For game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Quinnipiac, the scale seemed to dip in the direction of the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac had almost everything they needed. Almost. They hounded the slot. They dominated for the majority of the game. They had 60 shots on goal. That’s not a typo. Sixty.
But the difference was goaltending. The Bobcats put up 20 shots on goaltender Lovisa Selander in the first period, while holding the Engineers to two shots on Sydney Rossman.
But the Bobcats couldn’t get any past Selander, just six days after putting four past her.
Selander stood on her head for the entirety of the first period, let alone the duration of the game. In the second period, the Bobcats put 16 more shots on Selander but still could not find twine.
RPI on the other hand, got three shots on goal. The difference? Two goals got past Rossman a minute and a half apart from each other.
Jaimie Grigsby took the puck and split the Quinnipiac defense. Grigsby found herself alone in the Bobcats zone, and picked the low blocker-side opening, stunning Rossman for RPI’s first goal against the Bobcats this season.
Not even a full two minutes following, Josefine Hansen took a slap shot from the point that evaded everyone, going over Rossman’s shoulder to give RPI a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.
Quinnipiac’s head coach Cassandra Turner’s message was simple heading to the second intermission.
“To believe in who we are,” Turner said. “To play our game, to play Quinnipiac hockey.”
The one thing the Bobcats were missing from the game would come to them in the third period.
The Bobcats continued to control the play and finally found a way to break through.
Taylar Cianfarano took the puck behind Selander, skated out to the slot and couldn’t get a shot off but drew Selander out of position in the process.
Emma Woods picked up the loose puck and put it into the wide-open net to cut the RPI lead to 2-1 just under four minutes into the third period.
Nicole Connery tied the game just as an RPI penalty expired 7:39 into the second.
Connery took advantage of traffic in front of the net and roofed the puck past Selander with a snap shot from the low blocker-side circle.
“I’ve been taking risks and I think that’s been helping me lately,” said Connery, who has eight points in her last three games. “I did not see an opening…I was surprised.”
The Bobcats were clearly dominant but couldn’t get another puck by Selander for the remainder of the period.
At the end of the third period, shots on goal were 55-7 in favor of the Bobcats. At the end of three periods last week, the Bobcats had 52 shots while RPI had 14.
After just over two minutes of overtime, the Bobcats outshot RPI 5-0. It was that fifth shot that deflected off of the skate of Woods and past Selander that made all the difference.
Quinnipiac wins game one by a final score of 3-2. The final shots on goal totals were 60 for Quinnipiac and seven for RPI.
Connery received credit for the secondary assist on the game-winner, giving her 100 career points to join former teammates Kelly Babstock and Shiann Darkangelo as well as current line mate Nicole Kosta in the record books.
“No question playoff hockey is fun hockey,” Turner said. “We did a lot of good things offensively.”
The Bobcats have the opportunity to end the series with a sweep and move on to the ECAC Hockey semifinal on Saturday at 2 p.m.
