RMU vs. Wisconsin Game Notes

Robert Morris vs. No. 6 Wisconsin
Friday, November 6 - 2:07p.m.
Saturday, November 7 - 2:07 p.m.
Kohl Center - Madison Wisconsin

Top Story - The Robert Morris University Colonials travel to Madison, Wisc. on Friday to take on Defending National Champion Wisconsin and continue their six-game road trip. They face the No. 6 Badgers in game two of the series on Saturday. The Colonials are coming off their first bye week of the 2009-10 season and earned two wins in their most recent competition against Maine. In game one the Colonials topped the Black Bears, 3-1. Freshman Jennifer Kindret scored the opening goal just 2:30 into the first period, marking her first collegiate goal. Brianna Delaney and Sara O'Malley also captured goals in the victory. In game two, the Colonials and the Black Bears battled through 60 minutes of scoreless action, but within 44 seconds of overtime Kelsey Thomas scored her first career goal to give the Colonials the 1-0 win.  Daneca Butterfield finished the weekend with a .979 save percentage, tallied 47 saves and earned her second career shutout.

Scouting the Badgers - The Badgers are coming off a sweep against No. 2 Minnesota. Wisconsin topped the Gophers 4-2 on October 30 and completed the sweep the following night with a 5-2 victory. Brooke Ammerman led Wisconsin in the two wins by scoring three goals and adding one assist. Geena Prough and Kelly Nash also captured three points in the victories. The two wins stopped an eight-game winning streak for the Gophers.

Wisconsin is currently led by their top returning scorer from 2008-09, sophomore Brooke Ammerman, who has accumulated four goals and four assists for eight points in eight games played thus far. Mallory Duluce is second on the team in points with seven and leads the Badgers with five goals.

Robert Morris is 0-4-0 against Wisconsin in the all-time series, but has not faced the Badgers since October 7, 2007.

Quotes from Coach Handrahan - "We are very excited to be traveling to play the Defending National Champs.  They have a great tradition of winning and I expect the series to be a great test for us. They are coming off a sweep of #2 Minnesota last weekend, but we will be rested and energized after a week off and a sweep on the road against Maine.  Should be a ton of fun!"

Last Meeting - The last time the Colonials and the Badgers met was on October 6-7, 2007. Wisconsin took both games by scores of 3-0 and 3-1.  In the two losses, former Colonial goalie Brianne McLaughlin racked up 88 saves and in RMU's 3-1 defeat senior Mallory Giambra scored RMU's lone goal late in the third period. However, this was a vast improvement from the first time the Colonials took on the Badgers in the 2006-07 season when they fell to Wisconsin by scores of 10-0 and 5-0.

Colonials Against Nationally Ranked Opponents - The Colonials' contest against Wisconsin will mark the fourth nationally ranked team RMU has faced so far this season. Although the Colonials are 1-4-0 against nationally ranked opponents, RMU has produced very competitive contests against each of these opponents.  In the five games combined, the Colonials have scored 14 goals and limited their top opponents to just 19 goals. In addition, in the four games the Colonials were defeated two of them were one goal games and one was won by their opponent in overtime.

Colonials and the WCHA - The Colonials are 3-12-2 against WCHA opponents since the programs beginning in 2005-06 and earned one of those wins this season against No. 4 Minnesota Duluth. Over the past four years Robert Morris has also secured wins over Minnesota and Bemidji and has recorded two ties against St. Cloud State.

Conquering Overtime - In the past, Robert Morris has struggled in overtime games, but on Saturday, October 24 the Colonials came out victorious in a 1-0 overtime win against the Maine Black Bears. The win marked RMU's first overtime win since November 10, 2007, which happened to be a 3-2 win, also against Maine. Overall, Robert Morris is 3-8-8 in overtime contests.

Freshmen Firsts - In RMU's most recent contests against Maine Black Bears, the Colonial freshmen made a big impact in RMU's two wins over the Black Bears. In game one Jennifer Kindret scored her first collegiate goal and Jamie Joslin scored her first career assist at 2:30 in the first period and followed it with another assist in the second period to also mark her first multi-point game. In game two, Kelsey Thomas came to the rescue and scored the lone goal of the contest 44 seconds into overtime to win the game for the Colonials. The goal marked her first collegiate goal.

Colonials in the CHA - After sweeping the Maine Black Bears on October 23-24, junior goalie Daneca Butterfield was honored by the CHA as the Defensive Player of the Week for her performance in the two victories. Butterfield racked up 47 saves, a .979 save percentage and allowed just one power play goal in both games. In Friday's win, she made 18 stops and registered a .947 save percentage. Her impressive play continued on Saturday when she made 29 saves in route to RMU's 1-0 overtime victory and her second career shutout.  The CHA weekly honor marks her second of the season.

Really Special Teams - In the Colonials first eight games of the season they have held their opponents to just four power play goals on 39 opportunities, which accounts for a .897 penalty kill.  Robert Morris has always been strong defensively, and with five of its six defensemen having at least a year of experience under their belts, the Colonials will continue to cause teams to struggle on the power-play.

Oh My O'Malley - Junior Sara O'Malley has been a reliable scorer for the Colonials since her rookie year. She wasted no time in the 2009-10 season to utilize her abilities, as she scored two goals in Robert Morris's 4-1 win over the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. She is currently on a four-game point streak, having contributed either a goal or an assist in RMU's games against St. Lawrence and Maine. She currently leads the Colonials with eight points this season, bringing her career point total to 45, which ranks fifth in the all-time record books.

Preseason Predictions - Robert Morris was selected second in the 2009-10 College Hockey America women's ice hockey coaches' poll, which is the highest the Colonials have ever finished since the start of the program.   Defending conference champion and national runner-up, Mercyhurst collected four first-place votes and 16 points as the preseason favorite to win the conference. Robert Morris landed the second spot with 12 points and Wayne State was chosen third, earning one first-place vote and nine points. Syracuse grabbed the fourth spot with eight points and Niagara closed out the poll in fifth with five points.  Sophomore Brianna Delaney was the only Colonial to earn a spot on the Preseason All-CHA Team. Mercyhurst led the league with five members of the Preseason All-CHA team, while Wayne State had two and Syracuse had one.