The Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team looks to build off of last night’s 1-1 tie against the Colgate Raiders when they host the nationally ranked Cornell Big Red this afternoon at 4 p.m. in Hamden. Jamie Palatini and Ross Montolio will be on the call, with the broadcast set to start on the hockey stream at approximately 3:55 p.m.

You can catch the Bobcats Women’s Ice Hockey team take on the Colgate Raiders tonight at 7:00 p.m.  Corey Hersch and Kyle Brennan will be on the call on the hockey stream.

The men’s ice hockey team will look to stay undefeated in ECAC Hockey play when they host the Dartmouth Big Green tonight at 7 PM at the TD Bank Sports Center. Jamie Palatini will provide the play-by-play, while Scott Sheahen will offer color commentary. You can tune in right here on the hockey stream, with the broadcast getting started at approximately 6:50 p.m.

By Tom Butto

Senior Mike Atkinson

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week award goes to Mike Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) of the men’s ice hockey team. Atkinson, a senior assistant captain, scored three goals, two of which were short handed, in a 4-2 win against ECAC foe Clarkson University.

With Atkinson’s hat trick, Quinnipiac improved to 5-1-0 overall with a 2-0-0 mark in the conference. The last time Quinnipiac won five of their first six games was in the 2000-2001 season.

Atkinson’s two shorthanded goals came in the second and third periods. He added his third to complete the hat trick on an empty netter late in the third period.

The Bobcats return to action this weekend, with home games against Harvard and Dartmouth.

By Corey Hersch

Senior winger Mike Atkinson scored three goals, two of them shorthanded, in a 4-2 win against conference foe Clarkson.  The game marked the Bobcats’ first of the season in ECAC play.  The win improves Quinnipiac’s record to 5-1-0 overall.

The first period of play was dominated by Clarkson, who outshot Quinnipiac 14-10 in the period.  Dan Clarke was solid in net, though, stopping all of the shots he faced in the frame.   Then, with under a minute to play, the Bobcats caught lightning in a bottle.  Scott Zurevinski took the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the zone with Eric Lampe on a two-on-two.  Zurevinski left a drop pass for Lampe in the slot, who fired it over the left shoulder of Clarkson goalie Richie LeVeau for the first goal of the contest.  It was Lampe’s fifth goal of the season.

The second period began much like the first, with the Golden Eagles dominating the play.  They got on the board four minutes into the second stanza, with Scott Freeman scoring his third goal of the year.  Freeman collected a rebound off of a shot from Brandon DeFazio, and was right on the doorstep to stuff it home.

Mike Atkinson

Less than three minutes later, after Jean-Marc Beaudoin was called for a cross-checking penalty, Clarkson took the lead on a power-play goal from Adam Pawlick.  Pawlick took a slapshot from the right circle, and got it past Clarke, who was screened on the play.

Quinnipiac took another penalty which led to a goal later in the period.  This time, though, it was the Bobcats who cashed in.  Yuri Bouharevich found Atkinson at the blue line, who entered the zone in a one-on-one.  Atkinson took it to the near circle, and wristed one through a screen and past LaVeau to make it 2-2.

A Brandon Wong penalty mid-way through the third period led to yet another shorthanded situation for the Bobcats.  Once again, it was Atkinson who shifted the momentum back to Quinnipiac.  This time, Atkinson took the puck along the far side boards and got tripped up, drawing a delayed penalty call.  Atkinson recovered though, skated past the rest of the Golden Eagles defense, and made a move to slip a shot past LaVeau to give the Bobcats a lead.

With 14 seconds left and the Clarkson net empty, Atkinson intercepted a pass and took it the length of the ice to complete his hat trick.  He now has four goals on the season, and his hat trick was the first of his collegiate career.

Dan Clarke was solid in net on the evening, stopping 34 of the 36 shots he faced.  The Bobcats return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m., when they will take on the St. Lawrence Saints.  That game can be heard on the hockey stream, with the broadcast starting at 3:50.

The Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ will be broadasting tonight’s men’s hockey against Clarkson at 7:00 p.m.  The broadacst can be heard on the hockey stream, with Alex Birsh and Jeremy Schilling calling all the action.

WQAQ will take its broadcast on the road for the first time this season, when we bring to you the semifinals of the Women’s Soccer NEC Tournament from the campus of Central Connecticut State University.  You can hear tomorrow’s game between Quinnipiac and Monmouth on the WQAQ Soccer Stream.  Mike Radomski and Robin Schuppert will call all the action for you, with the opening kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday.  Then, at 6:00 p.m., head back to the soccer stream for the last Men’s Soccer regular season contest of the year.  That game will also be broadcast live from CCSU.

By Tom Butto

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week honor goes to Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes (Stoufville, Ontario).

Quinnipiac women's ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes

Hughes had a career game on Saturday night with her first collegiate hat trick on her way to four points against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  She scored Quinnipiac’s second, third, and fifth goals of the game as well as assisting on the fourth as the Bobcats defeated RPI 6-1.  With her performance, Hughes now leads the team in goals and points.

The Bobcats women’s hockey team had a banner weekend in its own right by defeating Union 3-0 in addition to Saturday’s victory.  They will now head on a four game road trip beginning this weekend with Harvard and Dartmouth.

Sunday is a busy day on the Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ.  First, at noon, tune in to the field hockey stream to hear Andrew Gau and Ross Montolio call Quinnipiac vs. St. Francis (PA).  Then, at 1 p.m., Corey Hersch and John Muzzy will have Women’s Soccer against St. Francis (PA) on the soccer stream.  Finally, at 2 p.m., the Bobcats Volleyball team will take on Farleigh Dickinson.  Mike Radomski and Glenn Taylor will have that game on the volleyball stream.

by Brian Farrell

Tonight the Bobcats began their 2009-2010 ECAC conference schedule with a 3-0 shutout over rival Union. Freshman Victoria Vigilanti recorded the win for the Bobcats tonight with just five saves, while Union’s freshman Alana Marcinko had 26 saves in the loss. Last season the Quinnipiac finished in second to last place in the division while Union finished in last place. This was a big game for the Bobcats, as they are still looking to prove themselves after a tough weekend sweep last weekend at the hands of Niagara.

Quinnipiac was first on the board this evening. Junior Kelley Davies took the feed from  defenders Jordan Elkins and Bethany Dymarczyk to give the Bobcats a lead that they would never give up. Kelley Davies moved in on Union’s Alana Marcinko practically untouched as she sent the puck low blocker side to give the Bobcats the 1-0 lead. This season, Quinnipiac has had little trouble scoring goals in the first period as they have nine goals on the season in the first period, but the Bobcats have scored just nine goals in the second and third period combined. On a similar note, Quinnipiac has done a nice job giving up just one goal in that first period, but once again with disappointing second and third periods as Quinnipiac has given up ten goals in those two periods.

After a dominating first period, in which Union was outshot 13-2 and in which the Bobcats seemed to completely control the puck, Quinnipiac continued their dominance of the Dutchwomen. Just 8:23 into that second period, senior captain Kallie Flor pocketed her first goal of the season as she took a pass from her senior line mate Janine Duffy who recorded her first assist. On a three-on-two, Quinnipiac had Kate Wheeler, Janine Duffy, and Kallie Flor streaking in on Marcinko. On the initial shot, Flor stayed back in the slot and waited for Duffy to take the rebound who fed it to Flor for her first goal of the season and for the 2-0 lead.

But Flor was not done on the night. This time the Bobcats were shorthanded as she took another pass from Duffy to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead at the 14:38 mark of the second period. During the entire penalty kill Quinnipiac was putting constant pressure on Union and eventually it proved to be too much, as Flor stuffed home her second goal on the evening. Off the faceoff, Duffy gained possession and sent her second assist to Flor who tried to wrist one home on Marcinko. Flor’s first attempt was blocked by Marcinko, but Flor took the rebound and sent it over the left pad of the Union goaltender. After the game Kallie Flor spoke to what it feels like to get those two goals out of the way. “Hopefully the goals will start to come a little bit more often now, especially if our line keeps flying like it was tonight,” Flor said.

At the end of the second period Coach Rick Seeley opted to change goaltenders and replaced Victoria Vigilanti, who recorded five saves in her two periods, with Amanda Nagel, who recorded four saves in her one period of play. QU’s goaltenders didn’t have too much action tonight as the defense continues to improve.  After the game Coach Seeley talked a little about this improvement. “I thought our defense did a much better job stepping up in the third period and not allowing them to attack our zone with speed,” Seeley said.