The No. 10 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team took on the Providence Friars for their home opener on Tuesday night at M&T Bank Arena.
Quinnipiac entered this out of conference contest with a record of 3-1 after coming off a two-game series split with the Northeastern Huskies in Boston.
Providence was 2-0 coming off dominant home victories against Saint Michael’s College.
The Bobcats came out with an early jump, beating the Friars to loose pucks and using their physical play to force turnovers in the offensive zone. Providence caught their footing in the latter half of the period and put on pressure of their own.
“For us, we are a team that wants to have the puck,” Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner said. “When we don’t have it, we want to be relentless to get it back.”
The first frame ended scoreless with Quinnipiac holding a 10-9 advantage in shots on goal.
The first 10 minutes of the second period was all Bobcats. They held the obvious advantage in puck possession and peppered Friars’ senior goaltender Hope Walinski with shots, none of which found the net.
The Bobcats exited the ice for the second intermission still unable to solve Walinski. She had 12 saves in the middle frame.
In the third period, it seemed like neither team could get an inch of ice. Strong neutral zone play by both sides made it almost impossible to generate offense.
“When you feel like you’ve been owning the play a little bit, that next period can be hard,” Turner said of her team’s play in the third period. “It can be a little bit of a trap and can feel tough.”
With six minutes remaining in regulation, sophomore winger Kahlen Lamarche was tripped on an odd-man rush, leading to the Bobcats’ third power play of the game. With 54 seconds left on the advantage, a Friar stick caught the skates of Lamarche yet again, giving the Bobcats a 5-on-3 powerplay in the final five.
On a shorthanded rush after killing the first penalty, Providence sophomore winger Audrey Knapp fired a shot on Quinnipiac’s freshman goaltender Felicia Frank. The puck hit the Bobcat crest on Frank’s sweater and the official blew the whistle to end the play, unable to see that the puck fell loose. It landed in the crease and found the stick of the Friars’ senior first line center Hannah Johnson who buried it in the open cage.
After the officials met for discussion, the scoreboard continued to read zeroes.
Quinnipiac took the fortunate break and ran with it as just 28 seconds after Providence thought they had the lead, senior center Maddy Samoskevich fired a rocket to the upper corner of the net to break the scoreless tie.
Samoskevich said after the Friars’ disallowed goal, the team remained positive. “We just said ‘Stay calm. This is our game, and we’re going to keep battling all the way through.’”
The Bobcats held onto the lead in the final minutes to secure the victory over the Friars.
Freshman goaltender Felicia Frank earned her first win in her collegiate debut, making 23 saves in the shutout.
“It’s amazing,” Frank said. “It’s like an unreal feeling.”
Providence falls to 2-1, making the trip north to Maine later in the week to face the Black Bears in a two-game set on October 11th and 12th. Quinnipiac moves to 4-1 on the season and their next matchup will be in Providence to take on the Friars once again on October 15th.
“I’m impressed with our consistency in our effort today. I think we battled from beginning to end.” Turner said.
