ITHACA, N.Y. — The thing with playoff hockey is a bad bounce can end your season entirely. While Quinnipiac’s season may not be over, a bad bounce off the boards has put it on life support as Cornell took Game 1 3-2 in overtime Friday afternoon.
Just two minutes into the extra frame, Big Red was fresh off their fifth successful penalty kill of the night when freshman forward Piper Grober sent the puck down the ice toward Logan Angers. The graduate student goaltender unassumingly left the crease to play the puck, but was out-hustled by freshman forward Karel Prefontaine.
The freshman forward had Angers in no-man’s land, and she made her pay for it. A wrist-shot whistled into the bottom-corner of the net to seal the win.
“I saw the puck pop out from the corner … It was an unlucky bounce,” head coach Cass Turner said. “I think there is a little we could have done to not put ourselves in a better position to defend … It’s just a tough, tough bounce in this rink.”
The heartbreaking component comes in when considering the Bobcats dominated the final 50 minutes. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, it’s a 60-minute game.
Cornell came out on fire to open the game, taking quality scoring chances on Angers. Five minutes in, sophomore forward Georgia Schiff collected a loose puck in the crease and snuck it between Angers’ right skate and the pipe to ignite Lynah Rink.
Just four minutes later, senior forward Izzy Daniels saucered a centering pass to junior forward Lily Delianedis. The pass fooled Angers and left Delianedis with a wide-open net to fire in Big Red’s second goal of the period.
“Clearly you don’t want to go down 2-0 in the first,” Turner said. “I thought we were resilient. We really started to get into our game plan and settle in a bit.”
Then Cornell got sloppy.
Three penalties – including a five-on-three opportunity – in the final 10 minutes of the opening period stalled its offensive onslaught. The Bobcats were unable to capitalize on the multiple man-advantages, but seemed more comfortable heading into the first intermission.
“(The) power play can be a tough thing,” Turner said. “We had some really good looks … Until one of those goes in you can feel a little uncomfortable.”
The second started a lot better for the Bobcats. Graduate student forward Sadie Peart sent a faceoff draw back to freshman forward Kahlen Lamarche who snapped a shot through Cornell’s defense and found twine to cut the lead in half.
While nine minutes went by for Quinnipiac without registering a shot, Cornell came close to extending its lead. Near misses from sophomores, forward Avi Adam – whose shot rattled off the left post — and defender Grace Dwyer kept the Bobcats within one.
With the final seconds ticking off in the second, junior defender Mia Lopata’s shot careened off Cornell freshman goaltender Annelies Bergmann. Sophomore forward Madison Chantler picked up the loose puck and with a little help from a Big Red skate tied the game at two.
While Cornell’s play style throughout the game was highly physical — it rose another level in the third. It was mostly Cornell delivering the big hits, Quinnipiac responded with some shots of its own.
“We work hard to play physical, play fast and not take penalties,” Turner said. “It’s how Cornell plays … We did a good job of doing some things to keep up with them.”
Neither team found the back of the net in the third and the netminders had a large part of that. With under two minutes to play Angers snagged a glove save outside the crease, and Bergmann stuffed senior forward Nina Steigauf’s two-on-one chance.
After dropping Game 1 the Bobcats have their back against the wall – facing elimination in Saturday afternoon’s matchup. Despite the pressure, Turner’s message is simple.
“Bounce back … There’s no time to regret anything.”
Puck drop is set for 3 p.m.
