Women's Hockey | 3/5/2019 9:08:00 PM
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The
Robert Morris women's hockey team celebrated the end of another historic regular season at the annual College Hockey America Awards Banquet in the Lexus Club at KeyBank Center Tuesday evening, at which several players were touted individually for their excellence in 2018-19.
The Colonials boasted four selections to the 2019 CHA All-Conference Teams, the most of any conference member, as junior assistant captain
Jaycee Gebhard (First Team), senior defender and tri-captain
Maggie LaGue (First Team), sophomore forward
Lexi Templeman (Second Team) and sophomore defender
Emily Curlett (Second Team) were all honored.
In addition, LaGue received the 2019 CHA Individual Sportsmanship Award, and the '18-'19 squad was presented with the CHA Team Sportsmanship Award for being assessed the fewest penalty minutes in conference games (173). Accepting on behalf of the team was senior defender and tri-captain
Kirsten Welsh.
Receipt of the Team Sportsmanship Award was timely. The Colonials concluded regular-season play with a 4-2 Senior Day win over Syracuse at the RMU Island Sports Center last Saturday in which they were not assessed a single penalty. This was only the second time in program history Robert Morris accomplished that single-game feat.
The first time was a Jan. 5, 2018 contest against the visiting Orange, which resulted in a 5-2 RMU victory.
Furthermore, the leadership group of Gebhard, LaGue, Welsh and senior forward
Amber Rennie formally accepted the 2018-19 CHA regular season championship trophy. The Colonials posted an overall record of 15-13-6 and a 13-4-3 mark in CHA play to become just the second program in conference history to string together three first-place finishes in a row.
Robert Morris clinched the crown with a 5-0 blanking of Syracuse at Colonials Arena last Friday, in which Rennie scored the eventual game-winning power play goal.
Gebhard, bringing the CHA scoring title to RMU for the third year in a row, topped the conference in goals, with 18; assists, with 31; and points, with 49. The 5'3" Plenty, Saskatchewan native and Notre Dame Hounds product set a new team single-season record for assists. She was a four-time CHA Player of the Month (October-December, February) and Women's Hockey Commissioners Association Player of the Month for December.
Through Mar. 2, Gebhard is third in Robert Morris history with 133 career points, needing only one more to match Rebecca Vint '15. She is tied for third in program lore with her 53 career goals, poised to take sole possession from RMU Athletics Hall-of-Famer Brianna Delaney '12. Additionally, Gebhard ranks second to former teammate
Brittany Howard '18 in career assists, with 80.
She led the NCAA with 18 helpers and 23 points on the power play, and she ranked second nationally with 444 total faceoff wins. Her five game-winning goals and plus/minus rating of +14 both led CHA.
LaGue enters the postseason right behind Gebhard with 79 career assists. Her 92 career points, eighth overall in RMU history, are also the most by a defender. After serving only 12 penalty minutes in the regular season, she became the first Colonial ever to win the Individual Sportsmanship Award.
She led a collection of 332 stuffed animals for the Autism Society of Pittsburgh as part of the team's third annual Teddy Bear Toss game, a 3-2 win over Penn State at the Island Sports Center Nov. 30. LaGue also helped her senior class raise over $3,200 for various organizations as part of the team's first ever Mental Health Awareness Series, a Jan. 25-26 sweep of RIT.
The 5'8" Barre, Vermont native and North American Hockey Academy product scored a career-high five goals, including a personal-best three power play tallies. She finished fourth in CHA with 92 blocked shots, which was also good for eighth in Division I. LaGue led all NCAA blue-liners with 13 power play assists and 16 power play points.
In addition, she comes into her last playoff run with a career plus/minus rating of +38, which is fifth in RMU history and tops, historically, among defenders. On Dec. 20 the Connecticut Whale took her with the 22nd overall pick in the fifth round of the NWHL Draft, making her the second league draftee in program history.
Curlett, previously a 2018 All-CHA Rookie Team honoree, set career highs in goals, with 11; assists, with 10; and points, with 21. She enters the playoffs one goal away from tying the RMU single-season record for defenders established by
Kirsten Welsh last season.
Her five power-play tallies were also a new high, and three of her unprecedented four straight game-winners Jan. 19-Feb. 8 came on special teams. The 5'5" Lapeer, Michigan native and Little Caesars U19 product led the NCAA with 142 blocked shots after ranking second nationally among rookies in '17-'18.
Like LaGue, she has helped raise mental health awareness, serving as treasurer of the Robert Morris chapter of Hope Happens Here.
Templeman, another member of last year's All-CHA Rookie squad, exceeded her first-year total with 31 points, good for second in the conference. Her 25 assists were also second in CHA, and her .685 faceoff win percentage was tops.
The 5'2" Staffa, Ontario native and KW Rangers product also ranked second nationally with her success rate on draws. She ranked third on the team and tied for ninth in Division I with her 14 power play points.
With key contributions from all four, Robert Morris ranked third in the nation with 29 power play goals during the regular season.
To date, 21 different Colonials have earned a total of 49 all-conference honors in program history, including 27 awards won by 14 student-athletes under head coachÂ
Paul Colontino dating back to the 2011-12 season.
The Team Sportsmanship Award was the second such award of the Colontino era, last won by RMU in 2012-13.
Robert Morris has earned a first-round bye in the CHA Tournament and will play the lowest-seeded remaining team in Thursday's CHA Semifinal at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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