Women's Hockey | 1/11/2018 9:16:00 PM

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 9/9 Robert Morris women's hockey team concludes the non-conference portion of its regular season at No. 8/8 Ohio State Friday at 6:07 p.m. and Saturday at 3:07 p.m. The Colonials, still atop the College Hockey America (CHA) standings, are coming off a home split with CHA foe Syracuse Jan. 5-6, including a 5-2 win at home last Friday.

This is the first meeting between these teams since RMU (12-4-3, 6-2-2) split a series with the Buckeyes (13-5-4, 8-2-4-3) at Colonials Arena Nov. 24-25. Its 3-2 overtime victory in the series finale marked the first Robert Morris win over a ranked opponent since Jan. 18, 2014, as well as the first at the Island Sports Center since Nov. 9, 2013.

The Colonials last won at OSU Ice Rink Nov. 26, 2013 by a 2-1 score. They are unbeaten in five of their past seven games against Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) opponents.

No. 9/9 Robert Morris at No. 8/8 Ohio State
Jan. 12 - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
Jan. 13 - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS

Key Notes

Sarah Lecavalier scored her career-high fifth goal in a Colonials uniform Jan. 6. For her this series is a reunion with former University of North Dakota and current OSU associate head coach Peter Elander and ex-UND teammate Charly Dahlquist, daughter of former Pittsburgh Penguin Chris Dahlquist.

Elijah Milne-Price picked up her conference-leading 11th win of the season last Friday. She is still pacing all CHA netminders with a .735 win percentage.

With her assist on the first RMU goal of the 2018 calendar year, Jaycee Gebhard collected her 66th career point (26 G, 40 A) to pass Cobina Delaney for ninth on the Robert Morris all-time scoring list.

Amber Rennie became the eighth player in team history to score 30 career goals with her game-winner last Friday. She surpassed 2005-08 teammates Morgan Beikirch and Megan Picnic for eighth on the RMU career chart.

Last Friday, for the first time in program history, Robert Morris completed and won a regular-season game without being whistled for a single penalty.

Brittany Howard was nominated for the Dapper Dan Charities Pittsburgh Sportswoman of the Year award. She became the third RMU women's hockey nominee and first since Brianna Delaney and Kristen DiCiocco in Jan. 2012. In the 2017 calendar year, Howard registered 43 points (24 G, 19 A) en route to the program's single-season assist record, first-ever CHA scoring title, first-ever CHA Player of the Year award and first regular-season conference championship, as well as Robert Morris women's hockey's all-time scoring crown. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will publish the winner later this month.

RMU was tabbed No. 9 in both the first USCHO.com Division I Poll and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll Women's Polls of 2018. The Colonials have been ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 27 sets released.

Chasing History

Brittany Howard, with 72 career goals, needs just two more to surpass her former teammate, Rebecca Vint '15, as RMU's all-time leader. They are the only two Colonials to ever top 70. Howard ended November on a five-game goal streak, her longest since the six-game run on which she went to begin the 2017-18 season. Her 90 lifetime assists are tied for the second-most career helpers of any active NCAA player entering Friday. Howard hurdled Vint as the all-time points leader in Colonials history Oct. 8, and her 162 career points are the second-most in the NCAA. She ranks fifth in D-I with 18 goals, topping D-I with three shorties. She leads CHA with 30 points overall, seven power-play points and four game-winning goals.

After notching her career-high 11th goal of the season Jan. 5, Amber Rennie needs just two more to catch Kelsey Thomas (2009-12) for seventh on the RMU career chart. Jaycee Gebhard needs just two more assists for sole possession of tenth all-time.

New Kids on the Block

Emily Curlett blocked a series-high eight shots versus Syracuse. Meanwhile, her power play goal Jan. 6 was the sixth by an RMU rookie, the most in CHA. Curlett leads all CHA defenders with 49 blocked shots, and her 11 points (5 G, 6 A) have put her third in the conference in overall rookie scoring.

Lexi Templeman, CHA Rookie of the Month for November, and Rookie of the Week Dec. 11, is tied for the CHA rookie lead in goals (6) and second in points (13), and leads CHA rookies with four power play goals.

Take My Puck, Please

Jaycee Gebhard was 14-for-16 on faceoffs last Saturday, one of the best single-game efforts by an RMU player this season. Jessica Gazzola won 15 of 20 draws at Lindenwood Nov. 3 and Natalie Marcuzzi won all five of hers at LU Nov. 4. Brittany Howard's season-high 24 wins vs. Ohio State Nov. 24 are also of note.

An "A" for Effort

Gebhard leads CHA with 16 assists and also leads the conference with an average of 0.89 apples per game, also ranking 11th in Division I. She is the only player in the nation to have recorded four or more assists in two or more games this season.

Resume Builder

RMU sits No. 12 in the national Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and No. 11 in the PairWise Rankings after its split with Syracuse. Both sets of rankings help determine NCAA Tournament seeding.

You Can Go Home Again

Pittsburgh native Anjelica Diffendal scored her first NCAA goal in her second-ever home game Nov. 11 after appearing in seven road contests and rung up another versus the Buckeyes Nov. 24. On Nov. 4 she had the honor of skating on a line with former Pittsburgh Penguins Elite teammate Morgan Schauer in the latter's RMU debut. Diffendal joined Chelsea Burdzy (2011-12) and Pens Elite assistant coach Ashley Vesci (2012-16) as the third "Steel City" citizen to play for the program.

In Our Defense...

The Robert Morris defense has combined for 14 goals and 58 points, ranking fourth in the NCAA and making it the top-scoring defensive unit in CHA. The 50th point was a secondary assist by Leah Carey, while playing in her 100th career game, on the winning goal vs. Mercyhurst Dec. 2. Kirsten Welsh ranks eighth in the nation in points by defensemen with 16 (6 G, 10 A), also the fourth-most in Division I by an underclassman at her position.

Katherine Murphy matched her career best by blocking a game-high eight shots versus Mercyhurst Dec. 2, the most by any RMU player in a single game this season. The previous high was the seven blocked by Maggie LaGue at Penn State Oct. 29.

On Dec. 9 LaGue became the first Colonials defender with 50 career assists. Murphy enters Friday with 49. LaGue opened the scoring for RMU last Friday with her first goal since Dec. 31, 2016.

A League of Their Own

Brittany Howard shares the NCAA lead with three shorthanded goals, and Robert Morris is tied for third in the nation with six as a team. Jaycee Gebhard became the fourth different Colonial to collect a shorty this season with her breakaway goal at No. 4 Colgate Dec. 9.

Howard provided the game-tying goal for then-No. 10 Robert Morris 8:36 into the second period of its last win at OSU Ice Rink Nov. 26, 2013 and set up Rebecca Vint's game-winner 4:13 into the third. Vint returns to Pittsburgh Sunday with the NWHL's Isobel Cup champion Buffalo Beauts, who drafted Howard tenth overall Aug. 17, 2017, for a game against the Connecticut Whale.

Howard (1.29), Gebhard (1.25) and Vint (1.06) are the only players in Robert Morris history to average over a point per game for their careers. Howard has tied Vint's 0.57 goals-per-game clip.

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