PITTSBURGH -- For the
Robert Morris women's hockey team, playing for the name Robert Morris is always more important than playing for the ones on the backs of their jerseys, although rookie defender
Wasyn Rice has always carried her name as its own badge of honor.
Her brother R.T. (Robert-Tye) left her native Invermere, British Columbia for a shot in developmental camp with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks two summers ago. Her first name is borrowed from her great-great-grandmother's maiden name, slightly modified by her mother in keeping with a family tradition of carrying "Y"s in first names.
It still begins with a "W," however, which is the only letter that mattered to Rice after picking up her first collegiate "G."
"We're thrilled, and we're excited about winning on a Friday, because we need to start winning on Fridays. We're glad we finally broke that curse," she said, grinning.
Her second-period strike was followed by another beauty from junior assistant captain
Jaycee Gebhard in a 3-2 triumph by the Colonials (7-8-4, 5-1-1) over College Hockey America rival Penn State (7-8-2, 2-5-0) at the RMU Island Sports Center on what was no ordinary Friday night.
Gebhard also factored into the previous Robert Morris goal, which triggered the team's third annual Teddy Bear Toss to collect stuffed animals and raise funds for the Autism Society of Pittsburgh.
With 8:30 gone by in the first period, a faceoff win in the right wing circle by sophomore forward
Lexi Templeman fell to Gebhard, who flicked it promptly on goal from above the circle. Senior tri-captain
Amber Rennie appeared to deflect it past Jenna Brenneman from the inside edge of the circle for her seventh goal of the season, giving her one in three consecutive games.
The crowd of 672 fans, plus staffers, threw plush toys of all shapes, species and sizes onto the ice at Colonials Arena in response to Rennie, who was also credited with the tip-in goal of note in the team's previous Teddy Bear Toss game, Jan. 27, 2018--another victory over PSU.
Rennie is riding a career-high streak of five games with a point and has registered one in six of her last seven outings.
"It's always super fun to see the teddy bears get thrown on the ice. The players and staff have always done a good job with it, and it's morphing into a pretty nice tradition," said head coach
Paul Colontino, whose team is now unbeaten in 12 of 15 home games against the Nittany Lions since 2012.
"Great crowd, which is fantastic, and we thought our players did a great job on the ice, so we're pleased with the win."
Another senior member of their leadership group, defender and event organizer
Maggie LaGue, helped Rice open her NCAA account, while opening up RMU's lead.
LaGue outraced one of the Lions to a loose puck along the half-wall and fed it to Rice at the left point. The first-year blue-liner snapped it past everybody, including Brenneman, with 13:52 remaining in the second.
"Amazing," Rice beamed. "It didn't feel real at the start, but now it feels amazing."
Her fellow defender, meanwhile, continues to amaze on her own terms. LaGue, her event-planning duties comfortably behind her, became the third player in Robert Morris history to notch 70 career assists, also blocking four shots.
She also facilitated and participated in a ceremonial puck drop led by Mary Ellen Greacen, the Director of Operations at the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, and her autistic son Alec, a recent graduate of New Horizon School in Beaver, Pennsylvania and avid hockey fan.
LaGue later tied Thea Imbrogno '14 for second in program history with her 71st helper all-time on a Colonials power play, creeping toward the Penn State net from up high and looking poised to shoot before going to Gebhard on her left.
Gebhard then built up speed on the left side, going down low to Templeman, who then went right back to Gebhard for a one-timer. She finished the pretty tic-tac-toe play between the circles for her team- and conference-leading 11th goal of the year with 8:56 left in the middle frame.
"It was awesome. Everybody stepped up a little bit, and we played a full 60 minutes," said Gebhard after extending her career-long point streak to 12 games. "For the whole team, it was a great effort, and we found a way to put some pucks in the net."
She leads CHA with her 29 points, tying her with Loren Gabel for second place in Division I scoring. Gebhard is just two behind Gabel's Clarkson teammate, Elizabeth Giguere, for the NCAA lead through Friday.
Furthermore, Gebhard, with her ninth career game-winning goal, equaled 2018 RMU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Brianna Delaney for the third-most in team history.Â
It was a big answer for RMU, which saw Natalie Heising, right behind Gebhard on the CHA goal chart, squeeze a mid-range shot past
Lauren Bailey on the short side for a power play tally of her own with 10:45 until the second ice cut.
Bailey was sharp otherwise, making a season-high 30 saves for her sixth win as a senior. Her sparkling glove save on Kelsey Crow from in tight kept the Nittany Lions off the board in the final half-minute of the first period with Rice in the box for hooking.
The Colonials also stepped up on the penalty kill early in the third period and toward its conclusion, after PSU pulled Brenneman. After being saddled with a too-many-players bench minor with 2:25 to play, they thwarted a 6-on-4 advantage. Sophomore defender and national shot-blocking leader
Emily Curlett absorbed three attempts on goal in the process.
The Lions managed only a token score by Abby Welch on a mad scramble in front of the net as time expired.
"I think we've done a nice job, honestly, these last few games, of putting a good 60 minutes together--and overtime, when needed," Colontino said. "Sometimes, you've got to get a break here or there, but the fact is, we got some really nice goals, and we earned them. We worked hard for them."
Robert Morris meets Penn State again Saturday at 5:05 p.m. ET, its final home game of the Fall 2018 semester.
Fans can visit the Island Sports Center lobby for tickets, and admission is free with the donation of a new, unwrapped toy to the university's U.S. Marine Corps Reserve "Toys for Tots" initiative.
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
