No. 4/4 QU Women's Ice Hockey Hits the Road for Rensselaer, Union This Weekend

Friday, January 8

Troy, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

No. 4/4 QU Women's Ice Hockey Hits the Road for Rensselaer, Union This Weekend

1/6/2016 5:13:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: QU Sports Information

No. 4/4 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (16-1-3, 9-1-2 ECAC Hockey) at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers (5-10-3, 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey)
Date: Jan. 8, 2016
Time: 7 P.M.
Location: Houston Field House - Troy, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. Rensselaer: 11-12-1
Last Meeting: W, 1-0 (Jan. 3, 2015 in Troy, N.Y.)

No. 4/4 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (16-1-3, 9-1-2 ECAC Hockey) at
Union College Dutchwomen (0-14-5, 0-6-2 ECAC Hockey)
Date: Jan. 9, 2016
Time: 4 P.M.
Location: Messa Rink - Schenectady, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. Union: 23-0-4
Last Meeting: W, 4-0 (Jan. 2, 2015 in Schenectady, N.Y.)

Follow the Bobcats:
FREE Live Video at Rensselaer (Jan. 8 )
Live Video at Union (Jan. 9)
Live Stats at Rensselaer (Jan. 8)
Live Stats at Union (Jan. 9)
Twitter: @QU_WIH

Game Notes
Quinnipiac | Rensselaer | Union

On the Road Again
The nationally-ranked No. 4/4 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team hits the road for the first in the 2016 calendar year to face the Rensselaer Engineers and Union Dutchwomen. The Bobcats take on the Engineers on Friday, Jan. 8 at 7 P.M. at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y. before returning to action on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 4 P.M. against the Dutchwomen at Messa Rink in Schenectady, N.Y.

All-Time Against Rensselaer
The Bobcats have enjoyed a wide range of success in recent history against Rensselaer, going 8-1-0 in the last nine matchups dating back to Feb. 11, 2011. Prior to that game, the Bobcats had won only three games against the Engineers. Overall, the Bobcats are looking to get above .500 against the Engineers for the first time in the history between the two teams. Last season, the Bobcats went 2-0-0 against the Engineers, winning 6-1 in Hamden before squeaking by in Troy with a 1-0 win. In the 1-0 shutout, Chelsea Laden broke the Quinnipiac single-season shutout record with her 10th shutout of the season as Taylar Cianfarano scored the game-winner in the second period. In the first matchup, Erica Uden Johansson recorded her second straight three-point game, Nicole Connery scored two goals and Nicole Kosta added a goal and an assist.

Scouting the Engineers
The Engineers are struggling once again this season, posting a 5-10-3 record and 3-4-1 in ECAC Hockey play. Rensselaer has conference wins over Brown, Clarkson and Cornell with their only non-conference wins coming in a sweep of RIT. Opening up 2016, Rensselaer lost and tied at Mercyhurst after defeating Brown to end 2015. Senior Mari Mankey leads the team with nine assists and 13 points, while her four goals rank third. Fellow senior Alexa Gruschow is the team's goal leader with nine and is second on the team in points with 12 to give the Engineers their only two double-digit point scorers. Katie Rooney is second on the team with five goals and has tallied seven points on the season. Defenseman Jenn Godin is the highest scoring blue-liner with six assists and six points while the Engineers defenseman have combined to score two goals all season. Freshman goaltender Lovisa Selander has seen the vast majority of playing time, going 4-9-3 with one shutout in 16 starts. She has a 2.27 GAA and .927 save percentage thanks to 484 saves and 38 goals allowed. The Engineers have done a great job staying out of the box, averaging 6.1 penalty minutes per game which is tied with Minnesota for the fifth lowest. Rensselaer has killed off penalties 84 percent of the time, going 42 for 50 while the power play has struggled mightily at 7.8 percent, scoring six power play goals in 77 chances.

All-Time Against Union
With another season sweep last season against the Dutchwomen, Quinnipiac remains undefeated against Union with a 23-0-4 record in their 27 meetings. The Bobcats have won five straight games after a tie on Nov. 9, 2012. Over the five-game winning streak, the Bobcats are outscoring the Dutchwomen 18-3, and have recorded three straight shutouts. Last season at home, the Bobcats throttled 63 shots on goal with Uden Johansson scoring two goals and adding an assist, while Cydney Roesler, Nicole Kosta and Emma Woods all scored. Up in Schenectady, the Bobcats allowed the second fewest ever shots on goal in a game as they outshot the Dutchwomen, 39-4 and didn't give up a single shot on goal in the third period. Shiann Darkangelo scored two goals while Roesler had a goal and an assist and Kosta had two helper.

Scouting the Dutchwomen
Union comes into the game winless in their last 36 games, a streak dating back to Dec. 13 of last season to set the new NCAA record which they previously held at 33 games from Nov. 10, 2006 to Nov. 10, 2007. This season, the Dutchwomen are 0-14-5 and 0-6-2 in ECAC Hockey play. Union opened the 2016 calendar year with a 4-2 loss to Vermont, following up a 2-2 tie against Maine that snapped an eight-game losing streak. Kathryn Tomaselli leads the Dutchwomen with five goals and eight points while her three assists are tied for fourth on the team. Alli Devins is second on the team with six points while her five assists are the best on the team. Jamie Smith has provided some solid offense as she's second on the team with four goals. Overall, the Dutchwomen have scored 17 goals in 19 games, an average of 0.88 per game. Despite a winless record, freshman goaltender Melissa Black has played well in goal, sporting a 2.28 GAA and .943 save percentage as she faces an average of nearly 39 shots per game. Black has made 624 saves on the season. Special teams have struggled for Union, with the power play coming into the weekend at 8.6 percent (5 for 58) while the penalty kill is no much better at 76.9 percent (40 for 52).

Multimedia
This weekend's games will both be streamed with video on the Internet, with Friday night's game at Rensselaer streamed for free through RPI.tv while Saturday night's game at Union will cost $7.95. Free live stats will also be available for both games by going to QuinnipiacBobcats.com and clicking on the live stats link in the schedule. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter all season long by following the team's Twitter account, @QU_WIH.

Bobcats in the Polls
For the 13th consecutive week this season, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team was ranked in the top 10 of both the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, ranking fourth for a program record fourth consecutive week. The Bobcats have been ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Poll for 58 consecutive weeks. This week, Quinnipiac is the only school in the country to have both its men's and women's ice hockey teams ranked in the top five of both polls.

Bobcats in the Pairwise
The Bobcats continued to hang out as one of the top teams in the country as they climbed back to No. 3 in the PairWise Rankings, trailing only Boston College and Wisconsin after surpassing Minnesota. The Bobcats are the highest ranked ECAC Hockey team followed by Clarkson (No. 5), Princeton (T-No. 6), Harvard (T-No. 10), Colgate (T-No. 10), Cornell (No. 12), and St. Lawrence (T-No. 13). The USCHO.com Pairwise Ranking attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I women's hockey tournament.

Streak for the Cash
Quinnipiac has taken winning to a whole new level this season, as the Bobcats are currently riding a 10-game winning streak, the second longest winning streak in the nation and the longest in program history. The Bobcats also have a 13-game unbeaten streak as well, dating back to their only loss on Oct. 31. The Bobcats unbeaten streak is the second-longest in the nation and second longest in program history. Over the unbeaten streak, the Bobcats have outscored teams 41-7.

Defense Against the Goal Lights
The Bobcats come into the weekend as one of the best defensive teams in the country, as they are second in the nation allowing 1.00 goals per game. The Bobcats 20 goals allowed rank third; however, Harvard is second with 17 goals allowed in seven fewer games than Quinnipiac. The Bobcats are also third in the country in shots on goal allowed per game at 17.95 and shots on goal allowed with 359, trailing on Wisconsin and Minnesota.

One Direction
Continuing with the impressive defense statistics, the Bobcats have not allowed more than one goal in a game since Nov. 14 at Princeton, holding opponents to one or zero goals in nine straight games. In that span, the Bobcats have recorded six shutouts and allowed just three total goals. This season, the Bobcats have allowed two more goals in just four games, going 2-1-1 in those games.

50 Nifty Shots
Last weekend against Brown, the Bobcats fired 51 shots on goal, the first time they recorded more than 50 shots on goal in a game since Nov. 15, 2014 when they peppered Union for 63 shots on goal. The Bobcats recorded five goals in each of those games, while it increased the Bobcats shots on goal per game to 30.60, good for ninth in the nation.

MulTTiple Intelligences
After missing the first game of 2016 due to the USA Hockey Winter Training Camp, Taylar Cianfarano picked up right where she left off, extending her streak of games with multiple points to five. Cianfarano scored a goal and assisted another against Brown to give her four goals and eight assists for 12 points over the last five games. With that goal and assist, Cianfarano surpassed her freshman year offensive totals with 18 goals, 14 assists and 32 points through just 19 games. The Bobcats are also an impressive 13-0-0 when Cianfarano scores a goal.

The One Who Starred in Goal
Sydney Rossman continues to impress between the pipes for the Bobcats, as she won two more games to extend her career-best winning streak to 10 games and unbeaten streak to 13. Rossman leads ECAC Hockey with a 0.99 GAA, 16 wins and eight shutouts, all good for second in the country. In the Bobcats 1-0 win over Yale on Jan. 1, Rossman tied her career-high with 29 saves in the game.

Three Kings Day
Nicole Connery has had an impressive last few games for the Bobcats, recording three-point games in two of the last three games for the Bobcats. Against New Hampshire on Dec. 11, Connery posted two goals and one assist before scoring one and assisting two against Brown on Jan. 2. Connery's three-point efforts were the fourth and fifth such games of her career.

Super Samo
Over the past six games, Melissa Samoksevich has quietly moved into second on the team with 10 goals, scoring six goals to become the second Bobcats with at least 10 goals. Samoskevich scored her fifth game-winning goal of the season in the Bobcats 1-0 win over Yale before adding another against Brown the following day. Samoskevich's 10 goals are the most by a rookie in ECAC Hockey and the second most by a rookie in the country. With 21 points, Samoskevich ranks second in the league and fourth in the country.

Leading the League
Emma Woods had a career-day for the Bobcats on Jan. 2 against Brown as the Bobcats' junior recorded her first three-assist and three-point game. Woods picked up an assist on the game-winning goal as her three assists vaulted her into first in ECAC Hockey with 16 assists on the season. Woods has now recorded a point in five of the last six games, picking up eight points over that stretch. Woods is the second player this season to record a three assist game following Melissa Samoskevich on Oct. 10.

Westward Expansion
For the second time in three games, Lindsey West found the back of the net for the Bobcats to record her second goal of the season, West scored on the power play for the Bobcats, the first time she has done so in her career. Not only is West getting it done offensively but she has been solid defensively , ranked second on the team in blocked shots with 17.

Bombs Away
Taryn Baumgardt scored yet another goal for the Bobcats to give her three on the season to set a new single-season career-high. Baumgardt is the second Bobcats' defenseman to record at least 10 points this season, the first time in her career in which she has scored 10 points in a single season.

Frozen
Kristen Tamberg is just one assist away from becoming the third Bobcat defenseman to record 10 points in the season as she heads into this weekend with one goal and eight assists. Tamberg recorded her second career two-assist game and third career two-point game against the Bears. Tamberg has now recorded at least eight points in three of her four seasons at Quinnipiac. Tamberg's last two-assist game came last season on Oct. 18, 2014 against Maine.

Defense Leads to Offense
The Bobcats defenseman have been incredible this season in terms of point production, with the defense combining to score 10 goals and record 27 assists for 37 this season. Cydney Roesler leads the way with four goals and 11 points while Tamberg has the most assists at eight. The 10 goals by the defense are good for almost 15 percent of the Bobcats' offense.

Barnstorming
Saturday was a special day for MacKenzie Lancaster as the freshman picked up her first career assist for the Bobcats on Baumgardt's goal. Lancaster became the fourth member of the freshman class to record a point this season, joining Samoskevich, Randi Marcon and Miranda Lantz.

Turning Tables
Meghan Turner got back into the point action on Friday night with an assist for her sixth point of the season. Turner's point was her first since scoring the lone Quinnipiac goal in a 1-1 tie against Princeton on Nov. 13, a span of nine games. Turner has now passed last season's point total of five.