Game Notes in Complete PDF Format

Robert Morris @ Wayne State
Friday, January 15 - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 16 - 2:00 p.m.
City Sports Center - Detroit, Mich.

Last Time Out - This past weekend the Colonials closed out their nonconference slate with two losses to the Connecticut Huskies. Game one took place at Mellon Arena in part of the 2010 Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase with the Huskies earning a 4-2 win. UConn scored the first four goals of the contest, but the Colonials refused to give up and scored two power play goals in the final period to end the game 4-2. Freshman Jamie Joslin scored her third career goal in the contest off assists from fellow freshmen Dayna Newsom and Cobina Delaney. Brianna Delaney scored RMU's second goal with senior Jacki Gibson and junior Sara O'Malley assisting on the play. In game two the Colonials struggled to find their groove, as Connecticut shutout RMU, 4-0. The Colonials played a strong defensive game throughout the first two periods, holding the Huskies to just one goal. However, Connecticut exploded in the third period and scored three goals, while holding the Colonials scoreless to earn the shut out win. Despite the loss freshman goalie Kristen DiCiocco tallied a career high 28 saves.

Scouting the Wayne State Warriors - This past week the Warriors took on Vermont and went 1-1 with the Catamounts in the series. The Warriors won game one by a score of 5-2 with Katrina Protopapas scoring two of WSU's five goals. After a scoreless first period Katrina Protopapas started the scoring at 7:02 in the second period, which was followed by two more Warrior goals by Jill Szandzik and Micheline Frappier. Protopapas increased the Warrior lead to 4-0 after scoring a power play goal at 6:52 in the third period. Vermont responded with two goals at 9:49 and 14:43 in the final stanza, but WSU's Alyssa Baldwin scored an empty net goal with one second left on the clock to finalize the 5-2 score. Vermont fought back in game two and earned a 2-1 win over the Warriors. The Catamounts scored one goal in both the first period and second period to earn a 2-0 lead. Wayne State scored a goal within 56 seconds of the third period, but was never able to surpass Vermont's one goal advantage. 

Wayne State is led by Protopapas, who has tallied nine goals and three assists for 12 points. Julie Ingratta leads the team in assists with eight and is tied for first on the team with 12 points. Alyssa Baldwin and Veronique Laramee-Paquette are tied for third on the team with 11 points. Delayne Brian and Lindsey Park have been splitting time between the pipes this season with Brian accounting for three wins, while recording a .912 save percentage and a 2.24 GAA. Park has also earned three wins for the Warriors and has registered a .903 save percentage and a 2.90 GAA.

Quotes from Coach Handrahan - "We are excited to be getting back to CHA play. Wayne state is a big strong team with a good nucleus. I imagine they will play hard, as every league game is a battle."

On the Internet - All Robert Morris men's and women's hockey home games can be heard live on the internet by visiting www.rmucolonials.com. Gero Von Dehn returns for his sixth season of play-by-play.

Oh My O'Malley - So far this season, Sara O'Malley has been the most reliable scorer for the Colonials. She currently leads the squad with 10 goals and is second on the team with 18 points. This past weekend she increased her point streak to five games by assisting on teammate Brianna Delaney's goal. Prior to assisting on Delaney's goal she has scored at least one goal in RMU's four previous contests. In RMU's series against Ohio State she was the only Colonial to score in both games of the series.   She has scored at least one point in 13 games and has collected five multi-point games, including a two-goal game in RMU's 4-1 win against Minnesota Duluth.

Colonials and the CHA - Since the programs beginning the Colonials have established a 10-47-4 record in CHA play, including a 0-4-1 record so far this season. They dropped two contests to Syracuse, fell to Mercyhurst once and went 0-1-1 against Niagara.

Blues of Twos - This season the Colonials have had players score 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 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.

Power Recovery- The Colonials have recently been struggling on the power play, but this past weekend they were able to end their streak of games without a power play goal by scoring two against Connecticut at Mellon Arena on January 8. Although they are still last in the CHA with a .122 conversion percentage, they are ranked second in the league for penalty killing percentage with a .843 percentage. They have allowed just 14 opponent power-play goals on 89 attempts.

Struggles on the Road - The Colonials are suffering from a seven-game road winless streak and will look to snap that streak this weekend against Wayne State. Their last road win came against #6 Wisconsin on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009.

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.

New Year Resolution - In the month of January the Colonials are 4-27-2 all-time and have never had a winning or even record in the first month of the year. If the Colonials sweep their next two opponents they will wrap up the month of January with a 4-4-0 record, which will be the first time the Colonials post a record at or above .500 in January.

"Three" is the Magic Number - For most people, the luckiest number is seven, but for the Colonials three is their target number. When the Colonials score three or more goals they are 4-2-0 against their opponents.

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, the Colonials soon started another streak of winless overtime games. They fell to Wisconsin 3-2 after 3:13 in overtime on Nov. 7, 2009 and left their game against Niagara knotted 2-2 after five minutes of overtime on Nov. 15, 2009. 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.

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.