RMU Women’s Hockey Wraps Up Regular Season With Penn State At Home
By Larry Snyder
It’s the final week of the regular season for the Robert Morris University women’s hockey team, coming off of a weekend where they split their two-game series with RIT on the road in College Hockey America action.
The Colonials (22-7-3, 11-5-2 CHA) defeated the Tigers (14-15-3, 9-7-2 CHA) on Friday 2-1 while RIT hung on to win 1-0 on Saturday. The last time RMU was shut out was Nov. 8 against Mercyhurst, where they lost 2-0.
Paul Colontino’s squad remained ranked in both national polls for the 11th straight week. On Monday, RMU found themselves sharing USCHO.com’s No. 9 slot with the Quinnipiac Bobcats as both programs received 19 points from voters. Then, on Tuesday the Colonials held on to the No. 9 position, edging out Quinnipiac 25 to 24 points, in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
The Colonials need a win or two ties this weekend at 84 Lumber Arena to clinch a first round bye in the CHA tournament. Robert Morris has already broken the school record for wins during the regualr season, surpassing the 19 set by the 2011-12 team that won the school’s first CHA championship.
RMU is in second place in the CHA behind Mercyhurst University, who are 21-7-3 overall and 14-3-1 in the CHA. The Lakers are ranked eighth in both polls again this week. Syracuse is third in the conference with an overall record of 18-11-3 and 9-6-3 in the CHA.
Fifth-place Lindenwood (5-23-2, 5-12-1 CHA) is at Mercyhurst this weekend while Syracuse and RIT will play a home-and-home series.
Robert Morris will host the sixth-place Penn State Nittany Lions (4-25-3, 1-16-1 CHA) for a two-game set at 84 Lumber Arena this weekend. The puck will drop at 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The last time these two met, the Colonials swept the Nittany Lions 4-0 and 6-0 at Penn State over Halloween weekend.
It will be the final regular-season games for senior defensemen Anneline Lauziere, Brandi Pollock and Kylie St. Louis; left wing Thea Imbrogno; and center and team captain Kristen Richards.
Imbrogno is one point behind Brianna Delaney as the all-time points leader in Colonials history. The native of Etobicoke, Ontario is fifth on the career goals list with 51, and fifth on the game-winning goals list with six. She is RMU’s all-time leader in power-play goals with 25.