The first and only Robert Morris men's hockey coach has been targeting this season, the program's fourth, since he began helping to build it from scratch.

"We put an emphasis on years three and four," Derek Schooley said yesterday.

So far, so good.

The Colonials (5-3) have beaten two ranked teams, upsetting No. 8 Boston University, 3-2, in their season opener at the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, Alaska, and splitting two games with No. 19 Niagara last weekend. Their only other losses were to No. 13 Wisconsin.

Robert Morris, which never has been ranked, has started to earn some votes in the college hockey polls.

With 14 seniors, Robert Morris is aiming for its first NCAA tournament berth after reaching a program-best 14 wins and advancing to the championship game of the College Hockey America tournament last season before falling to Alabama-Huntsville, 5-4, in overtime. The conference winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAAs.

"We learned a lesson last year," Schooley said. "Sometimes, you have to suffer heartbreak before you take that next step forward. We knew this would be a big opportunity after last year to take some big steps in the program this year."

The Colonials usually play at the RMU Island Sports Center on Neville Island, but tomorrow night at 8 will face visiting Ohio State (2-8) in the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase at Mellon Arena.

In a preliminary game, the club teams from Robert Morris and Washington & Jefferson will play at 5 p.m.

In the first Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase last year, the Colonials lost to No. 2 Notre Dame, 6-2, in front of a Robert Morris hockey record crowd of 3,412, then came back to upset the Fighting Irish, 4-2, in the second half of the home-and-home series. That was the Colonials' first win against a ranked opponent.

"It was a great turnout last year with Notre Dame, and we're expecting the same or even better," Schooley said. "Our players are looking forward to playing on the same ice as [Penguins star] Sidney Crosby and the same place where [Hall of Famer] Mario Lemieux played.

"We want to put on a good show. We want people to realize Robert Morris plays a good brand of hockey."

Ohio State was ranked early this season and started 2-0 but has lost eight games in a row. That doesn't mean the Buckeyes will be an easy target, said Schooley.

"Ohio State beat Wisconsin, who beat us twice," Schooley said. "They have six NHL draft picks on their roster, high level skill players. So this is going to be a big challenge.

The Colonials' leading scorer is senior center Ryan Cruthers (five goals, 10 points). His regular winger, junior Chris Margott, has a goal and seven assists. Junior winger Jason Towsley has four goals and seven points.

Robert Morris has recruited players from across the United States and Canada, but has two local players -- senior winger Sean Berkstresser of Apollo, a former member of the Junior-A Pittsburgh Forge, who has three goals, all on the power play, and two assists, and freshman defenseman Denny Urban of Baldwin, who has an assist.

Senior goaltender Christian Boucher has, in Schooley's eyes, gone from "a down year" last season to being "phenomenal" this season. He is 5-2 with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

"Our guys would like to get our program recognized," Schooley said. "The more you win, the more exposure you get."