A win is always a win, but some wins are admittedly prettier than others.
And while Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey managed to pull off a 6-5 overtime win against Princeton Saturday afternoon, it was the opposite of pretty — it was pandemonium.
On paper, Princeton should have obliterated Quinnipiac in the first period.
The Tigers pounded Bobcats graduate student goaltender Logan Angers with 24 shots in the first 20 minutes alone. For perspective, Princeton has ended four games this season with fewer shots on goal.
The Bobcats, meanwhile, could barely get the puck out of their defensive zone, much less anywhere near Princeton’s net. Between turnovers, takeaways and terrible puck-handling, Quinnipiac only managed to put five shots on net in the first period.
But while only one of Princeton’s 24 first-period shots found the back of the net, three of the Bobcats’ five total shots made it past Tigers junior goaltender Jennifer Olnowich.
After recording just one shot on goal in the first 14 minutes of the game, three different Bobcats — graduate student forward Julia Nearis, graduate student defender Kate Reilly and sophomore forward Madison Chantler — scored in the period’s final minutes to end the frame with an improbable 3-1 lead.
What happened in those six minutes, however improbable it may have been, was impressive. But what followed wasn’t.
The second frame was a period of fours — and not in a good way. The Bobcats put up just four shots, committed four penalties and let up four unanswered goals.
By the end of the second period, Quinnipiac — its two-goal lead now a two-goal deficit — trailed 5-3.
A controversial third-period hit would set the stage for the Bobcats’ comeback.
Less than four minutes into the final frame, a collision between Quinnipiac freshman forward Kahlen Lamarche and Princeton sophomore forward Issy Wunder sent the five-foot-six-inch Bobcat flying.
After a lengthy discussion, officials assessed Wunder — the Tigers’ leading point-scorer — a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head.
Then, midway through the five-minute advantage, Bobcats senior defender Kendall Cooper’s shot from the blue line cut the deficit to one.
Less than 90 seconds later, graduate student forward Sadie Peart — playing in her program record-setting 152nd game — backhanded a pass from Reilly past Princeton freshman goaltender Uma Cormier, who had replaced the starter after the first period.
And just like that, the game was tied at five, where it would stay for the remainder of regulation.
The captain duo that forced overtime also fittingly tallied the game-winner. Just under three minutes into three-on-three overtime, Peart potted Reilly’s net-front set-up pass — her third assist of the night — to secure Quinnipiac’s 6-5 overtime victory.
In the end, Princeton outshot Quinnipiac 46-18, but the Bobcats managed to score on 33% of their shots.
Strange? Maybe.
But a strange win is still a win.
Saturday’s game was Quinnipiac’s last until after the holidays. The Bobcats will face LIU at M&T Bank Arena on Saturday, Dec. 30. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m.
