Quinnipiac University
Brown
Taylar Cianfarano Scores Game-Winning Power Play Goal to Beat Brown 1-0 and Secure Home-Ice in the ECAC Quarterfinals
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The nationally-ranked No. 5/5 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team survived a strong goaltending effort by the Brown Bears as freshman Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) netted the game-winning power play goal in a 1-0 win over the Bears Saturday afternoon at Meehan Auditorium.
Quinnipiac's victory coupled with Clarkson victory over Harvard means the Bobcats have clinched home-ice in the ECAC Quarterfinals and the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The Bobcats will face the No. 6 seed Princeton Tigers in the ECAC Playoffs.
Quinnipiac's third place finish in the regular season is its highest in program history as the Bobcats had finished the regular season fourth three times in program history. The Bobcats also recorded 32 league points which is the most in program history after recording 29 three times in program history.
The Bobcats finish the regular season with a 24-7-3 (15-5-2 ECAC Hockey) record while the Bears finish their season 5-23-1 (2-19-1 ECAC Hockey). The 24 overall wins and 15 ECAC Hockey wins add on to its totals for the most Quinnipiac has record in program history.
In the third period, Cianfarano fired a shot on net that was saved by Brown goaltender Monica Elvin but Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) backhanded the pass to her behind the net. Cianfarano circled back around and lost control of the puck but regained it and shot once again. Brown attempted to clear the puck, but Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) snuck her stick in there to slide the puck to Cianfarano at the top of the slot to rip the shot past Elvin's glove side for the power play goal.
Cianfarano's goal was her team-leading 15th goal of the season, which is also for third in the NCAA among rookies. The power play goal was Cianfarano's third of the season. The Bobcat freshman had not recorded a goal since Jan 17 at Robert Morris, a span of nine games. Cianfarano also recorded her team-leading 27th point of the season.
Connery registered her 13th assist of the season and 24th point with an assist on Cianfarano's goal, tying her personal single-season high of 13 assists set in the 2013-14 season. Woods notched her 10th assist and 19th point of the season on the goal.
It is the second consecutive Saturday game that the Bobcats have won 1-0 on a game-winning power play goal, as Cydney Roesler achieved the feat last weekend at Clarkson. The Bobcats improve to 4-0-0 in 1-0 games this season.
Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minnesota) came through most when the Bobcats needed her. The Bobcats' netminder made 12 saves, including eight in the third period to hang on for her 23rd win of the season and 14th shutout. Laden has now tied former Clarkson goaltender Erica Howe for the most overall shutouts in ECAC Women's Hockey history and second most overall shutouts in NCAA Women's Ice Hockey history. The victory also puts Laden at 49 career victories and would become the second goaltender in Quinnipiac women's ice hockey history to record 50 wins.
Laden made two of her biggest saves of the game late in the third period, with one coming when Brown's Lauren Vella ripped a shot from the point and Laden stretched out her left leg to make the pad save and preserve the 0-0 game at the time. Laden's other big save came as Brown got a shot off on the weak side and Laden slid to her right to knock down the puck away and hang on to the 1-0 lead.
The Bobcats had a plethora of scoring opportunities as they outshot the Bears 41-12 in the contest, totaling 78 shots in the weekend. The Bobcats were outshooting the Bears 28-4 through the first period, before the Bears upped the ante in the third period.
For the second consecutive game, Quinnipiac ran into a hot goaltender as Elvin stood on her head to make 40 saves on 41 shots in the loss for Brown. It was the third most saves on the season as her season high for saves is 47 coming in a 3-2 win over Yale on Jan. 23.
The Bobcats will return to action on Friday, Feb. 27 when they host the No. 6 seed Princeton Tigers in the Quarterfinals of the ECAC Women's Hockey Playoffs at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center at 3:30 P.M. Game 2 of the playoffs will be Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 P.M. and Game 3 of the quarterfinals will be on Sunday, March 1 at 1 P.M. if necessary.
