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Justin Berl

Women's Ice Hockey Gabe Herman, Director of Communications

AHA Women’s Weekly Journal (Jan. 28, 2026)

AHA sees six teams hit the ice, with outdoor action to open the weekend.

BOSTON - Six of seven Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) programs are set to compete this week in conference play.

After clinching its fourth straight AHA regular season title last weekend, No. 4/4 Penn State is set to host Robert Morris in a series that includes an outdoor game at West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium, the home of Penn State football.

MATCHUPS
Jan. 30/31 (Friday/Saturday)
  • Robert Morris at No. 4/4 Penn State (Game One at West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium - Game Two at Pegula Ice Arena)
  • RIT at Lindenwood
  • No. 15/15 Mercyhurst at Delaware

AROUND AHA
  • Mercyhurst jumped back into the rankings this week, coming in ranked No. 15 in both the USCHO and USA Hockey polls.  
  • Since the beginning of 2026, Penn State senior forward Tessa Janecke (8G-5A) and Mercyhurst junior forward Sofia Nuutinen (6G-7A) are tied for the AHA points lead with 13 each.
  • Delaware freshman blueliner Lexie Lonask leads Division I with 120 blocks.
  • Lindenwood sophomore forward Paige Cline has tallied five points (3G-2A) through four straight games, the second-longest active streak among AHA sophomores.

QUICK HITS
  • RIT leads the nation with 30 power play goals in 2025-26.
  • Going back to Dec. 1, Mercyhurst’s 90.3 percent success rate on the penalty kill is the seventh-best in Division I.
  • Robert Morris sophomore forward Jessica MacKinnon has 22 points (10G-12A) in eight multi-point games this season, tied for the fifth most in AHA.
  • Syracuse’s Ava Drabyk leads all Division I freshmen goaltenders with five shutouts and 11 wins.

TAKE IT OUTSIDE
Penn State is set to host Robert Morris for one contest outside of its normal home, when the pair of AHA teams take the ice for the first time at West Short Home Field at Beaver Stadium.

The first game of the conference series will be played at Penn State's home venue, the nation’s second-largest stadium which seats over 106,000. The AHA women’s contest will be the first time an outdoor ice hockey game has taken place at the Nittany Lions' home since 1960.

Puck drop between the Pennsylvania-based programs is slated for Friday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m. ET.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Forward: Sofia Nuutinen, JR, Mercyhurst (Vantaa, Finland) - 2 GP, 4 PTS (2G-2A) vs. Robert Morris
Defenseman: Kendall Butze, SR, Penn State (Cleveland, Ohio) - 2 GP, 6 PTS (2G-4A) vs. Delaware
Goaltender: Magdalena Luggin, SO, Mercyhurst (Vienna, Austria) - 2 GP (2-0-0), 1.00 GAA, .964 SV% vs. Robert Morris
Rookie: Mikah Keller, F, Penn State (Mosinee, Wis.) - 2 GP, 3 PTS (1G-2A) vs. Delaware

BY THE NUMBERS
3 - Mercyhurst sophomore blueliner Abby Poitras’s three game-winning goals since Jan. 1 are tied for the second-most in the nation.

6 - The six active AHA players that have been named to Olympic rosters include Penn State’s Janecke (USA), Nicole Hall (Sweden) and Matilde Fantin (Italy), Mercyhurst’s Julia Schalin (Finland) and Lindenwood’s French duo of Lucie Quarto and Elina Zilliox.

193 - Janecke is seven points away from hitting 200 career points. Only three active skaters have 200+.

375 - MacKinnon’s 375 faceoff wins lead all of Division I.

SCORING LEADERS

*Stats are from all regular-season contests.

GOALS
  1. Tessa Janecke (Penn State) - 19
  2. Grace Outwater (Penn State) - 18
  3. Maddy Christian (Penn State) - 15
  4. Julia Perjus (Mercyhurst) - 14

ASSISTS
  1. Julia Schalin (Mercyhurst) - 21
  2. Tessa Janecke (Penn State) - 21
  3. Kendall Butze (Penn State) - 19
  4. Three tied - 18

POINTS
  1. Tessa Janecke (Penn State) - 40
  2. Julia Schalin (Mercyhurst) - 30
  3. Grace Outwater (Penn State) - 30
  4. Two tied - 29

GOALTENDING LEADERS

*Min. 33% of team minutes played.

GOALS-AGAINST AVERAGE
  1. Katie Desa (Penn State) - 1.26
  2. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - 2.18
  3. Maggie Hatch (Robert Morris) - 2.24
  4. Magdalena Luggin (Mercyhurst) - 2.26

SAVE PERCENTAGE
  1. Katie DeSa (Penn State) - .933
  2. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - .929
  3. Maggie Hatch (Robert Morris) - .927
  4. Two tied - .924

SAVES
  1. Ava Drabyk (Syracuse) - 745
  2. Magdalena Luggin (Mercyhurst) - 706
  3. Charlotte Payne (Delaware) - 637
  4. Sophia Bellina (RIT) - 590

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.