AHA Roundup: Oct. 11-12, 2024

AHA play was full of highs and lows this past week. 

The Highs: RIT split their series against No. 6/7 Colgate and Penn State swept their first series of the season against Union. 

The Lows: Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, and Syracuse were all swept by their opponents, No. 8/8 St. Lawrence, No. 3/5 Clarkson, and RPI, respectively. Syracuse at least managed to send their Saturday tilt to overtime, losing 2-1 in a heartbreaker. 

RIT Stuns Colgate, Splits Series

Oct. 11th: No. 6/7 Colgate 5 RIT 1

Friday’s game went about as you would expect for a top-10 squad playing a team that ended last season fourth in the AHA with only seven conference wins. 

Colgate started strong, scoring two in the first, and never let their foot off the pedal, scoring one in the second and two in the third for a total of five goals. 

Emma Pickering (no affiliation to Avery Pickering, who scored the first goal for the Raiders) scored RIT’s lone goal of the game on a power play in the third period. Pickering had also scored in RIT's previous game and was a bright spot on an otherwise pretty brutal night for the Tigers. 

Goaltender Sophia Bellina received the assist for her first collegiate point and made 29 saves. Bellina had a tough job Friday night as the Tigers were outshot by Colgate 34 to 18. 

Oct. 12th: No. 6/7 Colgate 2 RIT 4

If Friday night was expected, Saturday night was the complete opposite. It was a fast and physical game, with 15 total penalties, including a whopping eight in the first. 

Colgate started the scoring once again, this time with a power play goal from Elyssa Biederman 13 minutes into the first period. 

Ironically, Biederman was also responsible for RIT’s first goal, as she was sent to the box for a five-minute major for boarding at 8:32 in the second. Two minutes into the power play, Kylie Aquaro struck, tying the game 1-1. 

Despite another five-minute major from Colgate, this time from Gwen Eichfeld for hitting from behind (she also received a game misconduct), RIT failed to capitalize and gain the lead in the second period. RIT only got one shot off before they were slapped with a penalty of their own, too many players on the ice, sending the game back to even strength. 

After a particularly messy two periods, Colgate needed to clean up their act. They did not receive any penalties for the third, but it was too little, too late for the Raiders. 

At 9:06 Brac Kelley broke away and gained the lead for the Tigers, their first of the series. 

The lead wouldn’t last long, and at 11:25, Colgate’s Casey Borgiel scored a power-play goal to tie the game yet again. 

RIT wasn’t to be counted out, and brought out all the stops for the final minutes of the game. At 14:38, Bronwyn Khangsar scored the eventual game-winning goal to get the lead for the Tigers for the final time. 

Four minutes later, Addie Alvarez notched an insurance goal to end the game 4-2 Tigers and clinch the upset for RIT. 

Kelley received AHA Rookie of the Week for her goal in the third period and her assists on Aquaro and Khangsar’s goals for a three point total. 

Netminder Sarah Coe also won an award for the Tigers, receiving AHA Goaltender of the Week for her performance on Saturday. Coe made 28 saves, including 13 in the last period, and has a save percentage of .929 for the season so far. RIT has won all three of Coe’s starts. 

Penn State Continues Making Firsts

Oct. 11th: No. 12/12 Penn State 4 Union 2

Penn State battled back and forth against Union in the first two periods but broke away in the third to win the game. 

Katelyn Roberts scored to put the Nittany Lions on the boards first at 3:29 in the opening frame. 

Union wouldn’t score until Stephanie Bourque tied the game with a power play goal just under three minutes into the second. But just four minutes later, Penn State's Alyssa Machado scored her first goal of the series - remember this name. 

At 12:42, Karianne Engelbert scored to make the game 2-2, but Union just couldn’t keep up with Penn State, and only a minute later, Tessa Janecke scored the eventual game-winning goal. 

Janecke wasn’t done, and at 19 minutes in the third, she scored her second goal of the night and fourth of the season to end the game 4-2 Penn State.

Oct. 12th: No. 12/12 Penn State 5 Union 3

Penn State started strong Saturday night and bulldozed the Garnet Chargers for a full 60 minutes. 

At 4:26, Lyndie Lobdell put Penn State in the lead with a hard shot from the faceoff dot, a position the Nittany Lions kept for the rest of the game.

Penn State tacked on two more in the first, one by Nicole Hall at 12:41 and the other by Maddy Christian with 0.2 seconds left in the period. 

Maddie Leaney scored at 2:39 in the second for the Garnet Chargers. A period later, at 2:20 in the third, Leaney did it again to cut Penn State’s lead to one. 

Remember when I told you to remember Machado’s name? Well, here’s why: At 11:30 Machado scored her second goal of the series, and exactly 14 seconds later, she did it again. 

Her back-to-back goals were the fastest in program history and earned her the AHA Forward of the Week award. Machado totaled three goals and two assists for five points in the series. 

Union scored again at 15:51 with a power play goal from Engelbert but couldn’t catch up to Penn State and avoid the sweep. 

Lobdell received AHA Defenseman of the Week for her own efforts. She scored one goal and two assists over the weekend and is now on a three-game point streak.  

Rankings Update

Penn State remained the same in the standings this week at No. 12/12. Meanwhile, rival Mercyhurst dropped, only receiving ten votes in the USCHO poll and tying for No. 15 in the USA Hockey/Rink Live Poll along with Yale and Boston University. 

Other Notables:

Syracuse has the third-highest power play percentage in the NCAA (.444). So far this season, the Orange have scored four goals in nine power plays. 

Mercyhurst is on a cold streak and has lost four straight games. Their record is currently 1-5-0, certainly not the start the Lakers wanted. Mercyhurst has had a brutal pre-conference schedule, so they could turn things around in a couple weeks when conference play starts. Still, if the Lakers want any sort of momentum they need to pull out some wins before then. 

Games to Watch: 

Lindenwood at Bemidji State

Lindenwood hasn’t played a game since Sept. 28th after losing four straight to start the season. The Lions will be on the hunt for their first win of the season. It’ll be interesting to see whether the break allowed the team the chance to regroup and come back strong or if their players will be stiff after sitting for so long. 

Penn State vs Dartmouth

The Nittany Lions are on fire right now, and they are a fun team to watch. This weekend they’ll face off against Dartmouth, who have yet to play a single game. Dartmouth was ranked 11 out of 12 in the ECAC preseason poll and should be easy pickings for Penn State. I predict a lot of goals from this one. 

*Thursday’s matchup between RPI and RIT will be included in next week’s roundup

The full schedule can be found here. 

To keep up to date with the AHA, keep tuning in for our weekly round-ups!