Team Notes: No.9 Quinnipiac Hosts Maine in Home-Opening Weekend Series
Home Opener
The USCHO.com No.9-ranked Quinnipiac women's ice hockey
team hosts Maine in its home-opening weekend series this Friday,
Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8. Friday's game is slated to begin at 7
p.m., while Saturday's contest will begin at 1
p.m.
Multimedia
Live stats, audio and video can be accessed by visiting
the Official Website of Quinnipiac Athletics,
www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com.
About Maine
The Black Bears are coming off two consecutive wins to
begin the season on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24 when
they defeated Sacred Heart on consecutive nights. On Friday, Maine
defeated the Pioneers, 6-0, as sophomore Missy Denk (two goals) and
senior Myriam Croussette (one goal, two assists) led the offensive
attack for the Black Bears. Senior goaltender Candice Currier and
junior goaltender Brittany Ott each made seven saves in net for
Maine.
On Saturday, the Black Bears defeated Sacred Heart, 8-1, as senior Dawn Sullivan, freshman Jennifer More, and Croussette each scored two goals apiece. Junior goaltenders Kylie Smith and Brittany Ott combined to make nine saves in net in the win.
All-Time Against The Black Bears
Friday's contest will be the
13th time the two sides face
each other, as Maine holds a 2-9-1 all-time series lead. Last
season, the two teams split a weekend series played on Friday, Oct.
15 and Saturday, Oct. 16. On Friday, Quinnipiac was led by
sophomore Regan Boulton's (Brandon Manitoba)
three-goal performance, as the Bobcats skated to a 4-2 win.
Freshman Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) added
Quinnipiac's final goal of the game, helping the Bobcats to its
fifth consecutive victory to begin the 2010-11 season. All four of
Quinnipiac's goals in the game were scored on the power play.
Sophomore goaltender Victoria Vigilanti (Woodbridge,
Ontario) made 12 saves in net for Quinnipiac.
On the following Saturday, Maine defeated Quinnipiac by the same score, 4-2, handing the Bobcats their first loss of the season. Sophomore Brittany Lyons (Canton, Mass.) and Bethany Dymarczyk (Hamden, Conn.) each scored for Quinnipiac in the loss, while Vigilanti made 16 saves in net.
Last Time Out
Quinnipiac opened its 2011-12 season on the road against
No.8-ranked Mercyhurst on Friday, Sept 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1,
splitting the weekend series. On Friday, Mercyhurst shutout
Quinnipiac, 4-0, but the Bobcats responded well on Saturday,
shutting out the Lakers, 1-0. Junior goaltender Victoria Vigilanti
made 54 saves over the weekend, including 24 saves in the 1-0
shutout victory. The win marked the program's first-ever win over
Mercyhurst, an NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Quarterfinalist
and Frozen Four host in 2011.
ECAC Hockey Goaltender Of The Week
Following her 15th
career shutout on Saturday, Oct. 1 against No.8-ranked
Mercyhurst, Vigilanti was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the
Week, as announced by the league on Tuesday, Oct. 4. This marks the
10th career Goaltender of the
Week honors for the Mississauga native, as she was awarded such
honors on five separate occasions during the 2010-11
season.
Golden Goal
Sophomore forward Elena Orlando (Chico,
Calif.) was the hero for the Bobcats on Saturday afternoon, netting
the game-winning goal in the second period of Quinnipiac's 1-0
victory over Mercyhurst. Orlando finished the 2010-11 season with
two goals and six assists, as her eight points were fourth best on
the team among freshman skaters. On the goal, sophomore Emily
MacKinnon (Kirkland, Quebec) and senior Bethany Dymarczyk
(Hamden, Conn.) were each credited with an assist.
USCHO.com And ECAC Hockey Preseason Polls
For the first time in program history, the Quinnipiac
University women's ice hockey team was ranked in the preseason
USCHO.com Preseason Poll, garnering the ninth spot, as announced by
the college hockey website on Monday, Sept. 19. In the 2011-12 ECAC
Hockey Preseason Coaches' Poll, the team was selected to finish
third, as announced by the league on Thursday, Sept. 15. The
Bobcats collected 93 points in the ECAC Hockey Poll and one
first-place vote after posting a 22-12-3 overall record (12-9-1
ECAC Hockey) last season, en route to the team's first-ever
appearance in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals.
Looking Ahead
Following this weekend's games, Quinnipiac will travel to face
Northeastern on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. The following weekend
on Friday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m., Quinnipiac visits Boston College. The
Bobcats finish the month of October on the road against Rensselaer
on Friday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. contest against
Union on Saturday, Oct. 29.
