Women's Hockey | 10/19/2017 11:30:00 AM

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 10 Robert Morris women's hockey team continues non-conference play this weekend with two of its three scheduled road games against Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Hockey teams. The Colonials have the honor of helping the oldest women's college hockey program in the U.S. open its 2017-18 regular season, the 55th for Brown and 25th as an ECAC member.

RMU (3-1-0) has won all three all-time meetings with the Bears, including 5-1 and 5-3 victories at the RMU Island Sports Center Dec. 30-31, 2016, respectively. The latter was the 100th career coaching win for Paul Colontino. The Colonials' last visit to Brown was a 4-2 triumph on Nov. 23, 2007.

Their most recent non-conference series resulted in a weekend split with Maine in Orono Oct. 13-14.

(RV)/#10 Robert Morris at Brown - Oct. 20-21
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Key Notes

Top-line forward Brittany Howard has three career hat tricks, the second of which was a natural HT in the aforementioned Dec. 30, 2016 win over Brown. Howard got her latest one with three successive goals in an Oct. 8 victory at Mankato that saw the redshirt senior and assistant captain become the new Robert Morris all-time points leader. She enters Friday with 140 career points (60 goals, 80 assists) in 111 total games.

Fellow senior Elijah Milne-Price has taken full advantage of her increased workload in goal. "E.J." turned aside 15 quality shots last Friday to help the Colonials out-grind host Maine for her second win in as many starts, plus College Hockey America (CHA) Goalie of the Week honors--her first weekly conference award of any kind. Her 0.99 goals-against average and .950 save percentage top the early CHA leaderboard.



Junior Maggie LaGue led the defense with three assists in two games at Maine. RMU is tops in CHA and ranks eighth nationally in goals allowed.



The Bears are no stranger to stiff competition, and not just from the Colonials. Joining Brown in ECAC Hockey are fellow Ivy Leaguers Dartmouth, (RV)/(RV) Harvard, Princeton and Yale, who also open their seasons this weekend, and No. 10/(RV) Cornell. Furthermore, the overall ECAC points leader, No. 2/2 Clarkson, is the defending NCAA champion.

Robert Morris received votes in the latest USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and is ranked No. 10 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll. The Colonials have been nationally ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 18 weekly sets released, including 17 USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. RMU has received votes in 23 consecutive USA Today/USA Hockey polls since Nov. 1, 2016.

A Call to the Hall

One of the most noteworthy members of Paul Colontino's first Robert Morris team, Brianna Delaney will be inducted in the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. In four seasons in a Robert Morris uniform (2008-2012), Delaney compiled 121 points via 53 goals and 68 assists. She became the first player in program history to eclipse 100 career points and ranks fourth all-time in scoring. During her senior campaign in 2011-12, Delaney contributed 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points, as the Colonials posted a record of 19-9-4 (.656). In the championship game of the 2012 College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament at the RMU Island Sports Center, Delaney scored the game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Mercyhurst. The goal helped snapped a streak of nine consecutive CHA Tournament titles by the Lakers and also earned Delaney, a native of Stittsville, Ontario, a spot on the 2012 All-CHA Tournament Team. Colontino was later named CHA and USCHO Coach of the Year after that historic victory, and he spoke about Delaney's legacy after practice Wednesday:



See Ya in the Show, Kid

The matchup between RMU's scoring leader, Brittany Howard, and Brown's Sam Donovan, that team's three-time leader in goals, this weekend will not likely be their last. Donovan was drafted by the National Women's Hockey League's (NWHL) Connecticut Whale this summer and Howard, another top-ten pick, was taken by the Buffalo Beauts. On Aug. 17 the Isobel Cup champions made Howard the first active Colonial admitted to the professional circuit.

Squad Goals

Howard's highlight-reel goal at Maine last Saturday did more than just give her the CHA lead in goals with six. It made her just the second player in Robert Morris history to record 60 career goals. Furthermore, it went in the books as the second shorthanded marker of her illustrious career and the first for RMU since an Amanda Pantaleo shorty Feb. 18, 2017 versus Penn State--the only shorthanded goal it scored all of last season.
 
One of the Colonials' clutch players from their CHA title run, senior forward Jessica Gazzola netted her first goal of 2017-18 last Saturday, not to mention her first since her game-winner in the CHA final Mar. 4, 2017. RMU has won seven of its last eight in which Gazzola scored.

Howard has a goal in four straight games to begin the 2017-18 season. This is her longest such streak since another four-gamer during her first collegiate campaign Nov. 26-Dec. 7, 2013.

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