Complete Game Notes in PDF

Robert Morris vs. Ohio State
Saturday, January 2 - 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 3 - 2:00 p.m.
OSU Ice Rink - Columbus, Ohio

Last Time Out - Robert Morris is looking to bounce back after a 6-2 loss to No. 1 Mercyhurst back on December 5. Junior Sara O'Malley scored the first goal of the contest at 9:02 in the first period off assists from Brianna Delaney and Maria Stoa, but the Lakers surged back with the next five goals to take a 5-1 lead. Delaney scored RMU's second goal, but the Lakers continued to dominate the game and added another goal before the end of the contest to earn the 6-2 victory. The second game of the series was postponed until February 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Scouting the Ohio State Buckeyes - Just like the Colonials, Ohio State is also returning to action after competing in just one series over the past five weeks. In their most recent contests against St. Cloud State, the Huskies and the Buckeyes battled to a 2-2 overtime tie in game one and topped SCSU the next day, 2-1. Tina Hollowell and Kelly Wild scored OSU's two goals in game one and the second day power play goals by Langan Hokey and Natalie Spooner led the Buckeyes to a victory upon closing out the 2009 year.

Langan Hokey leads the Buckeyes with 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points. Natalie Spooner and Laura McIntosh are tied for second on the squad with 20 points apiece. Chelsea Knapp will be the Buckeyes probably starting goalie as she has racked up a 3.13 GAA, a .887 save percentage and five wins in 16 games between the pipes.

Ohio State is headed by Jackie Barto who is in her 11th season coaching the Buckeyes. She is the first and only OSU head coach and in her 10 seasons has led the program to an overall record of 147-185-34. She has coached four AHCA All-Americans and served as the head coach for the U.S. National Team in 2008.

Quotes from Coach Handrahan - "Any time you get an opportunity to play a big school it is a big deal.  It is even more magnified when it is Ohio State, a school that is well recognized around Pittsburgh.  They have a lot of great players and we are looking forward to getting the second half of our season under way."

Blues of Twos - This season the Colonials have had players score at two points 16 times with Sara O'Malley and Brianna Delaney performing the feat five times apiece. However, no Colonial seems to be able to break the two-point barrier. Since the program's beginning there have been 25 occasions where a Colonial has scored at least three points in a game with the record being held by Maria Olausson, who scored seven points against Chatham on October 27, 2006.

Colonials and the WCHA - Although this will be RMU's first meeting against the Ohio State Buckeyes, they will not be the first WCHA team the Colonials have faced. Over the years, Robert Morris has established a 5-14-2 record against teams in the WCHA with two of them coming this year against No. 4 Minnesota Duluth and No. 6 Wisconsin. In past years RMU has earned wins over Minnesota, Minnesota State and Bemidji. On the other hand, Ohio State is 7-2-3 against teams from the CHA (Mercyhurst 0-2-0, Niagara 5-0-3, Wayne State 2-0-0)

Colonials Against Nationally Ranked Teams - The Colonials have faced five nationally ranked opponents so far this season and have put on spectacular showings in every game. On November 6, the Colonials topped the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers 3-1, which marked their second win over a nationally ranked opponent this season. They defeated No. 4 Minnesota Duluth, 4-1 on October 3, 2009. In addition, although falling to No. 10 Boston University on October 9 and No. 6 Wisconsin on Nov 7, they forced both teams into overtime. In three out of six losses to nationally ranked opponents the Colonials have only been defeated by one goal.

Dynamic Duo - Junior Sara O'Malley and sophomore Brianna Delaney have led the Colonial charge from the very start of the season. The combined duo accounts for nearly half of the Colonials goals with eight apiece. Delaney leads Robert Morris with eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points, while O'Malley has chipped in eight goals and seven assists for 15 points. Delaney has captured five multi-point games and has earned at least one point in 13 of 17 contests, which includes one game-winner. She is also tied for fourth in the league and 13th in the nation with four power play goals. O'Malley has also recorded five multi-point games, including a two-goal performance in RMU's 4-1 win over No. 4 Minnesota Duluth on October 3, 2009. She has scored at least one point in 10 out of 16 contests.

Defense Wins Games - The Colonials are undefeated when holding their opponents to one goal or less, which shows that a strong defensive unit can win games. On the other hand, the Colonials are 0-11 when they have let their opponents score three or more goals.

Kindret Killin It ... - Freshman Jennifer Kindret is tied for first with Kelsey Thomas for rookies scoring with three goals. In RMU's impressive 3-1 win over Wisconsin, Kindret tallied two of RMU's three goals, which makes her one of only two Colonials this season to record two goals in one game. She recorded another goal earlier in the season in RMU's win over Maine.

The Woes of Overtime - The Colonials conquered their streak of eight winless overtime games played on October 24, 2009 when a goal by Kelsey Thomas gave RMU a 1-0 win over Maine in the extra period. However, during the past two weeks the Colonials started another streak of winless overtime games. They fell to Wisconsin 3-2 after 3:13 in overtime and left their game against Niagara knotted 2-2 after five minutes of overtime. Since the program's beginning the Colonials are 3-9-9 in overtime games.

Captain Pappas - Junior captain Whitney Pappas has proved her ability to lead this team in the 2009-10 season. She is currently tied for third on the team with three goals. She scored the Colonials first goal of the season against Minnesota Duluth on October 2 and assisted on RMU's second goal then next night against Duluth when the Colonials won 4-1. On October 9, she recorded the game-tying goal against No. 10 Boston to send the contest into overtime and she scored one goal and one assist in the series against St. Lawrence.

Kelsey in the Klutch - Although Kelsey Thomas has only scored three goals so far this season, two of them have been at crucial points for the Colonials. She scored her first goal against Maine 44 seconds into overtime to win the game for the Colonials 1-0. In RMU's game against Niagara, Thomas found the net with eight seconds left in the third period to knot the score 2-2 against Niagara and force overtime. She is tied for first with Jennifer Kindret for rookies scoring with three goals.

Quality vs. Quantity - Robert Morris has certainly shown that the quality of your shot is often times more important than how many are made during a game. The Colonials have outshot their opponents in five games this season, but have only won one of those contests. On the other hand, Robert Morris has been outshot 11 times this season and won four of those games.

Freshmen Fury - As the season progresses the Colonial freshmen continue to get stronger and stronger. In the first eight games the RMU freshmen accounted for just four goals and in the past nine games the Robert Morris freshmen have contributed eight goals with two of them being game-winners. In RMU's series against the Syracuse Orange the Colonials scored just two goals with both of them coming from rookies.

Butter on a Roll - Over the past four seasons the Colonials have had a strong goalie to secure the Robert Morris net. A few months ago this goalie, Brianne McLaughlin, was chosen to compete on the U.S. National Team and many were wondering if RMU would be able to fill this position with someone as strong. However, junior goalie Daneca Butterfield stepped up to the challenge and has been resilient and consistent from the start of the 2009-10 season. She has been a key factor in both RMU wins over No. 4 Minnesota Duluth and No. 6 Wisconsin. Combined from both wins she totaled 73 saves and a .973 save percentage. After 17 games she has established a .909 save percentage, a 2.92 GAA and has been named CHA Defensive Player of the Week three times this year.

Struggles at Home - After the first-half of the season the Colonials have been having a tough time on home ice with only a 1-4-0 record. This season is the first time since 2006-07 that Robert Morris will start the second-half of the season below .500 on home ice.

Power Streak - The Colonials have scored at least one power-play goal in its last three games, which marks their longest power-play streak since the start of the season. The record for the longest RMU power-play streak was set in 2007-08 when the Colonials scored at least one power-play goal in 11 straight games (10/26/07 - 11/25/07).

Olympic Bound - Brianne McLaughlin - Former RMU goalie Brianne McLaughlin was selected as one of three goalies to the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team. The U.S. team, which includes three goaltenders, six defensemen and 12 forwards, will continue competing in the Qwest Tour until departing for the Olympics on Feb. 7. The opening ceremonies are slated for Feb. 12, with Team USA's first game taking place on Feb. 13 against China.                      

The roster highlights six Olympians and 19 World Champions. The team was selected from the 23 players who made up the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team. The group has been training in Blaine, Minn., at the National Sports Center's Schwan Super Rink since early September, in addition to competing on the Qwest Tour and in two international tournaments. 

McLaughlin was a member of the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team, the 2008-09 U.S. U-22 National Team and was a participant in the 2009 Frozen Four Skills Challenge. In addition, last year she became the NCAA Division I All-Time Career Saves Leader with 3,809 and was named to the All-CHA First Team. Her résumé includes three USCHO.com National Defensive Player of the Week honors, 12 CHA Defensive Player of the Week awards and four consecutive years on the All-CHA team.

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.