Although the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team held New Hampshire scoreless for 52 minutes Friday night, the No. 8 Bobcats needed two extra minutes of play to stay undefeated after a wild third period left the game tied at the end of regulation.
It took both the Bobcats and the Wildcats — who had faced off only 10 times before — time to get comfortable. The game’s unremarkable first 20 minutes were characterized less by net-front opportunities than by nonstop whistles, repeated turnovers and a bizarre amount of neutral zone play.
But after a scoreless first period, Quinnipiac sophomore forward Madison Chantler found the back of the net early in the second.
And the effect was clear. Chantler’s goal put an end to 24 minutes of awkward, clumsy hockey, and the Bobcats returned to center ice with newfound pride in their stride.
Just over five minutes later, Bobcats graduate student forward Sadie Peart slipped the puck past Wildcats freshman goaltender Sedona Blair on an assist from graduate student defender Kate Reilly.
Chaos ensued as the second period wound down, though.
With roughly two minutes remaining in the frame, the Bobcats played an extraordinary game of keep-away amid a delayed cross-checking penalty call on a New Hampshire forward.
But when the Wildcats finally got a stick on the puck, Bobcats senior forward Sophie Urban was also headed to the box — in her case, for tripping.
Four-on-four play, in and of itself, would not have been all that unusual. But about 90 seconds later, Wildcats senior forward Chavonne Truter joined Kelly in the New Hampshire penalty box for interference.
The Bobcats, now with a four-on-three advantage and less than 20 seconds to play in the second, capitalized on the odd power play. Quinnipiac junior forward Maya Labad snuck the puck in behind a sprawled-out Blair. However, upon review, the referees determined that Peart had interfered with the New Hampshire netminder on the play and overturned the on-ice call that would have put the Bobcats up 3-0.
The third period seemed comparatively uneventful — at least, until it didn’t. Although Bobcats graduate student goaltender Logan Angers had held the Wildcats scoreless through the first 52 minutes of play, junior defender Marina Alvarez finally put New Hampshire on the board with just under eight minutes remaining in the third.
Still down by one, New Hampshire head coach Hilary Witt pulled Blair from the net with barely two minutes to play. Then, with 23-and-a-half seconds left on the clock and very little chance of forcing overtime, Witt called a timeout.
Wildcats junior forward Shea Verrier scored mere moments later to tie the game at two with 9.6 seconds remaining.
To an unlikely three-on-three overtime the teams went.
Now acutely aware of their self-inflicted predicament, the Bobcats did not take long to end the game they thought they had put away in the second period.
Two minutes and 19 seconds into the extra frame, senior forward Nina Steigauf went bar-down on a pass from Labad to notch the Bobcats’ third win of the season.
Almost immediately after the final buzzer sounded, NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” began blasting in New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center Arena.
But the Bobcats and Wildcats have not said their final goodbyes just yet — the Battle of the ‘Cats will continue Saturday at 2 p.m.
