The RMU women’s hockey team continued its banner season Monday, rising to a program high of No. 8 in the USCHO.com poll. (Photo: RMU Athletics)

The Robert Morris University women’s hockey team is having such a great season, the Colonials don’t even have to play for good things to happen.

Although RMU had the weekend off, they moved up to an all-time high of eighth in the latest USCHO.com NCAA Division I poll, rising from ninth the previous week.

The Colonials (18-3-1) have been ranked in a nationwide poll for six consecutive weeks, with the newest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 due out Tuesday.

RMU, which has won eight in a row, swept St. Lawrence in a two-game set to start the new year. Head coach Paul Colontino’s Colonials will travel to Connecticut this weekend to battle non-conference foe Quinnipiac, which holds USCHO.com‘s No. 10 spot.

RMU is just two wins shy of setting the program record for victories in a season, set by the 2011-12 team. The Colonials are 8-1-1 in College Hockey America (CHA), one game ahead of second-place Mercyhurst, whom they will face Jan. 24 and 25 in Erie with the conference’s top spot on the line.

The CHA champion earns an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, an accomplishment that would be the first in nine seasons of RMU women’s varsity hockey. The Colonials have much to do until they get there, but it’s already clear this season will set a new standard in program history.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 4 p.m.) – RMU moved up from ninth to eighth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. The Colonials were seven points shy of seventh-place Boston College.

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