Quinnipiac University
Princeton
No. 3 Seed QU Women's Ice Hockey Advances to ECAC Hockey Semifinals with 2-0 Shutout and Sweep of No. 6 Seed Princeton
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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HAMDEN, Conn. – Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) scored the game-winning power play goal in the second period that propelled the No. 3 seed Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team into the ECAC Semifinals with a 2-0 shutout victory over the No. 6 seed Princeton Tigers Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Arena.
The Bobcats have advanced to the ECAC Semifinals for the fourth time in program history and swept their quarterfinal opponent for the third time in program history. The Bobcats swept the St. Lawrence Saints in last season's quarterfinals.
With the completion of all ECAC quarterfinal matches, the Bobcats will face the No. 2 seed Harvard Crimson in Potsdam, New York as the No. 1 seed Clarkson Golden Knights will host the ECAC Championship Weekend from March 6-8. The No. 5 seed Cornell Big Red upset the No. 4 seed St. Lawrence Saints to advance to the semifinals.
Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minnesota) recorded her third consecutive shutout and 16th shutout of the season with a 16 save effort in the 2-0 victory over Princeton. Her shutout streak currently stands at 195:51, the second longest shutout streak this season behind her 267:33 streak spanning from the first game of the season on Oct. 3 to a goal allowed at New Hampshire on Oct. 24. The shutout was also Laden's 25th of her career, tying the Victoria Vigilanti's Quinnipiac women's ice hockey record for shutouts in a career. Laden also recorded her 51st career victory, two shy of tying Vigilanti's program record of 53 shutouts.
Connery's game-winning power play goal was the third consecutive Saturday that the Bobcats won on that type of goal. It was also the Bobcats' third consecutive game with a power play goal, dating back to the final regular season game of the season at Brown. The Bobcats power play stands at 17.9 percent after the win.
Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) scored her third goal of the season with an empty-net goal with 12 seconds remaining to add an insurance goal for the Bobcats in the victory. It was her first goal since Oct. 31 in Quinnipiac's 4-1 victory over Colgate.
Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) recorded her second consecutive two-point game for the Bobcats as she notched two assists in the victory while Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) and Kristen Tamberg (North Toronto, Ontario) each tallied their 13th assists of the season.
Woods, Connery and Cianfarano have all recorded points in three consecutive games as well, with Woods leading the way with five points over the three game stretch.
Princeton goaltender Kimberly Newell made 34 saves on the 35 shots she faced in goal for the Tigers.
The Tigers nearly took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a home run pass to Hilary Lloyd, but Cydney Roesler (Stittsville, Ontario) raced back. Roesler lifted Lloyd's stick and caused her to lose control of the puck, keeping the game scoreless at the time.
Connery netted the game-winning goal 4:24 into the second period to put the Bobcats up 1-0. Cianfarano received a pass from Woods on the left side of the offensive zone before firing a pass through the slot to Connery on the back door. With Newell sliding to her left, Connery wristed a shot five-hole to give the Bobcats the lead and they didn't look back.
Both goaltenders made spectacular saves throughout the contest to keep the score at 1-0 before the Tigers pulled Newell for the extra skater with just under two minutes remaining. Brown chased down a loose puck in the offensive zone and flung the puck on net for the empty-netter and secure the Bobcats berth in the ECAC Semifinals.
The Bobcats move on to face the Crimson next weekend in the ECAC Semifinals at Cheel Arena on the campus of Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York with the date and time to be determined.
