Women's Hockey | 10/12/2017 3:23:00 PM
PITTSBURGH -- The
Robert Morris University women's hockey team will meet the University of Maine (3-1-0), winner of three straight games, for the first time since the 2015-16 season Friday and Saturday. Faceoff from Alfond Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday, with the Saturday contest beginning at 1:00 p.m.
The Colonials (2-0-0) swept the Black Bears with 5-1 and 3-0 victories at the RMU Island Sports Center Nov. 27-28, 2015, respectively. RMU is 10-4-1 all-time against Maine, with a 5-3-0 mark in Orono. The teams split a series Oct. 3-4, 2014 in Robert Morris's last visit.
In its most recent non-conference series, RMU opened its 13th NCAA Division I women's hockey regular season and 13th as a member of College Hockey America (CHA) with a sweep of Minnesota State Oct. 7-8. The Colonials are now 7-4-1 in season-opening series under two-time CHA Coach of the Year
Paul Colontino.
#10/(RV) Robert Morris at Maine - Oct. 13-14
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Key Notes
Robert Morris is 29-24-6 (.542) all-time versus Hockey East Association (HEA) teams, including a record of 18-5-6 (.707) under Colontino.
Top-line center
Brittany Howard, with 138 career points (58 goals, 80 assists) in 109 games played, became the new all-time points leader for Robert Morris this past Sunday. The historic point was accrued with her secondary assist on
Amber Rennie's third straight goal of the first period with 1:50 to play, and Howard followed the feat with a natural hat trick of her own that spanned the final two periods of RMU's eventual 6-2 triumph.
Prior to her milestone performance, Howard also sniped the winning goal for Robert Morris in its season-opening victory 40 seconds into overtime. It was her 13th game-winner as a collegian and first-ever OT tally. With six points (4 G, 2 A) in the season's first two games and the Colonials lifetime scoring record in hand, the redshirt senior forward was named CHA Player of the Week for the tenth time in her RMU career. Similarly, Howard won the award after the first weekend of her junior campaign.
Howard (4 G, 2 A) leads all active Colonials in career points against the Black Bears, having netted all four goals in a standalone 4-2 win over visiting Maine Nov. 29, 2013. Rennie has a two-goal game to her credit against the Black Bears, which came in RMU's Nov. 27, 2015 victory.
Robert Morris is No. 10 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and received votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll. It was No. 10 in the initial USCHO preseason poll Sept. 18, its first preseason top-ten ranking of any kind. The Colonials have been nationally ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 17 weekly sets released, and they have cracked 15 consecutive USCHO top tens.
You Can Go Home Again
First-year goaltender
Molly Singewald enjoyed the unique honor of making her first official NCAA appearance in her home state. The Farmington, Minn. native played the last 7:19 of the Colonials' 6-2 win at Minnesota State Oct. 8 in relief of
Lauren Bailey.
Well Isn't That Special
Special teams played a pivotal role in both Robert Morris wins last weekend. Last Saturday, the Colonials were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, including a critical one late in the third period with the game tied, 1-1. Robert Morris ended the weekend 87.5% on the PK, good for second in the CHA and 11th in Division I.
The RMU power play is converting at a 25.0% rate on the very young season, which puts it atop the CHA charts and puts the Colonials in a sixth-place tie nationally. North Dakota transfer
Sarah Lecavalier earned her first point as a Colonial on a 5-on-4 last Saturday, setting up the game-tying tally by
Kirsten Welsh with 12 seconds remaining in the second period.
Is This A Hat
At first,
Jaycee Gebhard appeared to have her first goal of the season last Sunday, sandwiched between
Amber Rennie's icebreaker and
Brittany Howard's record-setting assist, when she got a fortuitous bounce for a power-play tally that withstood official review. However, officials also determined Rennie got the final blade on the lucky puck, making her first collegiate hat trick possible. The Howard hatty that ensued, meanwhile, was the third of her illustrious career. Her most recent one, also, had been a natural HT, which came in a 5-1 win over Brown at the RMU Island Sports Center Dec. 30, 2016.
As if last Sunday weren't historic enough, Gebhard, the erstwhile national rookie of the year, found her own way into RMU folklore with a double hat trick--in assists, that is. By figuring in on each of Rennie's and Howard's goals, Gebhard tied a Robert Morris single-game record. The only other six-assist game was by Maria Olausson against Chatham Oct. 27, 2006.
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