Women's hockey readies to fight post-break slump

Women’s hockey readies to fight post-break slump

By Marty Joseph, QBSN Staff Writer

Preview of Second Half:

The Bobcats have key games at home against Dartmouth and Harvard coming out of the break. Recently the team has struggled to come out of the break motivated and with a strong effort, so the team needs to remain focused and ready to continue the win streak following the long lay off.

Following the home stand, the Bobcats head to Ithaca, N.Y. for a statement game against Cornell. The Big Red cruised to a 7-1 win at High Point Solutions Rink on Nov. 19, so the Bobcats seek revenge in a match-up that could likely decide the top seed in the ECAC.

The team battles Colgate before heading home for a weekend series against Syracuse. The Bobcats head to Harvard and Dartmouth for their final road trip of the season before heading back to Hamden for its final four games of the regular season.

Improving on home-ice is vital for the Bobcats in the second half, and this final home stand would be the best to do it. The team welcomes St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Union, and Rensselaer to the High Point Solutions Arena. In the case that the Bobcats own the top-seed in the Conference heading into these four games, they will have the opportunity to clinch the ECAC regular season championship on home ice in front of the Bobcat faithful.

What Needs to Be Continued:

The Bobcats sit atop the ECAC Conference with a 9-2-1 record and own a six-point lead over second-place Clarkson. The current seven-game winning streak the team is on has also made the miserable start to the season a distant memory. The Bobcats are 0-2-1 in their first game coming off the break since head coach Rick Seeley took over, so the team needs to break away from this tendency to continue its winning streak. The Bobcats have played well on the road this season with an 8-4 record. The team needs to continue its road warrior mentality with pivotal games in the second half away from High Point Solutions Rink.

Timely goal scoring has been the Bobcats’ most lethal weapon all season. The team is scoring goals at the most important times, and it has contributed to the team’s success. The team is 6-2 in one-goal games and an astonishing 8-2-1 in games when the opponent nets the first goal. Falling behind in games is never something teams base their game plans around, but it has seemed to motivate the Bobcats as a wake-up call.

Two capable goaltenders between the pipes are also what make this team so dangerous. Junior Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge, Ontario) has played in 19 of the team’s 21 games, but freshman Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minn.) has played well when she has been called upon. This welcomes a healthy competition between both goaltenders and motivates each one of them to always be giving their best effort. Both goaltenders will need to come up big for the Bobcats if the team wants to remain at the top of the ECAC Conference.

What Needs to Be Improved:

The Bobcats have developed the habit of giving up the first goal in the majority of their contests during the first half. With an 8-1-2 record in these games, this habit hasn’t hurt the team to this point, but with key games down the stretch, the Bobcats need to focus on getting early leads in games. Playing with the lead will only make life that much easier for the team and potentially make it that much more dangerous. If the Bobcats want to be atop the ECAC at the end of the season, this habit will need to be broken.

The Bobcats have enjoyed the majority of their success on the road in the first half with an 8-4 road record. However, the team is only 4-3-1 on home ice. The team will need to improve its play at home with an important four game home stand to close out the season in February. This will especially be important in the likely scenario of the team clinching home ice in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. Getting momentum at home will set the team up for a long postseason run in the ECAC tournament.

The power play hasn’t been a huge problem for the Bobcats in the first half. However, in ECAC games the power play is only operating at 11.4 percent, which is seventh best in the Conference. With the offensive skill the team possesses, the power play should be one of the most feared in the Conference and not at the middle of the pack. Timely goals have defined the team to this point, but it’s time for the team to start adding timely power play goals to the equation.