By Marty Joseph, QBSN Staff Writer
Recap of First Half:
The Bobcats (13-7-1, 9-2-1) were ranked No. 9 nationally in USCHO.com preseason poll heading into the season. A slow start, however, with a pair of devastating home loses to Maine dropped the Bobcats out of the national polls. Heading into ECAC Conference play with a 1-5-0 record was not what the Bobcats had hoped, and the team knew it had to turn its play around.
The Bobcats started conference play in late October with a pair of wins on the road at Rensselaer and Union and carried momentum into November. Wins against Yale, St. Lawrence, and Colgate highlighted the month in conference play but loses to conference powerhouses Clarkson and Cornell were a cause for some concern. However, since the 7-1 loss at the hands of Cornell on home ice, the Bobcats have seemed to play with a purpose. A come-from-behind overtime victory against nationally ranked Boston College was the turning point in the team’s season to this point. The Bobcats closed out the month of November by winning the Nutmeg Classic with wins over Connecticut and Robert Morris.
The team seemed determined to get back to its winning ways before the winter break by going 4-0-0 in December with wins at Brown and Yale before sweeping a weekend set against Princeton. The Bobcats go into the break riding a seven-game winning streak and sit atop the ECAC with a 9-2-1 record.
Following the 3-0 win against Princeton, head coach Rick Seeley commented on the up-coming break.
“I think it’s a real focus of ours, because the last three years we’ve come back and had a weak first week in January,” said Seeley. “I think they’re really committed to staying in shape during exam week and really focusing while they’re at home.”
Trends/Streaks/Performances/Milestones:
Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) became the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team’s all-time point leader on Nov. 18 with a four-point night in a 6-2 win over Colgate. In just her 50th career game, her four points gave her 75 points in her career, breaking Vicki Graham’s previous record of 73 points set in 2007. Babstock currently leads the team with 11 goals and 13 assists in 21 games.
Goaltender Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge, Ontario) leads the nation with six shutouts going into the break. In the final weekend before the break, Vigilanti led the Bobcats by posting two shutouts on the way to a two-game sweep of the Princeton Tigers. Vigilanti is 11-6-1 on the season with an average of 2.02 goals against and .913 save percentage.
No comments:
Post a Comment