A day to remember as Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey shuts out Sacred Heart
Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
October 25, 2019
Postgame reaction
By Connor Ullathorne
A Day to Remember
By: Mike Dalton
Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey head coach Cass Turner and assistant coach Amanda Mazzotta each dawned a red poppy flower on their over coats in the first game of a weekend series between the Bobcats and the Sacred Heart University Pioneers.
“[The flowers] for Remembrance Day,” Turner said. “There were poppies in Flanders Field and it was a battle that a lot of Canadian soldiers died in. It’s something that Canadians do and it was actually Brooke Bonsteel’s dad that brought it to us and said ‘Where your poppy with pride.’”
Even though Remembrance Day isn’t until Nov. 11, it was a night to remember for the Bobcats.
“It’s so great to see so many people get their first goal and have our first shutout all in one game,” Turner said.
Four of the five players who scored for the Bobcats earned their first career collegiate goals. But one of these many first stood out above the rest.
In the beginning of her senior season, Allison Roethke had yet to know the feeling of scoring a goal at the collegiate level.
That changed when just two minutes into the second period, Kati Tabin attempted a cross-ice pass originally intended for Renee Saltness was deflected off the stick of Pioneer defender Jordan Sanislo and straight into the stick of Roethke’s, who put the puck through the five-hole of goaltender Frankie Sanchez.
“I’m so happy,” Roethke said, doing her best to hold back tears. “I worked really hard and my teammates really helped me out. I think it gave them a lot of energy throughout the rest of the game.”
Junior forward Renee Saltness also scored her first career goal. Freshmen forward Kenzie Hauswirth and defender Kate Reilly also scored their first career collegiate goals respectively.
There was also a noticeable amount of changes all over the roster for the Bobcats as well.
The Third Line:
For the first four games of the season, the Bobcats started with their first line on the ice in Taylor House, Lexie Adzija and Alexa Hoskin. The only switches the Bobcats made before were to the blue when Kenzie Prater was switched out for Zoe Boyd in the second game against the University of Maine.
But Turner and company decided to go with the third line featuring freshman forward Kenzie Hauswirth and junior forwards Brooke Bonsteel and Laura Lundblad.
“I wanted to give [the third line] some confidence,” Turner said. “They’ve been playing better and better in practice and they have a really neat identity. Brooke and Lundy playing together last year were a line that we could count on those two whenever they were together. They make the right plays in the right moment. They bring energy. They’re not trying to do too much when they shouldn’t try to do too much and it was nice to see Kenzie join in that identity with that line.”
Vorster Returns:
After missing the first four games of the season, the red-shirt freshman defender not only returned to the ice for the Bobcats, she was also on the ice with the third line at the start of the game with sophomore defender Zoe Boyd.
Hoskin Out, Huntington In:
Freshman forward Alexa Hoskin burst onto the scene on opening weekend with a goal and an assist to earn the first ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week award of the season.
However, Hoskin wasn’t included in the lineup against the Sacred Heart, so Turner and company promoted sophomore Katie Huntington to the first line forward position where she produced three shots on goal.
Angering the Opposition:
For the first time since Nov. 20, 2018, someone not by the name of Abbie Ives was in net for the Bobcats. Instead, redshirt-freshman goaltender Logan Angers made her collegiate debut between the pipes.
Angers stopped all 16 of the shots she faced on route to a 6-0 shutout win over the Sacred Heart University Pioneers.
“[Angers] was ready to play,” Turner said. “She’s been working really hard in practice. She’s a strong goaltender and we wanted the opportunity for her.”
Coutu-Godbout:
It may have been a night of firsts for many of the Bobcat players, but there were other milestones that were reached. Senior forward Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout was the only player for the Bobcats to score for the Bobcats that night without it being her first career collegiate goal. However, her goal about halfway into the third period was the 20th in her college career.
Crazy Stat:
With all of the firsts and milestones that were reached throughout the course of the game, there could be a whole laundry list of crazy statistics that could be listed. But the most interesting one
is that the last time the Bobcats scored six times in a regular season game was on Feb. 3 2017 when they beat Brown 9-0.
The Bobcats will play the Pioneers one more time on Oct. 26, 2019 at 3 p.m. before they enter ECAC Hockey play.
