Women's Hockey | 11/30/2017 7:49:00 PM

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 9 Robert Morris women's hockey team, still atop the College Hockey America (CHA) standings, hosts longtime CHA rival Mercyhurst in its final home series of the calendar year. The Colonials are coming off a non-conference split with visiting No. 5 Ohio State punctuated by a 3-2 overtime triumph last Saturday, their first win over a ranked team since Jan. 18, 2014.

RMU last defeated the nation's No. 5 team at Colonials Arena Dec. 8, 2012, a 2-1 victory over then-No. 4/5 Mercyhurst. Thea Imbrogno, a teammate of current points leader Brittany Howard, scored the decisive power play goal.

The Colonials (10-2-2, 4-0-2) are unbeaten in four straight games against the Lakers (3-9-2, 2-1-1). They swept Mercyhurst with a pair of 2-1 results on its most recent visit Oct. 28-29, 2016.

#9/9 Robert Morris vs. Mercyhurst - Dec. 1-2
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A free, continuous student shuttle will run Friday 6:00-10:00 p.m. from Lexington and Concord Halls to the front doors of the RMU Island Sports Center. Members of the Robert Morris men's hockey team will be at the front doors for one hour prior to each game to collect non-perishable food items for the West Hills Food Pantry of Moon Township.

Commemorative pucks compliments of Fruehauf Manufacturing will be given to the first 200 fans in attendance Friday. Admission to that game is free with the donation of a new, unwrapped toy to Toys for Tots. The Robert Morris University Athletic Department has partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on this annual community outreach program every year since 2008 to collect toys for area youths.

In addition, all fans will have the first of two opportunities this season to "Skate with the Colonials" after Friday's contest, free of charge with their own skates and only $3.00 to rent skates from the Island Sports Center's front desk.

All youth hockey players who come to Saturday's game in their team jerseys are eligible for $1.00 admission.

Fans can call 412-397-4949 or visit rmutickets.com for tickets.

Key Notes

Robert Morris is unbeaten in nine of its last ten games (8-1-1). Last season, en route to their first-ever CHA regular-season title, second-ever CHA Tournament crown and first-ever NCAA Tournament berth, the Colonials went unbeaten against Mercyhurst (3-0-1) for the first time in program history. Similarly, RMU went 4-0-1 versus the Lakers Feb. 18, 2012-Feb. 8, 2013, including its first CHA Tournament championship victory Mar. 3, 2012.

In their last meeting, the Colonials prevailed 2-1 in overtime and skated to a 3-3 tie Jan. 20-21, 2017, respectively, at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Kirsten Welsh opened the scoring with eight minutes left in the opener, and Maeve Garvey won it on a power play 1:04 into OT. In the finale, Jaycee Gebhard got, at the time, her NCAA-best seventh power play goal and added an assist.

Top-line center Brittany Howard was named CHA Player of the Week for scoring three goals versus OSU, including last Saturday's equalizer and game-winner. It was the fourth CHA honor for Howard, who was named CHA Player of the Week Oct. 9 and Nov. 13 and Oct. 2017 Player of the Month, this season. Overall, it was her 12th conference player-of-the-week nod at RMU.

Maggie LaGue (49) has overtaken Katherine Murphy (48) in the ongoing race to become the school's all-time assist leader among defenders. LaGue's second helper last Saturday came on Howard's 5-on-3 winner 1:36 into OT.



Aneta Ledlova scored Nov. 24 versus OSU, her first goal since Feb. 18, 2017. She had a goal and two assists in the last home series with Mercyhurst.

Amber Rennie assisted on both Howard goals Nov. 25. She now has seven points (2 G, 5 A) over her last two series and multiple points in three of her last four games. Rennie has eight points (4 G, 4 A) in the third period or later.

Robert Morris is No. 9 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. The Colonials have been ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 24 sets released.

Brittany's Brilliance

The game-tying goal by Brittany Howard against No. 5 Ohio State Nov. 25 was her 70th career goal. Howard is just the second RMU player besides Rebecca Vint '15 to score that many. After her OT winner, her second of the year and team-leading fourth game-winner, Howard now needs just three more goals to surpass Vint as RMU's all-time leader. Howard is riding a five-game goal streak, the longest of her career since the personal-best six-gamer that began her final collegiate season, and she ranks second in the NCAA in goals, with 17 entering Friday.

With her overtime goal Nov. 25, Howard set a new Robert Morris record with her 13th career multiple-goal game. The previous record for career multi-goal games was the 12 registered by former all-time points leader Rebecca Vint, now with the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) after playing with RMU 2011-15. Howard has five such games this season alone, while fellow forward Amber Rennie (two) and defender Emily Curlett are the only other Colonials with multi-goal games in 2017-18. Howard set up two Rennie goals Oct. 8 to help the latter earn her first collegiate hat trick.

In addition, the viral equalizer by Howard from RMU's most recent win made both No. 7 on the #NCAATop10 and No. 6 on the #espnWtop10 weekly countdowns. The team's all-time scoring queen enters December with the second-most career goals (71) and career points (158) of all active players in the nation.

A November to Remember

Offensively, Howard led all CHA players with eight goals and 11 points in November. Her goals-per-game average of 1.33 and four power-play points were also tops, as well as her 7.33 shots-per-game clip. Lexi Templeman led all CHA rookies in November with three goals, four assists and seven points. Templeman carried what ended up a five-game point streak into the month, and she has registered a point in six of her past seven games overall. Howard and Amber Rennie shared the CHA lead in plus/minus ( 9).

Defensively, Kirsten Welsh became the program's new career points champ among defenders Nov. 3. She led all CHA blue-liners with five assists and seven points in November. Emily Curlett had points in four straight Nov. 4-24 and shared second in CHA with a plus-8. Elijah Milne-Price won a CHA-best five of six November starts, including her 24-save performance against Ohio State Nov. 25.



#RiseAsOne

Robert Morris enters its last proper series of the calendar year 2017 with a 20-6-3 (.741) record in that span, including victories in seven of ten home games dating back to the middle of its historic 2016-17 campaign. Brittany Howard racked up a team-high 24 goals and 41 points over those 29 games. Jaycee Gebhard paced the Colonials with 25 assists during that stretch.

The RMU defense has combined for ten goals and 47 points entering December, making it the highest-scoring defensive unit in CHA. It is tied for third nationally with NCAA champ No. 4/4 Clarkson and ahead of forthcoming opponent No. 3/3 Colgate. Kirsten Welsh leads all active Colonials with four goals, seven assists and 11 points lifetime against Mercyhurst. Katherine Murphy has six helpers and seven points all-time versus the Lakers.

Back to the Future

In the championship game of the 2012 College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament at the RMU Island Sports Center, Brianna Delaney scored the game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Mercyhurst. The goal helped snap a streak of nine consecutive CHA Tournament championships by the Lakers and also earned the Stittsville, Ontario native a spot on the 2012 All-CHA Tournament Team. One of the most notable members of head coach Paul Colontino's first Robert Morris team, Delaney will be inducted in the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame in February. Colontino, a Mercyhurst alumnus, was named both CHA and USCHO (U.S. College Hockey Online) National Coach of the Year after engineering the largest year-to-year improvement in major college hockey that season.



RMU defeated No. 9 Mercyhurst 3-2 on Nov. 9, 2013 for what was its most recent victory over a ranked team at home prior to last Saturday. Kelsey Gunn scored the winning goal with 3:15 left in the first period, and Jessica Dodds made 25 saves in victory.

Jaycee Gebhard, who earned WHCA (Women's Hockey Commissioners Association) National Rookie of the Year honors last season, leads CHA and is tied for seventh in Division I with 15 assists. Gebhard also leads the conference with an average of 1.15 apples per game. With 64 career points (25 G, 39 A), she needs two more to pass Cobina Delaney for ninth in Colonials history.

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