PROVIDENCE, RI – Less than 24 hours after a 4-1 win at home against Providence, No. 8 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey completed the sweep, this time in Friartown 2-1 in overtime. The win didn’t come without a hail mary from the Friars though.
The second game started much like Friday night’s contest, with neither team finding its footing through the first frame.
“(Providence) pressured hard in the corners,” head coach Cass Turner said. “I think they had an answer for some of the three-high looks that we create.”
The closest the Bobcats got to lighting the lamp in the first frame came off a scrum in front of the net. Providence junior goaltender Hope Walinski couldn’t corral multiple loose pucks, creating rebound opportunities for Quinnipiac. One of those shots got up-and-over Walinski but was batted away mid-air by senior defender Clair Tyo.
Despite some of the loose pucks, Walinski was a brick-wall in net, saving 22 shots through the first 40 minutes. The Rhode Island native’s save of the day came off a pad-save stuff on a breakaway attempt from junior forward Veronica Bac.
“Their goalie played really well,” Turner said. “She didn’t give up the same type of rebounds, the same opportunities, she just smothered a lot of puck.”
Similar to Friday, the Bobcats got on the board early in the third. Sophomore forward Madison Chantler forced a turnover on the penalty kill, resulting in a one-on-one with Walinski. The Ontario native slammed a wrist shot into the net for her second goal of the year.
For the Bobcats there was a sense of relief breaking through the aggressive Friar forecheck:
“We found their forecheck was really aggressive,” graduate student forward Jess Schryver said. “We had a hard time breaking out of the zone, but once we got that figured out in the third period we were able to score.”
Despite breaking through Providence’s forecheck, Quinnipiac couldn’t cash in on any insurance goals to put the Friars away for good, something that came back to bite them.
“We were really hunting that next goal,” Turner said. “ It didn’t come.”
The Bobcats appeared to be coasting to their sixth victory before disaster struck with 9.4 seconds remaining. Providence senior defender KC Brooks sent a hail mary attempt from the blue line that ricocheted off graduate student goaltender Logan Angers and dribbled into the net.
The end of the period was a result that Quinnipiac had experienced before, just last week against UNH, the Wildcats scored with 9.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
“You have to have a short memory sometimes,” Turner said. “Nothing good can happen from staying where you are, you gotta keep moving forward and they did.”
The Bobcats displayed their short memory just 54 seconds into overtime when Schryver buried a tip-in to the left of Walinski to escape Providence with the win.
“We had a pretty positive energy on the bench and we went out there in overtime and got the win,” Schryver said.
Though not where they want to be, Turner continues to see improvement in her undefeated squad.
“We weren’t quite where we wanted to be yet today,” Turner said. “It was an improvement from yesterday, which is exactly what you want.”
Quinnipiac will open up its ECAC slate next weekend when it takes on Brown on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.
