LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — For the first time in ECAC women’s ice hockey history, the Quinnipiac Bobcats stepped into the historic Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid to take on the Princeton Tigers in an ECAC semifinal matchup.
Quinnipiac came into this matchup 0-2 on the season against Princeton and on a four-game losing streak against them and this game would not disappoint, the Bobcats would go on to take this one with a final score of 2-1 in overtime.
This victory will send Quinnipiac to its first ECAC championship since its 2015-16 championship season.
Quinnipiac head coach Cass Turner had a lot of praise for the conference, saying “the ECAC staff has done an amazing job making it what these women deserve.”
This semifinal matchup was exactly what postseason hockey is known for, as it contained all today’s physical play, defensive battles and a fast-paced contest that kept everyone on the edge of their seats the whole way through.
Quinnipiac started the game off on the right foot as they would have a number of high-quality chances in the offensive zone. Princeton goaltender Uma Corena had to stand on her head early and kept it a scoreless game in the first.
But the story of the game was all about the defense as both the Tigers and Bobcats were clogging up the shooting lanes all night. The game ended with 31 total blocked shots between the two teams.
The Bobcats attempted to get the scoring started as Bryn Prier was able to get one past Corena. Princeton would challenge the goal for offsides and it would be successfully called back and the game would remain scoreless. This wouldn’t fault the Bobcats though, as they would eventually break through as Taylor Brueske received a cross crease pass from senior captain Mia Lopata and made no mistake about it, potting it by Corena to make it 1-0 Bobcats.
About halfway through the second period, there would be a parade to the penalty box as the Bobcats would pick up three consecutive penalties, and all the momentum that the Bobcats had was ripped out from under them. Following the penalty it was all Princeton heading into the third intermission.
If not for star goaltender Felica Frank, the game would have been completely different as the Tigers came out of the gate, launching 17 shots on goal in the third period. She would eventually let one in as Angelina DiGirolamo would pick up the puck on the blue line and skate it into the Quinnipiac zone in a three-on-two opportunity and would fire it by Frank’s glove-side, evening up the game.
Following the Princeton goal, Quinnipiac would be in bend-and-don’t break mode as they were playing to survive till the end of the period. They would head into the locker room tied 1-1, marking the first overtime women’s playoff game in Lake Placid.
In overtime, it was all Bobcats as Zoe Uens collected the puck and played a pass over to overtime hero Avery Bairos and the rest would be new history as the Bairos would walk it into a one-on-one in the Princeton zone, fire a shot low on the pads of Corena collect her own rebound and put it five-hole to win the game.
While Bairos played hero tonight in Placid she says “ to be completely honest i kinda blacked out but I’m just super proud of this team, we’re so tight and we grinded out this win.”
While the Bobcats secured the semifinal win tonight in Herb Brooks Arena, they have to collect themselves and come out with a complete game effort if they want to beat Yale in the ECAC Championship matchup at 5:00 on March 7.
