Three years ago in the broadcast booth at High Point Solutions Arena, there stood a young and uneasy freshman goaltender, fumbling with a broadcast headset and timidly answering interview questions following Quinnipiac’s 15th win of the season.
She awkwardly swayed back and forth for just a few minutes before the interview ended, then she retreated to the locker room.
Even though she had just helped the Bobcats top the Syracuse Orange 3-0 with her fourth career win and first career shutout, she seemed unsure of what to say and how to act.
Fast forward to today, and that once nervous freshman seems like a different person than the one between the pipes for the Bobcats these days.
Now, Chelsea Laden is a senior with 51 career victories, and 26 career shutouts. And perhaps more importantly, a different mindset too.
“I am definitely a much different person than I was freshman year,” Laden said. “I think one of the biggest things that stands out to me is my confidence.”
Laden noted that the confidence has helped her develop as a goalie, and the numbers back up her assessment.
Not only has the Lakeville, Minnesota native had a record-breaking season, but she has also amassed career numbers on par with some of the best in ECAC history, including Quinnipiac’s own Victoria Vigilanti.
Vigilanti manned the crease for the Bobcats from 2010-13, which included Laden’s first two years at Quinnipiac.
Laden’s impressive run as goaltender has earned her the crown for best goals-against average and win percentage in Bobcat history. She also owns the second highest win percentage in program history, just behind Vigilanti.
But she’s quick to dismiss the notion that she has surpassed her predecessor.
“When Vigi was here, she had a very different team in front of her,” Laden said. “She was facing two to three times as many times shots as me. She didn’t have the defensive core that I have now, and she was part of building the program to where it is now.”
Laden even credits some of her surmounting success to Vigilanti.
“Her work ethic, her intensity helped propel me to become a better goalie,” she said. “She is somebody I looked up to. I had big shoes to fill, but I love setting the bar high.”
Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley agrees with Laden about the team being stronger than ever, but didn’t hesitate to express the difficulty of the current situation.
“Vigi’s first year, if we didn’t win one to nothing or two to one we weren’t winning a game because we weren’t scoring enough,” he said. “But at the same time nobody’s going to blame a kid if she gives up a couple goals and we are outshot by a lot.”
“Chelsea on the other hand is on the short end of shot games, when we are outshooting teams 45-15, so it’s a lot easier to stay sharp when you’re getting 45 shots.”
Seeley also says he believes that team dominance can make things tougher on a goalie.
“Chelsea is under a lot more pressure now when there’s 15 to 20 shots she’s getting that could equally change a game because we’re still not scoring 4 or 5 a game,” he said.
And Vigilanti isn’t the only ECAC great that Laden’s statistics compare to. In fact, her single-season Quinnipiac record of 16 shutouts is also the best mark in ECAC single-season history. The previous record was held by Erica Howe, who had 14 last year for the national champion, the Clarkson Golden Knights.
If you had predicted that four years ago, you’d look like Nostradamus. But from the start of her career, Laden showed plenty of promise, posting a solid .916 save-percentage, and 2.32 goals-against average as a freshman. But like most athletes, she went through a fairly significant learning curve early on.
“Jumping from high school to college, D-I hockey was incredible, a huge jump for me,” she said “I thought I was a great hockey goalie, I got to practice and I couldn’t stop a beach ball it felt like.”
However, despite overcoming the initial issues to post the strong first-year campaign, her save-percentage plummeted to .885 her sophomore year, while her goals-against average rose to almost 3.00.
But she didn’t get discouraged, and used the struggles to grow.
“If I had come in my freshmen year and blew it away, I would have lower expectations for myself, probably wouldn’t have pushed myself that hard,” Laden said. “I am thankful for those years.”
“Those games especially helped me junior year, and set the tone for the summer, I worked my butt off between sophomore and junior year and that helped me have a great junior year as well.”
With the records and all the successes, it would seem likely that Laden would be most proud of her hockey career. But if you ask her, it’s not the shutouts and the wins. Instead, Laden points to her ability to overcome the struggles of balancing being a Division I hockey player, and her academics.
“I have to admit there was a lot of thinking, ‘Can I even do this for four years?’” she said. “It was really intense. And knowing that I was able to battle through it and able to continue to face adversity.”
“It was tough, but I’m really proud of myself throughout four years to not only get through it but to succeed.”
Through all this, Laden and her defense gave the Bobcats their first trip to the NCAA tournament – and despite falling to the Harvard Crimson in the first round, there’s a newfound confidence among the program.
“If we play our game we can play with anyone, and if we play our game we can beat anyone,” Laden said. “If we all show up I think this team can do anything.”
