By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Chief Editor
The women’s ice hockey team kicked off its season at St. Cloud, but Friday night it was welcomed home with a 5-1 win over Penn State.
The first period was dominated by missed opportunities for the Bobcats until Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) did what she does best. After a Jill Holdcroft high sticking penalty, Babstock broke through Nicole Paniccia with her first goal of the year. Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) and Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) came up with the assists on the power-play goal.
Shiann Darkangelo (Brighton, Mich.) brought some of the momentum from the end of the first period into the middle frame. Darkangelo notched the first goal of her Quinnipiac career on a trickling shot that slid past Paniccia. Meghan Turner (Bedford, N.H.) was credited with the assist, and Morgan Fritz-Ward (Mason City, Iowa) also chipped in with her first point of the night.
The first two goals for the Bobcats came on the power play, something head coach Rick Seeley was happy to see.
“We worked on the power play a lot this week,” Seeley said. “It was a lot of new people in new places. We were a little disorganized last week, forcing it a little bit.”
Penn State did not sit quietly for long, however. A Nittany Lion took a shot that was quickly deflected by Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minn.), and Shannon Yoxheimer took the offering to the back of the net for her second goal of the season to put her team on the board.
After grabbing an assist in the first, Fritz-Ward made some noise again in the second with a goal of her own. With some help from Cydney Roesler (Sittsville, Ontario) and Darkangelo, Fritz-Ward snuck a shot from the right side to give the Bobcats a 3-1 lead.
The final frame proved quiet until the final minutes. Quinnipiac pushed through again for its fourth and fifths goals by Darkangelo and Turner.
Darkangelo’s second goal of the game garnered much notice from Seeley.
“She shows up everyday,” Seeley said. “She works hard. She pays attention to detail. She listens to instruction and she goes out and does it on the ice. She’s a great bonus for us.”
Just minutes later, Turner made her presence known. Roesler could not help but get in on the action to help give the Bobcats their four-goal lead.
With four different players picking up goals in the game, Darkangelo credits the variety of scoring options.
“It’s just good depth,” she said. “We have a lot of solid players, so it’s not like we have to rely on one person to score.”
Although Seeley was pleased overall, he is prepared to do “the little things a little tighter” when the two face off again Saturday afternoon.
The puck is set to drop at 4 p.m. If you can’t make it to the game, tune in to QBSN to listen to the live broadcast.
