College hockey aficionado, Pittsburgh media personality and RMU men's hockey radio analyst Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary. This is his latest.

It's not quite the most wonderful time of the year, but it's right up there.

The Three Rivers Classic may be staged in early January rather than late December this season, but if previous events are any indication it will have been worth the wait.

"Seeing the high-level teams coming in, seeing the enthusiasm with our university and our hockey program and playing on a big stage always gives you a little bit of a bump," Robert Morris head coach Derek Schooley observed this week.

"I was watching the U.S. game in the World Junior Championship (Wednesday night) and there were ads for it on TV. You hear about it on the radio. This is a big-time college hockey tournament and we've done well here."

The Colonials will host Brown at 8 p.m., Friday, at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, but the seventh-annual Three Rivers Classic opens with a top-15 matchup between No. 1 Saint Cloud State and No. 14 Union at 5 p.m.

The two winners on Friday will meet for the tournament championship at 8 p.m., Saturday, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The two losers on Friday will play the third-place game at 5 p.m., Saturday, at the home of the NHL's Penguins.

RMU has captured three of the first six tournament titles. Highlights over the years have included 99 stops on 99 shots from goaltender Eric Levine in 2012, being awarded Confluence Cups from the likes of Dan Bylsma and Bill Guerin of the Penguins, and beating a pair of ranked teams in succession (No. 14 Penn State and No. 8 UMass-Lowell) in 2015.

Even when the Colonials have come up short, the event has been memorable.

Current NHL All-Star Johnny Gaudreau of Calgary put on a show in the Classic with No. 7 Boston College in 2013. And last season's championship game saw No. 11 Providence edge RMU, 2-1, a hard-fought game from which the Colonials emerged with "a little bit of swagger," in Schooley's estimation.

It's worked out that way more often than not. The back-to-back format of the four-team event can have a residual effect in terms of experience gleaned no matter the ultimate result.

"It's almost like a mini-Atlantic Hockey Final Four or a mini-NCAA Regional if you're lucky enough to win Atlantic Hockey," Schooley said. "It's a big deal for us."

St. Cloud State, the alma mater of current Penguins forward Matt Cullen and former Penguins forward Ryan Malone, is the first No. 1 team to appear in the Classic. The Huskies (13-1-2) have been to eight of the last 13 NCAA Tournaments, including the 2013 Frozen Four held right here in Pittsburgh. Herb Brooks coached St. Cloud State's last NCAA Division II team in 1986-87.

No. 14 Union (9-4-4) has been to four of the last eight NCAA Tournaments. The Dutchmen finished third in 2012 and won the National Championship in 2014. Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was plus-7 in Union's 7-4, title-clinching victory over Minnesota.

Meanwhile, Brown (3-7-3) brings Ivy League tradition and a men's hockey history that dates back to 1897-98.  

Robert Morris (8-9-1) has an all-time record of 22-32-3 against teams ranked in the USCHO.com Top 20. The Colonials' 5-2-0 mark in Classic games against ranked teams includes Cup-clinching victories over No. 5 Miami (1-0) in 2012, No. 8 UMass-Lowell (5-3) in 2015 and No. 14 Quinnipiac (5-2) in 2016.

"You have to come out and have a high compete level," Schooley said. "You have to be ready to battle."

That has become a trademark of the Three Rivers Classic.