This weekend, the Brown women’s ice hockey team (12-10-3, 7-8-3 ECAC) hosted conference rivals Union College (12-17-1, 8-10-0) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (12-15-3, 5-11-2). The Bears trudged to a 1-2 loss against Union on Friday, but rallied to defeat RPI 4-3 in one of the most exciting and important outcomes of the season.
Bruno now tiptoes in eighth place above Union by half a point and RPI by four and a half points in the ECAC standings.
“It’s a huge (win) for us,” goaltender Rory Edwards ’27 said in an interview with The Herald. “This weekend was really big for our place in the standings, and I think it’s the biggest three points we’ve earned all season.”
While the Bears repeatedly won possession along the side boards, they also struggled to string together passes to deconstruct the Engineers’ defense. Just south of four minutes into the first period, RPI intercepted the puck in the left circle of Brown’s defensive zone. The opponent passed to another Engineer, filling the center lane to generate a 2-on-1 opportunity, but Edwards deflected the shot from going into the bottom right corner and stifled another attempt off the rebound.
The puck ricocheted to Jade Iginla ’26 on the left side. She maneuvered past two defenders, then launched a cross-body shot that hit off the pipe and into the net. Four minutes into the game, Bruno was up 1-0.
Emerging from a pileup on the right side boards in RPI’s defensive zone, Rensselaer forward Nyah Philip flung the puck across the rink to teammate Aylah Cioffi on the left side, whose first touch evaded a Bruno defender and shot bypassed Edwards to tie the game 1-1.
RPI barraged Bruno with attacks throughout the rest of the first period, firing 13 shots towards the goal in an eight-and-a-half minute stretch. Edwards saved eight of them, deflecting shots with her body and stick, catching high-flying pucks with her trapper and diving to secure the ones on the ground.
“We’re a big block-shots team,” Edwards said. “We do a great job keeping pucks away from the net. We have some of the best shot blocks from our (defenders) to our wings.”
Although Brown attempted to score three times late in the period, the first period scoreline ended 1-1.
The Engineers kept their foot on the gas pedal at the start of the second period. But at 5:35, Iginla turned the tide for the Bears. Stealing the puck among a cluster of red jerseys behind RPI’s goal line, she curled around the net and made a short pass to India McDadi ’26, who shoveled it into the goal.
Back in the lead, Brown found renewed confidence in its attack, leading a Rensselaer defender to commit a tripping penalty on Monique Lyons ’28 while trying to clear away a deflection.
Despite Bruno being given a power play, Margot Norehad ’27 committed a hooking penalty soon after, which made it a 4-on-4 game. After a ground shot by RPI, Cioffi redirected the puck into the back of the net. The score now stood at 2-2.
Halfway through the period, an RPI penalty handed Bruno their second power play opportunity. Then, an RPI forward got called for a penalty, bestowing the Bears a 5-on-3 advantage for 90 seconds. Iginla launched the puck towards the goal and sent a defender diving to the ice to block it, allowing Cameron Sikich ’25 a clear shot off the rebound. The Rensselaer goaltender deflected the puck to just outside the crease, where Sam Broz ’27 — a Herald copy editor — eased it to Lyons on the right pipe to go up 3-2.
In response to the physicality, “I think we rose to the occasion,” Iginla said in an interview with The Herald. “We’re a decent-sized team and we have some good motor, so it’s a game we love to play in.”
The Engineers refused to relent. At 16:45, RPI’s Andrea Trnková skated around two Bruno defenders towards the middle, then whipped a speeding shot at goal that Edwards could not corral. Off the long rebound, an Engineer swooped in from the right circle and flicked the puck into the lower right corner of the net. The match tied at 3-3.
Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi said she “challenged” her players in an interview with The Herald. “At the end of the day, they want the same thing we (do), and we have to take it from them.”
Back on the ice, the Bears embodied that message. They continued to apply offensive pressure, firing five shots early in the period. On their sixth attempt, Bruno converted. Norehad raced down the right side of the rink to create a 3-on-1 opportunity. She dished the puck to Iginla flying down the center lane, who quickly directed to McDadi on her left side. Completing the three-woman move, McDadi returned the puck to Iginla, who slotted it into the net for her second goal.
For the rest of the match, Brown just needed to survive. In the next 13 minutes, the two teams engaged in 16 more faceoffs while the Bears’ backline combined for four blocked shots. With two minutes left, RPI pulled the goalie for a 6-on-5 offensive advantage, but Bruno held on.
“We knew Trnková was their shooter,” Ruzzi explained. “That was the player we needed to make sure we were aware of. I think we did a really good job of that.”
Along with a crucial save by Edwards, Bruno blocked four more shots as the clock ticked down, cementing the 4-3 win.
“Every team is the same,” Ruzzi said. “You just have to compete. Our league is so good; the coaches in our league are so good; there is no day off.”
The women’s ice hockey team will continue to fight for their place in the standings this week against conference opponents Dartmouth and Harvard.
