Women's Hockey | 10/10/2019 11:46:00 AM

PITTSBURGH -- The Robert Morris University women's hockey team hosts its highest-ranked opponent in nearly nine years when it welcomes No. 2 Minnesota to the RMU Island Sports Center for a two-game non-conference series this weekend.

ROBERT MORRIS (2-0-0) 
vs. No. 2 MINNESOTA (4-0-0)
Friday, Oct. 11 at 3:05 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1:05 p.m.
STATS | VIDEO ($)

CATCHING UP
Robert Morris had last weekend off after handling Union by a combined score of 11-1 in the first series of the season. The Colonials were led offensively by senior captain Jaycee Gebhard and junior alternate captain Lexi Templeman, each of whom put up seven points in the series. The duo enters this weekend tied for second in Division I with 3.5 points per game.

Gebhard's hat trick in the first game was the second of her illustrious career, while Templeman's four-assist outing that same night tied for the third-most ever produced by a Colonial in a single game. Goalies Arielle DeSmet and Raygan Kirk each presided over a win, earning College Hockey America weekly awards in the process. Sophomore Gillian Thompson paced the defense with four assists. 

KNOW BOBBY MO
• The Colonials return 16 players from their latest championship outfit, headlined by Gebhard, RMU's No. 2 all-time leading scorer with 142 career points. The native of Saskatchewan led the CHA last season with 51 points (19g, 32a), setting a new RMU record in the process. She ranked first in the nation in power-play points (23) and assists (19), and was fifth in D-I with 1.42 points per game.

• In addition to All-CHA First Team representative Gebhard, the Colonials welcome back juniors Templeman and Emily Curlett, both of whom were named to the All-CHA Second Team last spring. Templeman, a forward, ranked second on the team in points (32) and assists (26), with the latter total being the third-highest in team history. Curlett, a defender, chipped in 11 goals, 10 assists and an incredible 148 blocked shots, which was the most in D-I.

• Goalie is a position of interest, with freshman Kirk joining returners Arielle DeSmet and Molly Singewald in a three-player stable. DeSmet, a sophomore from Vermont, took over the starter's role late last season, posting a .920 save percentage across 10 appearances (eight starts). Kirk, a Manitoban, won MVP of the 2019 World Under-18 World Championship and was invited to Team Canada's all-ages Development Camp in August.

• The Colonials welcome seven newcomers to the squad, five of them forwards. Redshirt sophomore transfer Michaela Boyle comes to Moon Township from Clarkson, where she helped the Golden Knights to the 2018 national championship as a freshman. Joelle Fiala (Saskatchewan), Marah Wagner (British Columbia), Maggy Burbidge (Nova Scotia) and Allyson Hebert (Ontario) all supplement the forward corps, while Anna Fairman (Michigan) adds to the blue line.

• Boyle's one-goal, two-assist opening weekend got her Colonials career off to a sizzling start, but she wasn't the only fresh face to get on the scoresheet early. Fiala, Hebert and Burbidge each earned an assist during the two-game sweep of Union, while Fairman and Wagner were both plus players and recorded multiple shots on goal.

• Once again, RMU will be a showcase for locally-developed hockey talent. Junior winger Anjelica Diffendal was raised in Robinson Township and played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite youth program in 2016-17 before joining the Colonials. She participated in all 36 games as a sophomore, scoring three goals and three assists.

• According to a preseason coaches poll, the Colonials were picked to finish second in the six-team CHA, with Mercyhurst getting the top spot. RMU, which received one first-place vote, has finished in the top half of the CHA in seven of the past eight seasons. The Colonials were also heard from in the first USCHO national poll of 2019-20, receiving one 10th-place vote for an unofficial standing of 13th in the survey.

• Once again, RMU will boast a robust non-conference schedule to go with its 20-game CHA slate. The Colonials will challenge each of the top four teams in the final USCHO poll of 2018-19, starting with national runner-up Minnesota at home Oct. 11-12. Last year's semifinalist Clarkson comes in Oct. 17-18, with Cornell set as the first road trip the following week. Finally, defending national champ Wisconsin will be the opponent Jan. 4 in Cranberry Township, Pa.

• Speaking of the holiday season, RMU is teaming up with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins for a first-of-its-kind four-team tournament to take place Jan. 4-5 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. In addition to Wisconsin, the Colonials will welcome Northeastern and Colgate to Cranberry; both teams finished in the USCHO top 10 last spring.

• Familiar faces return behind the bench, led by ninth-year bench boss Paul Colontino. He's assisted by associate head coach Logan Bittle '08, who enters his 10th season behind the bench after four years playing for the RMU men's team. Fellow alum Jen Kindret '13 joins the staff as an assistant; the former forward played under Colontino and Bittle at the end of her tenure a Colonial.

HISTORY LESSON
The Colonials have faced Minnesota four times previous to this, with all of those games taking place on the Gophers' home rink in Minneapolis. RMU has lost its past three in the all-time series, but a 3-2 victory over the third-ranked Gophers on Oct. 3, 2008, still resonates. On that night, future U.S. Olympian Brianne McLaughlin-Bittle '09 stopped a program-record 63 shots as the Colonials held on for a landmark victory.

Last year, RMU finished its fall semester at No. 2 Minnesota, dropping a pair at Ridder Arena. However, Gebhard made the most of the Colonials' lone goal in the series, using a quick release to extend her scoring streak to a school-record 14 games.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH
After falling one win short of its seventh national title last spring, losing to rival Wisconsin in the NCAA championship game, Minnesota has fired out of the gate in 2019-20. Brad Frost's 13th Minnesota squad has outscored its opponents by a combined margin of 23-2, sweeping Colgate and WCHA rival Minnesota State. Sophomore forward Taylor Heise is one of five Gophers to have averaged a point per game; her five goals and five assists put her fifth nationally in the points-per-game race.

This weekend, RMU will hunt its first-ever win against a top-two program in 20 tries. This will mark the first time since Nov. 20, 2010 that a team ranked as highly as the Gophers has invaded Neville Island. Nearly nine years ago, top-ranked Wisconsin dropped by for a two-game set before Thanksgiving.

FILM STUDY
"Last year, I came in confident. I wanted to be a leader and I wanted to get stuff done."

Junior alternate captain Templeman talked with Matt Gajtka about carrying over the mentality that led to her sophomore breakout, plus this year's huge offensive start alongside Gebhard and her future plans off the ice.

  

THE COLONTINO FILE
Returning for his ninth season in charge of the Colonials, Colontino boasts an overall record of 149-94-36. In his first year running the team, RMU claimed its first championship of any kind, the 2012 CHA tournament title, while improving by 13 victories. A two-time CHA Coach of the Year and a one-time USCHO National Coach of the Year, Colontino was also behind two 24-win seasons (2013-14, 2016-17) and the program's first NCAA tournament berth, in 2017.

Before coming to Robert Morris, Colontino had served as associate head coach at Mercyhurst since 2006. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach with the women's team at the University of North Dakota for four years. Colontino began his coaching career as an assistant with Mercyhurst in 2000. As a player at Mercyhurst, Colontino was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) co-Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and an All-MAAC First Team selection.

MARCH WITH THE COLONIALS
In addition to reports and videos on RMUColonials.com, check out Twitter and Instagram for news and updates throughout the season.

NEXT UP
The Colonials conclude a six-game season-opening homestand with a pair against another national semifinalist from a year ago. Clarkson will provide the opposition next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19.