasp the knowledge of our systems. We have to be able to play hockey without thinking, and to know what we have to do. I think we did a pretty good job of that."

Schooley noted that his team looked a little nervous in the opening five minutes or so, which saw Brock charge the RMU net for a handful of good scoring chances. Junior goalie Francis Marotte, playing for the first time since being selected to the Mike Richter Award watch list, stopped all five shots he faced in 26 minutes of action, allowing the Colonials an opportunity to find their footing.

Prkusic struck for the opening goal at 15:50 of the first, turning powerfully to stuff a shot through Cavaliere after strong offensive-zone work from freshman wingers Nick Lalonde and Kip Hoffmann.

"I play with two guys who can both skate, keep their head up and make plays," Prkusic said. "For playing their first college games, I thought they did pretty well."

Freshman Justin Addamo tipped home a Michael Louria pass for a five-on-three goal late in the second period, so it was a strong offensive performance for underclassmen overall. That's encouraging considering the makeup of the team, but so is allowing only 18 shots on goal and keeping a trio of goalies (Marotte, Dyllan Lubbesmeyer, Reid Cooper) largely insulated.

"We played pretty good," said the Frenchman Addamo, the first European-born player to suit up for the Colonials. "We had some ups and downs, but if you look at the game, everyone worked really hard tonight. The shots relate to how we played tonight."

Special teams will be a spot to target during the upcoming week of practice, no doubt.

Not long after Addamo scored from in front on the two-man advantage, RMU came up empty on a seven-minute power play resulting from a butt-ending penalty taken by Brock's Ryan Burton. Also, the Colonials allowed two power-play goals in four opportunities against, including Jake Ringuette's four-on-three goal at 8:08 of the third to tie the game.

A series of strong even-strength shifts midway through the third tilted the ice back in RMU's favor, though. Led by the upperclassman line of Jacob Coleman, Michael Coyne and captain Brandon Watt, the Colonials ensured they'd finish the night on a high note.

"There were some challenging spots in the game, but I thought our guys responded," Schooley said. "We got as many players in there as we could. We got a chance to see how people responded in game situations. All in all, we got a pretty good evaluation of our hockey team with this game.

"Now we have a short week and have to turn it around and do it for real against a top team in Bowling Green."

RMU's 15th season of Division I men's hockey will officially begin at 7 p.m. Friday, when Bowling Green pays a visit to Colonials Arena to begin a home-and-home non-conference series. The Falcons, who ranked a de-facto 23rd in the preseason USCHO.com national poll, started their season with an 8-2 throttling of Mercyhurst in Erie, Pa., on Saturday.

The opener begins a stretch that'll see the Colonials play nine of their first 11 regular-season games at home, with Atlantic Hockey Association foes Army, RIT and Niagara all scheduled to play two-game series on Neville Island before a home-and-home with Penn State on Nov. 9-10.