Quinnipiac’s game against Yale was supposed to be remembered for its milestones. Senior forward Natashia Pallatt was making her 100th appearance as a Bobcat. The first Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey goal was scored in the new TD Banknorth Sports Center, and after two periods the team was on its way to the first win at its new home.
However, like their male counterparts had done on Tuesday night against Harvard, the Bobcats could not seal the deal. They watched their two-goal lead vanish and were forced to settle for a 2-2 tie against Yale on Friday afternoon.
After taking a 2-0 lead, the Bobcats surrendered a goal to Yale’s Jenna Spring with 10:30 remaining in the final period. The defense stood strong until Yale fired a barrage of shots during the final five minutes.
“We were just trying to settle everybody down,” Quinnipiac head coach Michael Barrett said. “We were trying to build confidence. The effort was there, but when we would touch the puck we would panic.”
Yale brought out an extra skater with under a minute left. The puck seemed to hang in front of the Bobcat net for an eternity. Finally, Crysti Howser found the back of the net with 10.5 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. Barrett tried to rally the troops.
“We were the better team at even strength,” Barrett said. “For 59 minutes we were the better team and that’s what we had to go back to.”
In the overtime session, Howser had two great chances to give the Bulldogs the victory, but was unable to slide the puck past Quinnipiac goalie Janelle Wolitski (24 saves). Yale’s last shot was saved with one second on the clock and both teams settled for one point.
Trudy Reyns notched the first goal of the game and at new arena for the women’s team. Hayley McMeekin and Jennifer MacLean were credited with the assists. For Reyns, the moment had not sunken in yet.
“I don’t think it has really hit me yet,” Reyns said. “I was on the ice and I was like ‘I scored? Oh, I scored the first goal.'”
Almost midway through the period, Pellatt added to the excitement of her 100th game by scoring a goal to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.
Since their upset of then No.8/9 Connecticut in the Nutmeg Classic at the end of December, the Bobcats have posted a 2-8-2 record.