The Quinnipiac women’s hockey showed its experience and dominance over the Chinese national team at High Point Solutions Arena by the final score of 8-0 in its first exhibition game of the year. Quinnipiac outshot China 48-7 in the contest.
Quinnipiac came storming out of the gates in the first period showing no signs of rust. They won the opening faceoff and started to pressure the Chinese defense by working the puck in deep and battling in the corners winning possession of the puck. Quinnipiac was able to put up five shots on goal in the first couple of minutes in the game.
Quinnipiac broke through after sophomore Meghan Turner cashed in a rebound that came off of junior Cydney Roesler’s slap shot from the point. The flood gates would open after this goal as Quinnipiac would go on to score five more goals in the first period out shooting China 19-2. China would change goalies after Yuqing Wang let in three goals on 15 shots. Backup goalie Jiaqi did not have much luck either in the first as she let in three goals on five shots.
Junior Nicole Connery had two goals in the first period. Her first goal was a result of a beautifully executed two on one as junior Shiann Darkangelo fed a saucer pass right on the tape of Connery’s stick as she just deflected the puck in. Connery’s second goal came off a one on one rush where she took a slap shot at the top of the faceoff circle that blasted in short side past Yang.
“[Connery] is a great talent, she has to get more intense and more consistent,” head coach Rick Seeley said. “When she plays like that with her skillset she could have a monster year.”
Quinnipiac would have a quiet second and third period. They scored one goal in the second period on a gorgeous play from the top line of senior Erica Uden Johansson, junior Nicole Kosta and freshman Taylor Cianfarano. Cianfarano passed the puck to Johansson who was defended in front of the net but she was able to sneak a pass to Kosta who was wide open at the far side of the net where she was able to tap the puck in.
They also scored one goal in the third period, which was a great individual play by Darkangelo as she was able to skate uncontested to the front of the net and flip the puck in short side past Yang.
“The line I thought played the best was the Woods line” Seeley said. ‘They paid the most attention to things we were learning last year and played with the most intensity so I’m excited about the depth we have, I think we can have three good lines that can score on a regular basis it’s just the question of getting everyone in sync with all the little details.”
Quinnipiac dominated the second and third period and were able to draw four power plays. They were not able to score on the power plays but they did generate a lot of good offensive opportunities. Yang made some fantastic saves on the penalty kills for China.
“We haven’t worked on our power play, we really just started playing together today,” Seeley said. “I thought we tried to force things too much or we either held on to the puck too long but overall I think we have enough skill to set our two power play units.”
Quinnipiac will return to action on Friday Oct. 3 as they host the University of Connecticut Huskies.
