Pittsburgh, Pa. – The holiday hiatus was no match for the red hot Robert Morris University women's hockey team, as the No. 9-ranked Colonials topped Brown, 5-1, Friday evening in 84 Lumber Arena.
 
With the victory, Robert Morris (13-1-5) extends its unbeaten streak to 12 games, and remains undefeated on home ice.
 
Redshirt junior forward Brittany Howard recorded her second career hat trick in the win, and elevated her goal total to a team-leading 12 on the season. Junior forward Amanda Pantaleo recorded a goal and an assist, while freshman forward Jaycee Gebhard and junior forward Jessica Gazzola also tabbed multi-point efforts with two assists apiece. Senior forward Maeve Garvey scored for the Colonials, and junior goalie Elijah Milne-Price recorded her first win in her first career start in net.

 
Brown (3-11) suffered its ninth consecutive loss at the hands of a surging Colonials squad that hasn't missed a beat since their last contest on Dec. 4. Howard completed the hat trick during a penalty-stricken third period, and secured a four-goal victory for the home team at 7:59 in the stanza. Milne-Price and the Robert Morris defense fended off six Brown power-play chances in the final frame to claim the win.
 
Howard scored the only goal in the second period, a power-play tally from Gebhard and sophomore defenseman Kirsten Welsh, to increase the Colonials' advantage to three goals.
 
There were no signs of rust to be seen from Robert Morris, as the Colonials won the race to the scoreboard early. On the first shot of the game, Pantaleo found the back of the net wide open, just 1:03 into the contest, to give RMU the quick 1-0 advantage.
 
Head coach Paul Colontino was pleased to see Robert Morris come out of the gates so quickly after the 25-day-long pause from competition.
 
"That's what you plan for, and execution is often another story, but that was just awesome," Colontino stated. "We came out with a couple really good shifts right off the hop and obviously our first shot was just a bullet in the top corner, so that's a great start coming off the break and it's probably just a good reflection of how hungry they were being on break. It's good to get things going again and we're really happy with the start."
 
Garvey cashed in on the Colonials' first power-play opportunity of the night to lift Robert Morris to a 2-0 lead at 5:58 in the opening frame. The Bears responded shortly thereafter with their lone goal of the evening to trim the Colonials advantage to one.
 
With just over one minute remaining in the first, Howard went five-hole on Brown senior netminder Monica Elvin to put RMU back up by two heading into the first intermission.
 
Milne-Price allowed one goal in her first-ever career start and win for the Colonials.
 
"She did great," Colontino said of his goalie. "Early on, the only goal she let in was coming off of that penalty kill. I thought our penalty kill was a little bit rough off the break. We weren't in sync the way we should have been. Brown had some great scoring opportunities, [Milne-Price] made some great saves, and as soon as we wrapped up the PK and we got five-on-five, we had a puck just squirt through. But we're really happy with the way she played and she should be happy too."
 
Robert Morris notched a season high in shots on goal to outshoot Brown, 43-20, and went 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Bears were 0-for-9 on the advantage. Milne-Price made 19 saves for the Colonials. Tonight's game marked the sixth time this season the Robert Morris limited its opponent to one goal. RMU recorded 11 blocks, while Brown posted 10 blocked shots.
 
The rematch between No. 9 Robert Morris and Brown takes place on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 2:05 p.m. in 84 Lumber Arena.
 
 
Milestone Watch
Head coach Paul Colontino is one win away from his 100^th career victory as head coach of the Robert Morris University women's hockey team.
 
With the first of her three goals tonight, redshirt junior forward Brittany Howard improved to fifth on the all-time individual career scoring list at RMU. She is also four assists away from becoming the all-time assist leader in program history.
 
Trending
Redshirt junior Brittany Howard has posted a point in 17 of 19 games on the season, including the Colonials' last nine.
 
First Line Fire
Top-line trio Amber Rennie, Brittany Howard and Jaycee Gebhard have combined for 76 points through 19 games, averaging 4.00 points per game.
 
Hats Off
Redshirt junior Brittany Howard recorded her second career hat trick in tonight's victory. It was her first game scoring three or more goals since she scored all four goals in a Colonials 4-2 victory over Maine during her rookie season on Nov. 29, 2013.
 
Goals on Goals
Robert Morris has scored three or more goals in its last seven games.
 
We Must Protect This House
RMU is currently undefeated on home ice.
 
 
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