No. 8 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey continued its strong start Saturday, taking down New Hampshire 4-1 to sweep its second non-conference series and start the year 4-0.
As the first period began it was clear that the Bobcats weren’t going to allow the Wildcats to make this one close. They dominated the time of possession in their offensive zone, firing shot after shot on goal and winning the race to the puck almost every time.
Coming into Saturday’s game the Bobcats had yet to convert on the power play, going 0-6 through three games. That all changed in the opening frame.
Quinnipiac cashed in on the man-advantage following an elbowing penalty on UNH senior forward Chavonne Truter. It was junior forward Maya Labad who finally broke through, taking the puck in from center ice before sniping the puck high-left past UNH freshman goaltender Sedona Blair.
The Bobcats stayed hot on the power play capitalizing again on another Truter penalty four minutes later. This time it was graduate student forward Sadie Peart who tipped home a bouncing puck that deflected off a UNH defender following a slap shot from senior defender Kendall Cooper.
The Wildcats fought back throughout the second period, mostly in part to Blair. The Minnesota native settled in nicely as the period progressed, making solid saves on the hyper-aggressive Quinnipiac offense.
Despite her strong performance, Blair was no match for another goal that deflected off a UNH defender. This time around it was Bobcats graduate student forward Jess Shryver who collected the loose puck and slammed it home bar-down to extend the lead to three.
The Wildcats were able to keep their hopes alive with a snipe from freshman forward Sydney Leonard two minutes later. Quinnipiac graduate student goaltender Logan Angers appeared to whiff on an attempted glove save as UNH cut the lead to two.
But Angers returned to stellar form in the third period, playing solid in net throughout, preventing the Wildcats from mounting a comeback attempt for the second night in a row.
Quinnipiac slammed the door shut with just over two minutes remaining with beautiful team tape-to-tape passing. Peart sent a cross-ice pass over to senior forward Nina Steigauf who tipped it home to seal the win.
The Bobcats will head back to Hamden to prepare for a home-and-home series against Providence next weekend. Game one will be in Hamden on Oct. 13 at 6 p.m.
