The Colonials play their first NCAA games in more than two years to headline a full weekend slate
In the News
- Mercyhurst’s Boucher Joins Century Club: Mercyhurst senior Sara Boucher became the 36th player in College Hockey America history to reach 100 career points when she opened the 2023-24 season with a four-point weekend in the Lakers’ sweep of Post.
- Boucher tallied her 51st career goal in Saturday’s contest and handed out three assists in the series to reach 50 career helpers. She currently sits in 33rd place on the CHA career points list at 101. Boucher is also the 17th Mercyhurst player to reach the century mark during the Lakers’ CHA era.
- Coe Registers Two More 30-Save Games: RIT goaltender Sarah Coe turned in 35- and 33-save performances in the Tigers’ season-opening series at RPI Sept. 23-24. The Brooklin, Ont., native turned away 68-of-70 shots in 130 minutes of play to lead RIT to a pair of 1-1 ties with the Engineers. The contests were the 37th and 38th 30+ save games in 56 career outings (66.7 percent) for the Brooklin, Ont., netminder. The percentage and games both lead all active CHA goaltenders.
- Among goaltenders with at least 1,700 career saves, Coe now ranks No. 6 in CHA history in saves per game at 31.6. Penn State’s Nicole Paniccia holds the CHA record with a 33.8 average. Paniccia stopped 2,469 shots in 73 games with the Nittany Lions.
- Robert Morris Returns to the Ice: The Robert Morris Colonials will take the ice against an NCAA opponent for the first time in 929 days when RMU faces off with Union on Sept. 29 to open their 2023-24 season. Robert Morris is returning to college hockey two seasons after the men’s and women’s programs were unexpectedly eliminated by the school in 2021 before being reinstated later that year.
- Logan Bittle, who was the program’s associate head coach when the Colonials ended the 2020-21 season in the NCAA Quarterfinals against Northeastern, will be behind the bench as RMU’s head coach on Friday.
- Robert Morris will open the home portion of their schedule Oct. 7-8 against St. Anselm.
- FloHockey Returns as CHA Streaming Partner: College Hockey America announced a one-year extension to its partnership with FloHockey on Sept. 22.
- Every home conference and non-conference game played by CHA programs Lindenwood, Mercyhurst, RIT and Robert Morris – along with every game of the 2024 CHA Postseason will be exclusively streamed live and on-demand on FloHockey.tv. Viewers can watch all the action on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV with the FloSports app and on a desktop or laptop using any web browser.
- CHA fans can choose between a monthly or yearly subscription to watch all season long.
- CHA in the National Rankings: Defending CHA regular season and postseason champion Penn State is up to No. 10 and Mercyhurst received votes in this week’s USAHockey/The Rink Live rankings. USCHO did not release a poll this week.
By the Numbers
- 208: Faceoff wins a season ago by Syracuse’s Tatum White, the most among Orange returnees.
- 50: Combined save total by the Lindenwood goaltending tandem of Natalie Ferenc and Emily Finach in the Lions’ season-opening sweep of Bemidji State.
- 32: CHA-leading faceoff win total for Penn State’s Tessa Janecke. The sophomore won 65.3 percent of her draws (32-of-49) against Northeastern.
- 32: Career points for Robert Morris junior Madison Primeau in two seasons at Syracuse.
- 15: Shots on goal by Mercyhurst sophomore Thea Johansson, the top total in the CHA after the season’s opening weekend.
- 5: Blocked shots by freshman Emma Pickering in RIT’s season-opening series at RPI, which tied for the second-highest total by a CHA skater to start the season.
The Week Ahead
- (RV/RV) Connecticut at (11/10) Penn State: The Nittany Lions will meet a Hockey East foe for the second week in a row when Connecticut visits Happy Valley. Connecticut has won three of the five previous meetings in the series.
- (1/1) Wisconsin at Lindenwood: The Lions will host the defending national champions on Thursday and Friday. The Badgers won both games of last year’s series in Madison.
- (RV/RV) Mercyhurst at St. Lawrence: The Lakers travel to Canton, N.Y., to take on the Saints this weekend. The two teams split last year’s meeting in Erie.
- Syracuse at Post: The Orange open their 2023-24 campaign with a two-game series at NEWHA rival Post this weekend.
- Robert Morris at Union: The Colonials return to the ice for the first time since 2021 when the Colonials visit Union for their season-opening series.
- RIT at Assumption: The Tigers travel to Worcester, Mass., for their first meeting with NEWHA foe Assumption.
