Sydney Rossman stopped 25 shots for the Quinnipiac Bobcats to shut out the St. Lawrence Saints for the second time this season, as the Bobcats blanked the Saints 3-0 on Friday.
It was Rossman’s 13th shutout of the season, tied for second in the country.
“They don’t give up much, and I thought we got enough to be in the game; we just didn’t score,” St. Lawrence coach Chris Wells said. “Yeah, you know, it’s frustrating. Whether you’re five-on-three or five-on-five, when you get chances and they don’t go in.”
The Saints (14-12-5, 8-7-4 ECAC) had nearly doubled up the Bobcats (24-2-4, 14-2-3 ECAC) on shots on goal through two periods, and sat a goal back entering the middle period. St. Lawrence was not able to convert on a five-on-three for 52 seconds after Taylar Cianfarano and Kristen Tamberg were sent off for Quinnipiac.
“You have to score on a five-on-three if you want to be in a game like this,” Wells said. “In that case [scoring] would have made a big difference, we’re in the five-on-three and we would have had an extended power play after that.”
Deciding the game tonight was Melissa Samoskevich’s late tally early in the first for her 13th point of the year and national-best eighth game-winning goal.
“Honestly, it’s a team effort,” Samoskevich said. “A lot of those goals wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have those people who I’m out on the ice with.”
The victory tonight was a rebound from a 3-2 loss at Colgate last Saturday, which ended a 21-game unbeaten streak dating back to October.
Quinnipiac coach Cassandra Turner saw the loss as an opportunity to reassess different facets of her team’s game.
“[We looked at] not the result, but what did the game look like last Saturday in terms of how we played and where were the moments that we could have changed and what did we do well,” Turner said. “I think that helped us to understand that it’s a fresh start and a new game this Friday. I think it really showed in the result today that they really were in the moment from the beginning to the end of the game.”
The end of conference play is treating the Bobcats much better than last season, when Quinnipiac limped into the ECAC playoffs and NCAA tournament with a 4-6-0 record.
Turner sees her team, on the precipice of remaining the number one team in the conference and clinching home ice for the ECAC playoffs again, as a product of character.
“We’ve got a remarkable group of leaders, a remarkable group of seniors, and they’re driving this team,” Turner said. “When you have good people in your program, and their effort is where it needs to be, your goals are where you want them to be, they’re really working together really good things happen.”
The Saints remain locked in at sixth in the ECAC, just five points out of third place with three games to play in the regular season. For coach Wells, staying in the middle of the pack doesn’t seem to impact his outlook.
“We don’t stink, we’re a good hockey team; we just don’t score,” Wells said. “We work hard, and if anybody’s sleeping on us, that’s fine with me.”
