The Quinnipiac Bobcats secured their third straight and 10th all-time Nutmeg Classic Championship in a 1-0 win over the UConn Huskies Saturday night at the M&T Bank Arena. 

After winning the Nutmeg Classic, the women’s hockey team joined a laundry list of Hamden teams to win at the biggest stage in each of their respective sports. 

“Quinnipiac supports athletics,” head coach Cass Turner said. “We certainly wouldn’t be in this position without a university that’s putting us in positions to get great athletes, great coaches, and great people to win championships.”

With the tournament in Hamden this year, the visiting Huskies were not going to go down without a fight in the championship game. 

UConn is a young, physical team that was able to find flashes of success against a Quinnipiac team that relies heavily on their veteran presence to get the job done. 

“We are continuing to raise the standard and get better as a program,” UConn head coach Chris Mackenzie said. “I am excited for the future.” 

The first period showed how physical the rest of the game was going to be with a total of four penalties assessed. 

Three of the four penalties gave the Huskies power play opportunities. Even though the Bobcats were down a player, most of the penalty kill was spent in UConn’s defensive zone. 

The sustained pressure from the Quinnipiac forwards did not give the Huskies many chances to even think about scoring.

Bobcat sophomore, Maya Labad, would open the scoring early in the second period off a breakaway opportunity. 

The tournament’s “Most Outstanding Player” capped off her weekend with three goals and an assist. 

“She keeps getting better and better,” Turner said. “I think she can keep getting better. It’s going to be a fun year.”

Labad has already surpassed her goal count from last year and has tied her assist total from last season as well. 

From offense to goaltending, graduate student Logan Angers continued to dominate between the pipes, recording 16 saves to go along with her fourth shutout of the season.  

“Logan Angers is such a calm goalie,” Turner said. “She is in position and she doesn’t leave a lot of second shots.”

The Bobcats have been able to get offensive production from everywhere in their lineup and totaled seven shutouts on the season so far as the team looks to add more hardware to their already historic season. 

Coming out of the weekend sweep and keeping the tournament trophy in Hamden for a third consecutive year, Turner wants one message to be sent to the rest of the conference. 

“We are going to keep fighting,” Turner exclaimed. “We want to have things that we are the best in the country at and I think that they take that to heart.”

The reputation of being a disciplined, physical hockey team that the Bobcats have puts them in sole position at the top of the ECAC conference. 

Their quest to win more championships and more hardware continues at Union this coming Friday, Dec. 2nd.