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Syracuse Athletics

Women's Ice Hockey Gabe Herman, Director of Communications

AHA Women’s Weekly Journal (Jan. 14, 2026)

Six AHA programs are set to compete over three conference series.

BOSTON - Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) programs are set for another weekend of conference matchups, with six teams competing in three two-game series.

MATCHUPS
Jan. 16/17 (Friday/Saturday)
  • Delaware at Lindenwood
  • (RV) Mercyhurst at RIT
  • No. 4/4 Penn State at Syracuse

AROUND AHA
  • RIT junior Emma Pickering leads all blueliners in the nation with six power play goals in 2025-26.
  • Delaware freshman blueliner Lexie Lonask leads Division I with 103 blocks.
  • Syracuse goaltender Ava Drabyk leads all freshmen netminders with 10 wins and five shutouts.
  • Penn State senior forward Tessa Janecke is tied for the national lead with 14 multi-point games.

QUICK HITS
  • Lindenwood freshman forward Tatiana Blichova has tallied five points (2G-3A) during her five-game point streak, the second-longest active of its kind in AHA.
  • Since Dec. 1, the top five AHA leaders in point total belong to Mercyhurst’s roster. Junior forward Sofia Nuutinen (3G-6A) and sophomore forward Julia Schalin (3G-6A) are both tied for the lead with nine.
  • Robert Morris sophomore forward Jessica MacKinnon has tallied 13 points (7G-6A) over her last 10 games played.
  • RIT leads the nation with 29 power play goals in 2025-26.

WATCH LIST
Three AHA goaltenders have been named to this season’s Women’s Goalie of the Year “Watch List” by the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA).

Penn State senior Katie DeSa, Robert Morris redshirt junior Maggie Hatch and Syracuse’s Drabyk were the conference’s trio tabbed on the list.

The HCA’s list will be pared down within the next two weeks, with the winner being announced during the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in March.


LIFE ON THE LAKE
(RV) Mercyhurst handed No. 4/4 Penn State its first conference loss of the season on Saturday, Jan. 10, when senior blueliner Payten Evans netted the game-winner 4:45 into overtime.

Since Dec. 1, the Lakers have been one of AHA’s hottest offensive programs. In that span, they lead the conference with 23 goals and are tied for the most wins with four.

Additionally, the special teams unit leads the conference on both ends of the ice since Dec. 1. Mercyhurst leads AHA with nine power play goals and has only allowed one to opponents going back to the beginning of December.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Forward: Tessa Janecke, SR, Penn State (Orangeville, Ill.) - 2 GP, 4 PTS (1G-3A) vs. Mercyhurst
Defenseman: Payten Evans, SR, Mercyhurst (Calgary, Alberta) - 2 GP, 1 PT (1G) vs. Penn State
Goaltender: Ava Drabyk, FR, Syracuse (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) - 2 GP (2-0-0), 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV% vs. Robert Morris
Rookie: Tilli Keranen, F, RIT (Kuopio, Finland) - 2 GP, 3 PTS (1G-2A) vs. Delaware

BY THE NUMBERS
2 - Mercyhurst redshirt freshman forward Julia Perjus’s two power play goals since Jan. 1 are tied for the second most in Division I.

6 - Penn State senior forward Katelyn Roberts is tied for the nation’s lead with six game-winning goals this season.

185 - Janecke became only the fourth active player in Division I to tally 185 career points on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Mercyhurst.

353 - MacKinnon leads the nation with 353 faceoff wins this season, the only Division I women’s skater with 300+ in 2025-26.

SCORING LEADERS
*Stats are from all regular-season contests.

GOALS
  1. Grace Outwater (Penn State) - 13
  2. Maddy Christian (Penn State) - 13
  3. Jessica MacKinnon (Robert Morris) - 13
  4. Tessa Janecke (Penn State) - 13

ASSISTS
  1. Tessa Janecke (Penn State) - 19
  2. Julia Schalin (Mercyhurst) - 16
  3. Addie Alvarez (RIT) - 16
  4. Two tied - 15

POINTS
  1. Tessa Janecke (Penn State)  - 32
  2. Jessica MacKinnon (Robert Morris) - 28
  3. Addie Alvarez (RIT) - 25
  4. Four tied - 24

GOALTENDING LEADERS
*Min. 33% of team minutes played.

GOALS-AGAINST AVERAGE
  1. Katie DeSa (Penn State) - 1.35
  2. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - 2.07
  3. Maggie Hatch (Robert Morris) - 2.08
  4. Sophia Bellina (RIT) - 2.34

SAVE PERCENTAGE
  1. Maggie Hatch (Robert Morris) - .932
  2. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - .931
  3. Katie DeSa (Penn State) - .928
  4. Magdalena Luggin (Mercyhurst) - .922

SAVES
  1. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - 616
  2. Magdalena Luggin (Mercyhurst) - 611
  3. Sophia Bellina (RIT) - 546
  4. Maggie Hatch (Robert Morris) - 545


ABOUT ATLANTIC HOCKEY AMERICA
Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) is in its second season following the merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields 10 Division I men's teams and seven women's teams. For more information, visit atlantichockeyamerica.com.

Connect with AHA on X (@Atlantic_Hockey), Instagram (@atlantichockeyamerica) and Facebook (Atlantic Hockey America).

Watch AHA home games on FloHockey this season.