Women's Hockey | 10/27/2017 11:33:00 AM
PITTSBURGH -- The No. 9
Robert Morris women's hockey team, now in its 13th season as a member of College Hockey America (CHA), plays its first CHA series of the 2017-18 campaign, for the first time in program history, in simultaneous defense of regular-season and conference tournament championships when it visits Penn State for a pair of 2:00 p.m. puck drops Saturday and Sunday.
RMU (5-1-0) is 14-4-2 all-time versus the Nittany Lions (2-5-1), including an 8-1-1 mark on the road since 2012. The teams split their last series, Feb. 17-18, 2017, at the RMU Island Sports Center, a 3-2 PSU win and a 2-0 Colonials victory. The Colonials are unbeaten, however, in their last three games (2-0-1) at Pegula Ice Arena, most recently sweeping Penn State 4-2 and 6-5 Dec. 3-4, 2016.
Robert Morris is coming off a non-conference sweep of Brown, 11-0 and 3-2, respectively, at Meehan Auditorium Oct. 20-21.
#10/#9 Robert Morris at Penn State - Oct. 28-29
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Key Notes
Brittany Howard leads all active Colonials in career points against the Nittany Lions with 16 (5 G, 11 A). She had four assists in that Dec. 2016 series.
Howard is riding a career-best goal-scoring streak of six games, eclipsing such a streak of four games Nov. 26-Dec. 7, 2013 early in her first collegiate season. Through Wednesday the redshirt senior leads the nation with nine goals and is one of four players atop Division I with 14 points.
Jaycee Gebhard was named CHA Player of the Week after scoring the game-winning goal at Brown last Friday and closing that series with seven points (G, 6 A) and a plus-8 rating. Gebhard leads the NCAA with 12 assists and shares the national plus/minus lead (+13) entering this weekend.
Defender
Emily Curlett earned CHA Rookie of the Week honors by opening her NCAA account with two goals and an assist at Brown last Friday and concluding that series with a plus-4 rating. In addition to being the least scored-upon unit in CHA (11 goals allowed), the Colonials defense has combined for 18 points (4 G, 14 A), which tops CHA and ranks No. 6 in the nation.
Curlett provided the primary helper on Gebhard's game-winner for that first RMU point last Friday. Fittingly, Gehard got the first apple on Curlett's first goal, the second shorthanded tally of the season by Robert Morris. It had only one all of last year, and it came versus PSU, from
Amanda Pantaleo, Feb. 18.
Elijah Milne-Price leads CHA with four wins, a 0.52 goals-against average and a .974 save percentage that also tops the national leaderboard.
Robert Morris re-entered the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll at No. 10 and shares the No. 9 spot in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll. The Colonials have been ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 19 sets released, including 18 USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. RMU has received votes in 24 consecutive USA Today/USA Hockey polls since Nov. 1, 2016.
What Doesn't Kill You...
The Colonials are the third different ranked opponent the Nittany Lions will have faced in one month, having already hosted defending NCAA champion No. 2/2 Clarkson Oct. 13-14 and opened their season at then-No. 5/5 Minnesota Duluth Sept. 29-30.
RMU ranks fourth nationally in strength of schedule. It is No. 5 in the PairWise Rankings and also No. 5 in the adjusted Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). Both of those influence postseason selection and bode well long-term for a Colonials squad seeking a return to the NCAA Tournament coming off its first-ever berth.
If You Ain't First, You're Last
A historic 11-0 blowout at Brown last Friday was a night of many firsts for Robert Morris:
   • It was the first time in the
Paul Colontino era the Colonials scored and won by double-digit goals.
   • It was the first collegiate shutout for
Elijah Milne-Price, the reigning CHA Goalie of the Week, who made 22 saves.
   • Three freshmen collected their first NCAA goals:
Emilie Harley,
Emily Curlett and
Lexi Templeman.
   • Sophomore
Sarah Lecavalier netted her first goal since transferring from North Dakota.
Natalie Fraser scored her first goal since Feb. 11 with :02 left in regulation to complete a come-from-behind 3-2 victory and sweep of Brown last Saturday. It was the first RMU goal in the last minute of a period since
Kirsten Welsh's power-play equalizer in the Oct. 7 season opener at Mankato. Last season Robert Morris got 12 last-minute goals, including three from
Brittany Howard.
Big Shot Bob(-by Mo)
The Robert Morris offense concluded its big night at Brown last Friday with 56 shots on goal, the sixth-highest single-game total in program history and most since Jan. 23, 2010, when it rung up 54 on Sacred Heart. Last Saturday, RMU was "held to" 51 by the Bears. Three of the program's ten highest single-game shot totals, in fact, have come against Penn State (53, Nov. 11, 2012; 57, Feb. 23, 2013 and 63, Feb. 22, 2013).
Individually,
Brittany Howard leads Division I with a 7.00 shots-per-game average. Most notably, she fired 13 pucks on net at Maine Oct. 14, which tied Kelsey Thomas (Mar. 1, 2013) for the second-most in a single game by a Colonial.
Apple Fest
Kirsten Welsh chipped in four assists at Brown last Friday, a personal single-game best. That was her best effort since her three assists in a 3-3 tie with Mercyhurst Jan. 21. Dating back to last season, RMU has won six of the past seven games in which Welsh had a point.
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