Coming off the program’s most successful season, the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team took the ice for the first time on Friday in a scrimmage and defeated the Ontario Hockey Academy 3-1 at the TD Bank Sports Center.
While the Bobcats returned many players from last season, it was the freshman who shined in the team’s first game. Freshman forward Kelly Babstock showed potential, putting seven shots on goal and scoring the first two goals of the game for the Bobcats. Freshman forward Lindsay Burman also left her mark in the game with a goal.
Babstock’s first goal came just 1:20 into the game as she recovered a rebound from Amanda Colin’s shot and flicked the puck between OHA goaltender Alexan Rodrigue and the left post to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
With the Bobcats’ still leading 1-0 late in the second period, Babstock struck again and extended the lead to 2-0. Babstock stole the puck from an OHA defenseman and took the puck to the net for her second goal of the game.
“To score two goals as a freshman in your first game, you really couldn’t ask for anything more,” Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley said.
Babstock almost completed the hat trick in the third period when she slid the puck around a defenseman and skated around her but another defenseman came in and broke up the shot.
Quinnipiac didn’t wait long to put another goal on the board as Burman found the back of the net 12 seconds after Babstock’s second goal , giving the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
Although OHA added a goal in the third period, the team was no match for the offensive attack Quinnipiac put on, as the Bobcats outshot them 32-13.
Quinnipiac goalie Victoria Vigilanti, last year’s ECAC Hockey Goalie and Rookie of the Year, made nine saves in two periods, while backup goalie Amanda Nagel made three saves in the third period.
With the regular season beginning on Oct. 1, and the team following a season that saw the program’s first postseason victory, expectations are high.
“We’re coming off a very successful year and we’ve got a young team and a lot of work ahead of us,” Seeley said.
Seeley speaks after the game:
Photo credit: Charlotte Greene, Video courtesy of QU Athletics
