While Quinnipiac (15-13-3 overall, 11-7-1 ECAC Hockey) enters this game off a 1-1 draw to St. Lawrence, Clarkson (26-4-1 overall, 16-3-0 ECAC Hockey) will arrive in Hamden off a 2-0 loss to Princeton. Before their defeat to the Tigers, the last time Clarkson lost was at the hands of the Bobcats, which came back on Nov. 17 when they defeated the Golden Knights 3-2 in OT. Clarkson owns a 21-11-4 all-time series lead against Quinnipiac.
Clarkson is tied for the top spot in ECAC Hockey standings with the Colgate Raiders at 31 points each. Meanwhile, the Bobcats sit at the fifth spot in ECAC Hockey with now less than one month remaining in the regular season. The Golden Knights were voted as the top team in the nation by USCHO.com and by the USA Today. Clarkson’s statistical output and their results have supported such a high rating.
Clarkson Golden Knights
Prior to the Princeton game, the Golden Knights went on an impressive 15-game winning streak. Clarkson outscored opponents 64-18 and shut out three opponents in that stretch. Also, their defense was able to hold opponents to one goal or less 11 of those 15 games in the lengthy streak.
Junior forward Loren Gabel leads the Golden Knights with 30 goals, six of those being game-winners. In addition, she’s registered 30 assists on the season.On the other hand, Elizabeth Giguere has also been an offensive powerhouse, accumulating 21 goals and 36 assists.
Clarkson goaltender Shea Tiley has accounted for the vast majority of play between the pipes for the Golden Knights. She’s had a fantastic regular season thus far: 30 games played, 1.39 goals against average, .935 save percentage, and 25-4-1 record along with eight shutouts.
Quinnipiac Bobcats
Quinnipiac has won three of their last six games, and they also haven’t lost in four of their last six after drawing to St. Lawrence. Their victories came against Union (4-2), RPI (2-0) and Brown (2-1). The Bobcats retain a 13-4-1 record when scoring first in all games this season. On the flip side, Quinnipiac still has an impressive 10-1-0 record when tallying the first goal in ECAC competition.
The Bobcats are ranked the second worst team in the conference in power play goals allowed with eight. The Bobcats are also averaging 2.7 penalty minutes per game, and their penalty kill sits at 12.7 percent (10-for-79). With Clarkson’s noticeable 23.5 percent power play production, while scoring four goals per game, this matchup doesn’t favor the Bobcats on paper.
Captain Melissa Samoskevich leads her team with 13 goals scored and has also tallied nine assists and five game-winning goals. Freshman forward Brooke Bonsteel has notched 10 goals and three assists. Meanwhile, Junior forward Kenzie Lancaster has accumulated eight goals, 13 assists, and 20 blocked shots.
Sophomore goaltender Abbie Ives has played in net roughly 91.3 percent of the Bobcats’ regular season. She’s started 26 games and has appeared in 27. Other noteworthy statistics from the starting Quinnipiac goalie include a 1.72 goals against average, .924 save percentage, and a 14-10-3 record while shutting out opponents on three occasions.
Tune into QBSN’s Live Feed:
You can listen to QBSN’s coverage of this game with Steven Pappas and Jake Ziegler on the call at mixlr.com/qbsn. The puck drops at 3 p.m. at the Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena.
