Moon Township, Pa.- April 30, 2009 ? Fourth-year head coach Nate Handrahan of the Robert Morris University women's ice hockey team recently announced the team award winners for this past season at the Hat Trick Club of the RMU Island Sport Center, while also naming the captains for the 2009-10 season.
Senior goalie Brianne McLaughlin (Sheffield Village, Ohio / Ohio Flames) was honored as the team MVP and as Defensive Player of the Year, while rookie forward Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) was named the team's Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Senior Kristen Miles (London Ontario / London Devillettes) was honored as the teams Student-Athlete of the Year, junior Chelsea Walkland (Pittsford, N.Y. / Rochester Edge) was given the Player's Player award and freshman Paige Pietrangelo (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) closed out the list of award winners as the team's Most Improved Player.
McLaughlin finished the season with 969 saves, which brought her career save total to 3,809 making her the NCAA DI all-time career saves leader. She recorded a .916 save percentage, which marked one of the top percentages in the CHA and the best of her career. In the Colonials first game of the season, she led the Colonials to a 3-2 victory over No. 3 Minnesota by collecting a career-high of 63 saves. She recently competed in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge and last summer competed in the U.S. Women's U-22 series. She was named USCHO.com National Defensive Player of the Week once during the season and was awarded with two CHA weekly honors by the league.
Delaney was RMU's primary offensive threat from the start of the season. She finished the year leading the Colonials with 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points, making her the 13th best rookie point scorer in the nation. Her 32 points and 18 goals broke two RMU single-season records. Throughout the season she accumulated eight multi-point games and scored at least one point in 19 contests. She was named CHA Rookie of the Week twice and CHA Offensive Player of the Week once during the season.
Miles finished the year second on the team in goals and points with 11 and 24, respectively. She was also tied for first in assists with 13, which was a career-high. In RMU's impressive shut-out victory over Wayne State this season she tallied the Colonials lone goal. She will graduate from Robert Morris with a 3.85 GPA as an environmental science major.
Walkland was a strong presence on the ice this past year and was the Colonials top assist provider with 14. She finished the season fourth on the team with 19 points. Throughout the season Pietrangelo became more of defensive threat for opponents each and every game. In the Colonials final regular-season contest she scored her first career goal.
In addition to naming the 2008-09 award winners, Handrahan announced sophomore Whitney Pappas (Evergreen, Co. / Belle Tire) as the 2009-10 captain and named juniors Walkland and Jacki Gibson (Burlington, Ontario / Burlington Barracudas) and sophomore Sara O'Malley (Guelph, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) as assistant captains.
“We are very happy with the direction of our leadership,” said coach Handrahan. “This group is a mature group of players who take being a Colonial very seriously. By having a large freshmen class coming in next year it is important to have a strong, united group to lead them and our returning players. We are confident that they will do an outstanding job.”
The Colonials are coming off one of their best seasons to date after earning a program record five league wins and a 12-20-3 overall record.
