HAMDEN — No. 8 Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team closed out 2023 with a 7-0 win over LIU. The Bobcats’ offense erupted with 99 shot attempts during Saturday afternoon’s rout.

Quinnipiac  saw two players return to the lineup for Saturday’s matchup: junior forward Maya Labad, who returned after a five-game absence, and graduate student forward Alexa Hoskin after being injured in the season-opening series against Maine back in September. 

From the opening faceoff, both teams took trips up and down the ice to get their legs back under them following the holiday break.

The game’s first penalty went to Bobcats graduate student co-captain Sadie Peart, who took a tripping minor with just under three minutes elapsed. 

Two minutes after Peart’s penalty expired LIU sophomore forward Ryane Kearns took a seat for high-sticking. 

Despite numerous chances by the power-play unit, Sharks junior goaltender Tindra Holm kept the Bobcats off the board. The Sharks would end with nine penalties in the game. Despite playing undisciplined hockey at times, LIU would finish eight of nine on the penalty kill.=

LIU never saw the same power play twice as Quinnipiac head coach Cass Turner tinkered with line pairings throughout the game.

“Since we did get quite a few power plays we were trying new things to see what works and what doesn’t,” senior defender Kendall Cooper said.

Just when it looked like Holm was going to crack, graduate student forward Julia Nearis took the Bobcats second penalty of the game.

As Kearns left the box, Cooper beat Holm’s glove side for the short-handed goal. Less than 10 minutes into her return Labad was on the scoresheet, picking up an assist.

After several minutes of sustained pressure on Holm, freshman forward Kahlen Lamarche found the back of the net to make it a two-goal lead.

Goals in the dying seconds of a period can be morale-killers for opposing teams. With 50 seconds left in the frame, junior forward Veronica Bac moved the Bobcats lead to three with Hoskin picking up an assist.

Beginning the second period the Bobcats were hungry for a fourth goal. Three and a half minutes in and it was Cooper stuffing the puck past the outstretched pad of Holm for her second goal of the day.

“We have some (defenders) that have just amazing skill sets offensively so we want to be sure we’re using that to the best of our advantage,” Turner said. 

Following Cooper’s goal the period quickly became a passing and shooting clinic by Quinnipiac. The only way LIU was able to change its lines was to dump the puck and prepare for yet another offensive onslaught by the Bobcats.

Ultimately, Cooper’s was the only goal in the second as Holm was pulling off highlight-reel saves, trying to keep it a close game to give her offense a chance. At the second intermission, Quinnipiac was outshooting the Sharks 61-6 and 37-5 in shots on goal.

Puck drop in the third period was a nightmare scenario for the Sharks, as within the first 36 seconds the Bobcat’s lead had grown from 4-0 to 6-0. Lamarche netted her second goal of the game after shooting the puck off of Holm and only nine seconds later, it was Nearis picking up her ninth goal of the season.

After Nearis’s goal, LIU started letting emotion take over with five of the team’s penalties coming in the third. The Bobcats stayed composed and didn’t retaliate. 

“We didn’t play down to them when they started getting chippy,” senior defender Maddy Samoskevich said.

It was Holm who perhaps best encapsulated the mood of the Sharks with just under nine minutes in regulation. The goaltender got into an animated argument with the refs for receiving a delay of game minor after the net had come off its pegs.

On a five-on-three power play, Labad scored the extra point, making it 7-0 Bobcats. Graduate student defender and co-captain Kate Reilly picked up an assist on the play, extending her point streak to 10 games. 

While Cooper leads defenders offensively with eight goals, Reilly leads the team in assists (21) and is tied with Peart for the team lead in points (26). 

Reilly, who became the program leader in points by a defender earlier this season, not only leads the team, as well as ECAC Hockey, but is the most productive defender in the nation.

As the final horn sounded the Bobcats failed to hit triple digits, ending the night with 99 shots, 62 on goal. LIU finished with 14 shots and 11 on goal.

With the win, Quinnipiac remains undefeated at home, improving to 11-0-0. Overall, the team finished 2023 with a record of 18-3-0, including a record of 8-3-0 in ECAC Hockey, good for second in the conference. 

Quinnipiac will be back in action on Jan. 5 as it faces off against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth in the first of a two-game series.