By Mike Prisuta
www.rmucolonials.com
Nov. 13, 2009

Prisuta On Pucks Link

Pittsburgh, Pa. - After “probably our best weekend” in the program's five-year history, Nate Handrahan is looking forward to finding out what his Robert Morris women's hockey team can do for an encore.

The Colonials won at No. 6 Wisconsin, 3-1, on Nov. 6, and took the defending national champions to overtime before falling, 3-2, on Nov. 7.

RMU opens College Hockey America play this weekend at Niagara (7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday).

“The urgency is usually a little higher against a team like Wisconsin,” Handrahan said. “But the true test will be how we react in conference play. Then we'll have a pretty good idea as to where we stand.

“When you have a good team typically you play well against whoever you play against.”

Robert Morris defeated No. 3 Minnesota, 3-2, to open 2008-09 but was beaten in the second game of the series, 7-1.

The Gophers outshot the Colonials by a combined 115-23 in the two games.

This time, Robert Morris came within an unsuccessful penalty shot of beating the Badgers twice in two tries and was competitive throughout both games.

“Against Minnesota last year we were hanging on a little bit at the end in the first game and on the second night we got killed,” Handrahan said. “Against Wisconsin we came out and played well and we matched 'em stride for stride.

“We had a chance to get a sweep at Wisconsin, which doesn't happen very often.”

RMU, 4-6-0, has also split at No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth (losing 5-2 and winning 4-1), lost at No. 10 Boston University (4-3 in overtime), and been swept by No. 8 St. Lawrence (3-2 and 6-3) while navigating a schedule highlighted by playing four ranked teams seven times through the first 10 games.

Niagara (4-4-2 overall, 1-1-0 CHA) is unranked and was picked to finish fifth in the five-team CHA in a preseason poll of conference coaches.

Handrahan, in his fourth year behind the bench, is attempting to establish a program in which his team plays with purpose and urgency no matter the resume of the opponent.

“We stick to the process and try to let the results take care of themselves,” he said. “We play up-tempo. We get after it. We play physical. We're definitely not a sit-back-and-wait-and-hope-for-a-mistake type of team. We press the issue.

“I think we're pretty exciting to watch, to be honest.”