WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- Perhaps nowhere else is the parity in their sport more evident these days, as the
Robert Morris women's hockey team had to work overtime yet again to avoid being swept further into the chaos of the College Hockey America postseason chase.
The Colonials (12-11-6, 10-2-3), for the fourth time in 2018-19 and first time on the road, erased a third-period deficit to earn a result in their penultimate away game of the regular season, finishing at a 2-2 standstill with conference rival Lindenwood (6-18-3, 2-11-2) at the Lindenwood Ice Arena Friday night.
Robert Morris, in pushing its unbeaten streak to a season-long six games (4-0-2), inched closer to locking up one of two available first-round byes at the CHA Tournament Mar. 6-8. RMU picked up a point on third-place Syracuse, which fell six back with its loss at RIT, and it kept its four-point lead over second-place Mercyhurst, which also tied, at Penn State.
Additionally, the Colonials are unscathed in 19 of their past 20 OT contests, dating back to a 3-3 decision at Merrimack Oct. 22, 2016.
These CHA combatants battled to an identical score Oct. 26, 2018, their first meeting of the regular campaign, but this time it was Sophie Wolf standing on her head with 35 saves for the upstart Lions. Wolf made dazzling point-blank stops on RMU power plays in the second and third periods to keep the home team in the hunt.
Meanwhile, the Colonials saw another opponent play more opportunistically through the first 40 minutes despite holding a lopsided shot advantage (23-11). Lindenwood clung to a 2-0 lead until
Jaycee Gebhard cracked the goose egg with a critical late-period goal.
Sophomore forward
Lexi Templeman found the junior assistant captain at the side of the net, to the left of Wolf, and Gebhard flipped the puck over the sprawling netminder for her conference-best 18th of the year with 35 seconds until the second ice cut. Her 53rd career marker moved her into a third-place tie with RMU Athletics Hall-of-Famer Brianna Delaney '12.
The Plenty, Saskatchewan native and Notre Dame Hounds product continues to skate away with the CHA scoring crown, maintaining a seventh-place tie nationally with 43 points in 29 games played. She has a point in six of seven outings since her team-record 14-game streak was halted Dec. 8, 2018, and in 20 of her last 22 overall.
Still, Wolf looked determined to poach the two points that truly mattered until, once again, head coach
Paul Colontino's top line intervened.
The Colonials continued desperately generating traffic in front of the Lions' cage as they approached the midpoint of the third. Templeman fought for a loose puck that came to tri-captain
Amber Rennie, who buried it from the blue paint for her 11th goal as a senior with 10:31 left in regulation.
Rennie has now amassed 96 career points (46 G, 50 A) at RMU, needing just four more with five regular-season games to play to become the sixth player in school history to hit the century mark.
Templeman, second in CHA in assists (22) and points (26), helped the Colonials keep the ice tilted while traveling the comeback trail, winning five of her six faceoffs. Her win percentage, now up to .683, remains second in the NCAA.
Although its power play had, particularly by recent standards, an off night, special teams did help Robert Morris extend the game.
Wasyn Rice was sent off for hooking with 2:18 left in the third, but Herculean efforts by the RMU penalty killers, including Gebhard, to win and prolong puck battles at both ends of the rink limited Lindenwood to one shot on senior goaltender
Lauren Bailey before Rice was set free.
Gebhard was also involved in one of the game's more awkward moments early in the overtime, colliding with Megan Wagner during a line change that elicited roughing calls against both players. Neither team could do much with the open ice in 4-on-4 play, however, and Bailey staved off a frantic effort by the Lions, deep inside the defensive zone, to pull it out in the dying seconds.
The senior goaltender finished with 17 saves, including a key denial of Nicole Guagliardo on a second-period breakaway with under eight minutes left to keep RMU within a pair. Bailey's 1.14 goals-against average and .944 save percentage during the team's unbeaten streak (Jan. 19-present) are both among the top five in Division I over that timeframe.
Despite surrendering early goals to Guagliardo and, before hers, to Jada Burke, RMU improved its all-time record in road games against Lindenwood to 9-4-2 (.667).
Robert Morris wraps up the road portion of its regular-season schedule against the Lions at the Lindenwood Ice Arena Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET. Once again, the game can be seen live on the CHA Digital Network (subscription required).
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