College hockey connoisseur and men's hockey radio analyst Mike Prisuta contributes regular commentary to RMUColonials.com.

The play couldn't have been drawn up any better, it was executed to perfection and it delivered a goal the Colonials had to have.

It turned out to be the last one Robert Morris would score this season. Still, there are worse ways to be remembered.

A face-off win by junior center Daniel Mantenuto.

A tap from junior center Luke Lynch in the trigger position back to senior defenseman Eric Israel at the right point.

A walk along the blueline by Israel and then a pass back to senior winger Alex Tonge on the
half-wall.

A shot fake by Tonge and then a pass to sophomore winger Nick Prkusic along the goal line.

A pass by Prkusic under AIC defenseman Ryan Polin back to Mantenuto in the slot.

And, finally, a finish by Mantenuto with goaltender Francis Marotte pulled that tied last Friday's Atlantic Hockey Association semifinal at 2-2 at 18:55 of the third period.

You had to be there to believe it.

It turned out to be the last goal Israel and Tonge would be involved in at Robert Morris. Still, it stands as an example of how far the Colonials came this season, even if a goal by AIC's Blake Christensen at 1:44 of OT ended RMU's season.

"Everybody knew where they needed to be and they knew our options," head coach Derek Schooley explained. "There were a lot of really good plays made within that whole scenario."

There were a lot of really good plays made in the final 12 games by the Colonials.

They emerged from a 2-0 shutout of Holy Cross on Dec. 7 with an overall record of 7-7-1, and with a 6-4-1 mark in Atlantic Hockey.

Then the bottom fell out.

RMU went an agonizing 3-13 from Dec. 8 through Feb. 22.

But a tie on Feb. 22 at RIT and a regular-season ending sweep of a home-and-home series with Mercyhurst allowed the Colonials to sneak into eight place and host a first-round postseason series with Holy Cross.

RMU swept that, then won two of three on the road at No. 2 seed Bentley in a best-of-three in which the Colonials never scored first but found a way to score last (freshman winger Justin Addamo at 16:04 of OT in Game 3).

By now Robert Morris was a different team, one committed to grinding out games by getting pucks deep and getting pucks to the net, to not turning pucks over in the neutral zone, and to playing defense by cycling the corners and then driving the net in the offensive end.

"We found our M.O.," Schooley said.

Robert Morris went 6-1-1 in the eight games before the AHA semifinal against AIC, which went on to beat Niagara in overtime in the AHA championship game and land the league's automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament.

RMU's overall record of 16-22-2 was disappointing. But it's the Colonials' conference record-tying sixth consecutive trip to Atlantic Hockey's final four that stands as defining.

"You're judged by how you finish," Schooley said. "I give credit to our guys and our seniors and our upperclassmen who stuck with the process. It would have been real easy to abandon it in January but they stuck with it and made for a fun stretch drive. That's a credit to the upperclassmen, the type of people they are and the type of leaders they are."

Three players who touched the puck on the thing-of-beauty, extra-attacker, game-tying goal against AIC -- Mantenuto, Lynch and Prkusic -- will presumably be back to help lead the way next season.

So will junior defensemen Alex Robert, who took "a massive step this year," in Schooley's estimation.

So will a freshman class that numbered 11 on this year's roster, nine of whom played in at least 20 games. First-year forward Nick Lalonde tied for the team lead by appearing in all 40, Addamo played in 39 and defenseman Nolan Schaeffer had 37 games to his credit.

"They need to take a step on ice, in terms of production, and off ice in the weight room," Schooley said of his freshmen. "That will make them bigger, faster and stronger."

The goal next season will be what it's been since 2013-14, to get back to Atlantic Hockey's final four, win two games there and secure the program's second appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Coming close again this season wasn't what the Colonials intended, but it's something to build upon while preparing to take yet another run at it in 2019-20.

"We played our best hockey at the right time," Schooley said. "We came up one goal short."