HAMDEN – Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey is pretty familiar with the ECAC Quarterfinals.
One year ago, the Bobcats were in a similar position. ECAC Quarterfinals, chance to advance on the line, all or nothing final game. Despite winning the first game of the series, the Bobcats went on to lose two straight to fall in the Quarterfinal for the second year in a row.
After a tough performance yesterday, Bobcat Nation was left wondering if the cycle of amazing regular seasons followed by disappointing postseason performance would continue. Would the Bobcats be able to get over the hump for the inaugural ECAC Semifinals in Lake Placid, N.Y.?
The Bobcats’ 5-4 resilient victory against the Brown Bears Sunday afternoon answers the question without a doubt. A gritty win that showed just the kind of heart and resilience necessary to win the ECAC Championship.
“This team, if you haven’t seen it already, we can come back from many different situations,” junior forward Kahlen Lamarche said. “We will fight til the end, and that’s what makes this team so different than other teams.”
However, the battle that this game would become for the Bobcats didn’t start from opening puck drop. At the start of the first, it appeared this game would be different from the 3-2 “heart-attack hockey” of Saturday’s overtime loss.
Within the first minute, senior forward Emerson Jarvis would collect a touch pass from Lamarche, angling past two Brown defenders.
“I told her to use her speed to beat defense,” Lamarche said. “I knew that if she used her speed, she would beat them nine times out of 10.
After doing just that, Jarvis was in alone on Bears sophomore goaltender Anya Zupkofska, pulling the puck through the crease before scoring on the backhand.
Zupkofska, who had been a brick wall for much of the third in Brown’s win, had allowed a goal on the first Quinnipiac shot of the game.
“That was huge to get that first one, we’re strong when we score first,” head coach Cass Turner said.
Quinnipiac would also put the second goal on the board as the senior class continued to show out in their final game at M&T Bank Arena. Senior defenseman Zoe Uens would find the puck on her stick after graduate student Laurence Frenette had her legs taken out from underneath her by a Brown skater without a whistle. Uens rifled the shot through traffic and found the back of the net, beating Zupkofska for her second point of the night.
But the Bears weren’t out of it yet. Far from it.
“I think Brown, they threw everything at us,” Turner said.
That started with a power play goal from sophomore forward Monique Lyons. The Bobcat penalty kill, which came into the ECAC tournament leading the nation with a 90 percent success rate, has struggled in the playoffs. In the three game series, Quinnipiac has allowed four goals on 12 Brown opportunities.
Despite the disappointing penalty kill causing the Bobcats to go into the first intermission scoreless, the squad would find a way to use the man-disadvantage to their advantage in the second.
Initially, Quinnipiac’s singular penalty kill of the second looked to be another dangerous scoring chance for Brown. The Bears’ forecheck had all but trapped sophomore defenseman Aynsley D’Ottavio in the Quinnipiac defensive zone, forcing her to flip the puck out of the zone haphazardly in a desperation clear.
But that desperation clearly fell right on the stick of the Quinnipiac leading goal scorer. Toeing the blue line, Lamarche was able to corral the puck away from the Brown defender to go in on Zupkofska all alone. The Sudbury, Ontario native picked her spot and lit the lamp, furthering the Bobcat lead to two once again.
Once again, Brown found the answer, refusing to let Quinnipiac pull away. But in similar fashion, the Bobcats were determined to end the night here, once again turning to Lamarche.
Another shot facilitated by Lamarche cherry picking at the blue line, D’Ottavio would notch her second assist of the night by finding the forwards stick. Even though the play was a two-on-one with both Lamarche and Jarvis, every single player on the ice knew who was taking that shot.
With the defender playing the pass, it was just Lamarche against Zupkofska.
“When I want to score, I’m going to find a way to do it,” Lamarche said.
It wouldn’t be the last time Lamarche decided to score on the Brown Bears.
Eight minutes into the third period, Lamarche would score the game-winner. Completely unassisted, she picked the pocket of Brown junior forward Ava Decoste and drove to the net, burying the puck to make the score 5-2.
This goal not only would become the game-winner — it also made history. Not only has the Quinnipiac single-season goals record been rewritten at 42 goals, which also leads the NCAA this season, but Lamarche has now broken the single-season Quinnipiac points record.
“No one comes in here to try and break people’s records…it’s something that you know, happens with time,” Lamarche said. “I love being here and breaking records is fun.”
As if Lamarche needed her name written in the history books even more, the goal capped off her fourth hat trick this season, the most in a single season by a Bobcat.
Two late goals by Brown in the final ten minutes of play would keep the fans’ hearts in their throats. Even down three, the Bears continued to fight until the bitter end. But it was a final clear by captain graduate student defenseman Mia Lopata that would punch the Bobcats’ ticket to the semifinals.
“I wanted that win more than anyone on that team,” Lopata said.
The Clinton, N.Y., native might be right. It’s not just about winning her final collegiate home game. She has a history in Lake Placid, having won a high school state championship at the legendary Herb Brooks Arena.
“I’m beyond pumped. I feel like I got some good juju going into that building,” Lopata said. “Knowing that the season’s on the line from here on out, I don’t ever want to be out of this Bobcat uniform.”
Quinnipiac returns to the ice in Lake Placid, N.Y., on March 6 to take on the No. 10 Princeton University Tigers. Puck drop for the ECAC Semifinal game is set for 7 p.m.
