BUFALLO, N.Y. — The Robert Morris Colonials carried a two-goal lead into the waning moments of the CHA tournament championship against Syracuse Saturday afternoon.
With stellar Orange goaltender Abbey Miller on the bench, Syracuse had an extra skater on the ice, hoping for a comeback.
Under pressure, the Colonials held strong, keeping the puck to the outside and not allowing a shot on goal for the last 2:43.
“You can’t really hold back,” said sophomore Kirsten Welsh, who was tasked with defending on the final shift. “You’re playing to the end, but in the back of your head, it’s like a countdown. Words can’t describe it.”
“You just have to bear down and focus all the way to the last whistle,” said senior goaltender Jessica Dodds, who was trying to preserve not just a victory but a 32-save shutout.
The time ticked under 30 seconds. At that point, victory was near.
“On the bench, we were going nuts, just jumping up and down,” said redshirt junior forward Brittany Howard, whose second-period, power-play goal had extended the advantage to a two-goal lead.
3 … 2 … 1 … 
As the final horn sounded, the Colonials spilled over the board, rushing to celebrate their CHA tournament championship and the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth with their 2-0 victory over the Syracuse Orange at the HarborCenter.
“I honestly don’t even know where the puck ended up,” Howard said. “We just jumped on the ice and threw our gloves down.”
Defender Kirsten Welsh throws her gloves and stick into the air to celebrate the win. — BRIAN MITCHELL
The game — and the ending — played right into the Colonials’ specialty. Throughout the 2016-17 season, even during their 13-game unbeaten streak early in the campaign, the Colonials played a ton of close games.
“We’ve played so many one-goal games, two-goal games, tied games going into the third,” said head coach Paul Colontino. “Our team, for whatever reason, is very resilient. It’s our captains. It’s our seniors. It’s our leaders. Under pressure, they stick to what’s simple and stick to our game.”
The Colonials have won the CHA tournament once before, in 2012. This senior class came in the following year. It’s taken them four years, but they finally got back to that stage, and now with the CHA possessing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, beyond.
“There’s no words to describe how excited we are, especially the seniors, going out on a win like that,” senior captain Rikki Meilleur said. “It means everything to us. The girls are so happy.”
Oh and the puck? Not to worry. Equipment manager Andy Wisneski made sure to grab it.
Andrew Wisneski poses with the game puck. — ALAN SAUNDERS
SHAKY START
The calm, collected performance of the veteran Colonials in the game’s waning moments was a 180-degree transformation from the first few shifts. Colontino called the Colonials “jumpy” and Howard said they started “a little slow.”
On the game’s first shift, a loose puck found its way to the front of the net, giving a Syracuse player an open look at the net behind Dodds. She fired it high and wide into the glass.
“I think everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, moments like that happen,” Dodds said. “It just kind of woke me up and made me realize that if the team was going to win the championship, I had to be there and I had to stop as many pucks as I could.”
Dodds found her game first, stopping six shots in the first three minutes of the game as the Colonials were outplayed in the early going. Several of those Orange scoring chances came on odd-man rushes. Dodds’ early play was the inspiration the rest of the team needed to get into gear, according to Colontino.
“When our bench saw the saves that she made and how comfortable she was, everybody just took a deep breath and said, ‘She’s got this for now. Let’s help her.’” he said. “That was when we started turning things around. She came up big and that’s what great goaltenders do in big games.”
To say Dodds was great is nearly an understatement. She turned aside all 32 shots in the finale, a day after stopping 25 of 26 in the semifinals. Dodds has been a four-year starter for Robert Morris and holds nearly every relevant goaltending record the program tracks. But when the team needed her most, she came up even bigger than usual.
“Dodds played the best game of her college career in the biggest game of her college career,” Colontino said. “She was literally lights out.”
“She made some unbelievable saves,” added Meilleur. “Those saves turned the momentum our way and we took it. We wanted to win for her because she was winning for us.”
BIG GOAL GAZZOLA
Dodds’ strong early play steadied the ship for Robert Morris and turned the tide from a Syracuse advantage to an even-keeled stalemate. As the first period drew near a close, it became evident that the team to score first would possess a significant advantage.
Needing a big goal, Robert Morris turned to the same player that had provided a clutch tally the night before — junior center Jessica Gazzola. While Friday night’s third-period tally to beat Lindenwood was of the highlight-reel variety, on Saturday, Gazzola just went to the net, picked up the rebound of a Leah Carey shot and hacked and whacked it past Miller.
“It gets harder and harder [to score] as we move on,” Gazzola said. “Those plays become crucial. Leah Carey kept the puck in the zone and fired a great shot at the net. Those in-tight goals can definitely help.”
Gazzola is typically the set-up artist that feeds snipers Maeve Garvey and Amanda Pantaleo on the team’s second line. That unit certainly has a flair for the dramatic. They’ve combined to score 27 goals this year and 10 of them have been game-winners, which accounts for nearly half of the team’s victories.
“They are big time,” Colontino said. “They find a way to get in the mix and it literally becomes a shot in the arm. You’ve got teams that are just all over Howard’s line. They go out there and they find a way. In many cases, it’s a pretty goal like [Friday] night, Gazzola goes bar in, top corner. Then, they find a way to just get an all-in, hard-working, dirty goal. … That line is just huge for us. They find a way in every big game. It’s amazing.”
While the season-long success was as a line, there’s no question that the weekend in Buffalo will be remembered as Gazzola’s.
“She’s a superstar,’ Welsh said. “She had two huge goals this weekend that pumped our team up. It was awesome to see her shine because she’s such a hard-working player.”
POWER PLAYER, POWER MOVE
With the Colonials holding onto a 1-0 lead, the second period marched on without either team committing a penalty. When the first one came at 16:00 of the frame, Syracuse’s Savannah Rennie was in the box for checking and the Colonials had a golden opportunity.
“We definitely wanted to go up 2-0 and capitalize on that,” Howard said. “PP’s are huge in the playoffs.”
The Colonials didn’t have an ideal start to their advantage. But a little over a minute in, the puck came to Howard at the top of the left-wing circle. She made a stutter-step and took her defender wide, on the right side of the ice. As she stepped into her shot near the right-wing faceoff circle, Colontino could already tell it was ticketed for the back of the net.
“As that kid stutter-stepped, she hit the jets for three hard strides and made a quick move,” he said. “I was like, ‘OK. This is going in.’ Sure enough, that kid’s got a shot like you wouldn’t believe and she buried it. Just a great move and that’s what she does. She comes up with huge plays when we need them and that’s why she’s the player of the year in the CHA.”
That would be the only power play opportunity the Colonials would earn, and just 14 seconds later, they were presented with their only time shorthanded, with Welsh in the box. They killed that, earning a decisive special teams advantage.
“Going 1-for-1 on the PP often isn’t the easiest thing to do,” Colontino said. “When you only get one crack at it, it becomes obviously a huge goal, especially when we’re able to kill [the next penalty].”
Equipment lays on the ice as the clock reads all zeroes. — ALAN SAUNDERS
COLONIALS NOTES
Howard, Gazzola and Dodds were named to the all-tournament team and Dodds was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. … Howard’s goal have her 20 goals and 50 points on the season. She is now two points behind Jessica Vint in all-time points. … Defender Mikaela Lowater tied Chelsea Walkland’s program record of 140 games played.
The Colonials will play in the NCAA tournament regional round on either March 10 or 11. They will play on the campus of a higher-seeded team, most likely Wisconsin. The tournament field will be officially selected Sunday night.
