By Peter Rossi, QBSN Staff Writer
On Friday night, the Quinnipiac Bobcats (0-0-1, 0-0-0 ECAC ) faced the Mercyhurst Lakers (2-0-1, 2-0-0 CHA ) in their first weekend of regular season action, and much like last year when the two teams faced each other, they went toe to toe in a memorable matchup. It was especially so for Bobcats junior forward Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) who reached both the 100 point plateau and 50 career goals mark.
Things started to go the Bobcats way in the first period. Lakers junior forward Kaliegh Chippy was sent to the penalty box for body checking, sending the Bobcats to their first power-play of the night. Just before the man advantage ended for Quinnipiac, senior defender Felica Vieweg (Port Orang, Fla.) fired a wrister from the point, beating Mercyhurst goalie Amanda Makela’s five hole and giving Quinnipiac the 1-0 lead. After a scrum in front by senior Bobcat Brittany Lyons (Canton, Mass.), sophomore Anna Borgfeldt (Kristianstad, Sweden) picked up the loose puck and circled on the far side and shot a pass to Vieweg. She later put it home for the goal. It was Borgfeldt’s first career point as a Bobcat.
With just about five minutes left in the first period, Mercyhurst tied the game 1-1 after a shot that senior Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge, Ontario) thought she had but squeaked under her left pad, sat in the crease, and was put home by an unwatched Kristine Grenier.
“I thought after their first goal, we let down a bit, but after that we responded well and we’re going to score goals, so we’re not going to get alarmed when we give one up,” said Quinnipiac Head Coach Rick Seeley.
The second period started with the bounces going in favor of the Lakers. The Lakers scored on their first power play of the night, making the score 2-1. After senior forward Kristen Eklund (Barrington, R.I.) was sent to the box for tripping and a great penalty kill up to that point, Emily Janiga banged home a wide-open rebound with eight seconds remaining on the kill. After Jenna Hendrikx made the initial shot from a Christine Bestland pass, the puck trickled to the right of Vigilanti, who could not get to it fast enough, and Janiga was there to put it home on the wide open net.
Following the goal, it was all Mercyhurst but thanks to the heroics of Kelly Babstock, Quinnipiac tied the game at 2-2 off a great individual effort. Babstock skated into the zone against two Lakers defenders. Babstock then fired a pass through the Mercyhurst defense and connected with Lyons who was alone in the slot fresh off the bench. Lyons then fired a wrist shot five hole to tie the game. The assist was Babstock’s 100th career point as a Bobcat, and she would not be done there.
“Coming in this season, I had the motivation to be where I am right now and I just need to just keep on going through it,” said Babstock.
Just about three minutes later, sophomore Nicole Kosta (Missisauga, Ontario) shot a homerun pass from the neutral zone to find Babstock all alone behind the Lakers defense, who skated in and scored on the breakaway, giving the Bobcats the 3-2 lead.
Mercyhurst was whistled for their second penalty of the game when Molly Byrne was called for interference. The Bobcats however, would not be able to score due to the high-pressure penalty kill of the Lakers.
The rest of the second period was back and forth, with Vigilanti making strong saves to keep the Bobcats ahead.
“Vig made some solid saves tonight,” said Seeley. “If we tighten up just a little defensively, it will definitely help out Vig.”
But with just 37 seconds left in the second period, Mercyhurst broke through yet again after a net mouth scramble, and tied the game 3-3. After a pass to Christine Cicero from Lauren Kilroy at the point, Cicero had the initial shot, which sat just above the crease and was backhanded home by the waiting Gina Buquet.
The third period saw Mercyhurst gaining the advantage yet again on a turnaround shot by Emily Janiga after skating into the Bobcats zone all by herself, getting to the far corner, and shooting one through the pads of a stacked Vigilanti against the post, sending the Lakers up 4-3.
The teams would see back and forth action until Byrne was called for her third penalty of the night. After some time on the 5-4 –man advantage, Seeley opted to pull Vigilanti for the extra attacker, which paid off.
Senior captain defenseman Regan Boulton (Brandon, Manitoba) made a great pass to Kosta on the near side, who made the initial shot which was later put home by Babstock, roofing it past Makela to tie the game 4-4 with just 40 seconds left in regulation. Babstock’s second goal was her 50th of her career.
“Babs is great around the net on rebounds,” said Seeley. “She picked that out of the air at such a critical point, it was a pretty awesome performance.”
The overtime period was certainly not without its moments, as Vigilanti made a game saving stop two minutes in on a short Byrne breakaway from the faceoff circle. Then with 30 seconds remaining, Lyons hit the crossbar off a wrist shot, sending the puck to slide into the corner and the game to end 4-4.
The Bobcats were 2-5 on the power play on the night and the Lakers were 1-2. Both teams will return to the High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center tomorrow for a 1 p.m. puck drop.
