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Author: Tyler Platz

  • Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey stumbles in playoffs again – what went wrong?

    By Kaitlyn Grady, Tyler Platz and Mike King

    For the second season in a row, the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, with its ECAC Tournament run ending in the three-game quarterfinal series against Clarkson. 

    Despite strong defensive play, the Bobcats’ offense struggled to keep up with opponents throughout the season, culminating in another disappointing playoff performance. With key contributors departing this offseason, questions loom as this team looks ahead to the 2025-26 season.

    Putting points on the board

    A major issue for the 2024-25 Bobcats was their scoring, or lack thereof. In games where opponents scored at least two goals, not once were the Bobcats able to come out on top. That stat would be less pressing if they were getting blown out, but failing to score more than two goals consistently is a problem. 

    There’s nothing wrong with playing a defensive game, but when a team can’t match its opponent’s scoring output, that spells trouble. That trouble caught up with them and is one of the main reasons the Bobcats are watching the NCAA Tournament from home.

    Last season, after an Oct. 20 1-0 victory over Brown, Turner recognized the lack of production early in the season and highlighted the need to “score early.”

    “They want to get the first goal of the game, that is huge for them and it’s something that they talk about,” Turner said. “The more you think about scoring, the less you’re going to score. It’s about pulling the pieces together that are going to help us create scoring chances and building from one to the next.”

    This message seemed to resonate with the team last year, but not so much this time around.

    Heavy reliance on the defensive side of the game

    The Bobcats’ strength was its defense. They relied on winning low scoring games and had trouble against some of the top scoring teams. The Bobcats ranked 14th in the nation in goals scored on the season with 97, and ranked eighth in the ECAC. This is a stark contrast from last season, where the Bobcats finished sixth in the nation with 134 goals scored, almost 40 goals more than they were able to put in the back of the net this season. This is also the fewest goals they have scored in a season since the 2018 season, where they scored 73. However, Colgate, Cornell, Princeton and Clarkson all ranked ahead of the Bobcats in goals scored this season. The Bobcats’ combined record against these teams was 2-7-1. 

    The Bobcats struggled to beat teams that score more efficiently than they do, always having to rely on their defense to win. One area where the Bobcats excelled this season was on the penalty kill. The Bobcats ranked fourth in the country in penalty kill percentage. However, they only ranked 27th on power play percentage this season.

    Playoff woes continue under Cassandra Turner

    Once again Quinnipiac fell short of winning the ECAC tournament. For the second straight season, Quinnipiac women’s hockey had their season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament. The Bobcats’ loss to Clarkson in the quarterfinals ended their season. They likely needed to win the ECAC tournament to get in or have a close loss in the finals to qualify because of how they struggled against top teams this season.

    With their season coming to an end, a hard internal look at the program must take place to understand how the Bobcats can improve from here. Head coach Cassanda Turner has been behind the bench for 10 seasons. In those 10 seasons, Turner has led the Bobcats to multiple NCAA tournament appearances, but has also been at the helm during many seasons where the Bobcats could not win big games. The Bobcats have yet to reach the Frozen Four under Turner, and as they look ahead to next season, timely wins will certainly be an emphasis again for Turner and the Bobcats. 

    What’s next?

    With four of Quinnipiac’s top five point-getters set to graduate (Maya Labad – 27 points, Kendall Cooper – 26, Maddy Samoskevich – 22 and Jenna Donohue – 19),  Quinnipiac will look to fill those spots around sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche, who led the team with 14 goals and 19 assists this season. 

    A potential suitor to take on a bigger role in the points department is freshman forward Bryn Prier. She finished this season with eight goals and eight assists as well as a +16 plus-minus. In a Feb. 14 game against RPI, Prier had a hat trick and an assist on a Lamarche goal, culminating in a four point night. If Prier and Lamarche develop strong chemistry, it might suit the Bobcats well to pair them on a line moving forward into next season.

    Alongside her, expect first-year defenseman Makayla Watson to contribute more to the offense next season. She finished the campaign tied for third on the team in assists with 12. With Watson, who suited up in all 38 games this season, able to grow into a bigger role for next winter, expect her to increase her numbers as she’s able to freely dish the puck to her teammates.

    Besides point production, the other area of this team with underclassmen waiting in the wings is goaltending. With graduate Kaley Doyle’s departure, freshman Felicia Frank will likely get the nod in net next season. In limited appearances between the pipes in 2024-25, Frank showed that she can hold the back end down in the form of four shutouts. 

    If it isn’t Frank, Quinnipiac will have to look to find a more polished and experienced netminder in the transfer portal. In recent history, the Bobcats have favored an older goaltender to lead the team, with Doyle and former Quinnipiac goalies Logan Angers and Corrine Schroeder being examples of this. 

    The defensive side of Quinnipiac’s team is overshadowed by the lack of offense, but both will have to improve in the 2025-26 season if the Bobcats hope to compete with more balanced teams in the regular season. 

    Since the 2021-22 season, it has consistently finished in the top five of the conference – including fourth in 2022, third in 2023 and fifth in 2024 and 2025 – but have yet to translate that success into a deep postseason run. Overcoming that will be a determining factor in the Bobcats pushing themselves over the top in search of an ECAC championship.

    “We’re going to continue to dive in and stay in the fight and be in a position where you look to figure our best hockey at the end of the season,” Turner said.

  • Five takeaways from Quinnipiac-Clarkson, ECAC quarterfinals series

    Five takeaways from Quinnipiac-Clarkson, ECAC quarterfinals series

    By Tyler Platz

    Quinnipiac’s postseason run ended after dropping the latter two games of its three-game series against Clarkson in the ECAC quarterfinals, falling 2-1 and 4-1. The Bobcats opened the series strong in Game 1, holding the Golden Knights to a single goal. But in Games 2 and 3, they couldn’t overcome the Golden Knights’ adjustments. Looking both at the series and the future, here are five takeaways from the matchup.

    Special teams battle

    The matchup between the Bobcats and Golden Knights’ special teams in this series was highlighted before the opening faceoff of Game 1. The Golden Knights have the ECAC’s top power-play percentage, converting around 34% of the time. The Bobcats’ penalty kill is one of the conference’s best units, successfully killing penalties 88.6% of the time.

    Playing to their strength, the Bobcats set the tone early in this playoff series. The wingers were able to shut down Clarkson’s top defensive pairing in senior Haley Winn and graduate Nicole Gosling on the penalty kill in Game 1, not allowing many shots to get through.

    However, as the series progressed, Clarkson’s special teams improved, while Quinnipiac’s did the opposite.

    ”There were some moments this weekend where maybe we didn’t have our best stuff, and Quinnipiac was coming at us pretty good,” Matt Desrosiers, Clarkson head coach, said. “But we kind of hung in there.”

    In Game 2, while struggling to clear the defensive zone, freshman defenseman Makayla Watson took a body-checking penalty, giving the Golden Knights their first power-play opportunity. Gosling was able to break the seal, beating graduate goaltender Kaley Doyle high to even the score at one.

    In Game 3, the Bobcats once again fell victim to the Golden Knights’ top special teams unit. Nearing the end of the second period, graduate forward Sophie Urban was called for body-checking. 

    The Golden Knights capitalized when their power-play box squeezed the Bobcats’ penalty killers in tight to the net before junior forward Rhea Hicks was left open at the far post, where she scored on a one-timer, putting Clarkson up 2-0.

    Is Felicia Frank heir apparent?

    This season, Quinnipiac relied on its strong defensive play, with Doyle’s performance in net acting as the anchor. Her conference-leading .945 save percentage and eight shutouts kept the Bobcats in many games, but the offense often couldn’t keep up, leaving the defense as the team’s strongest asset.

    With Doyle graduating, all eyes now turn to freshman goaltender Felicia Frank. In 10 games this season, Frank posted a .947 save percentage and four shutouts, earning seven wins.

    After her first collegiate start last season, where she earned her first shutout, Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner praised Frank’s confidence.

    “She played for the Swedish national team and stood on her head against Team USA,” Turner said. “And for her to have had games like that in her past, she has confidence in big ways.”

    While she hasn’t yet built the same extensive resume as Doyle, the Bobcats will need Frank to step up next season, especially with offensive struggles ahead.

    Defense can’t carry the load

    Quinnipiac’s defense was crucial throughout the season, but it wasn’t enough to carry the team when its offense went dormant. In 2024-25, the Bobcats failed to win a single game in which opponents scored two or more goals, a pattern that continued in their ECAC quarterfinal series against Clarkson.

    After opening the series with a strong 3-1 showing in Game 1, the Bobcats struggled defensively in the next two games, allowing two goals in Game 2 and four goals in Game 3, ultimately ending their chance for a conference championship..

    While the defense and solid goaltending kept Quinnipiac competitive enough to secure the No. 5 seed in the ECAC, the lack of offensive production ultimately proved costly. Teams at the top of the standings, like Cornell and Colgate, have a well-rounded game that allows them to excel both offensively and defensively. Moving forward, Quinnipiac will need to adopt a more balanced approach to compete with these higher-seeded teams.

    Scoring void ahead

    Sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche led Quinnipiac in points this season with 33. However, the other top four Bobcats in points — senior forward Maya Labad (27), graduate defensemen Kendall Cooper (26) and Maddy Samoskevich (22) and forward Jenna Donohue (19) — will all graduate this year.

    This leaves a significant challenge in replacing much of this team’s offensive production. While there’s a possibility Labad may return as a graduate student, the team will still have to address the significant void left in an already low-scoring offense, which ranked No. 5 in the ECAC and No. 14 nationally in goals scored.

    Regular season power, postseason puzzle

    Since Turner was named head coach in 2015, the Bobcats have consistently excelled in the regular season, compiling four 20-win seasons and three 30-win seasons while routinely punching their ticket to the ECAC tournament. 

    However, postseason success has largely eluded Turner’s teams. The Bobcats have faced tough losses in the ECAC quarterfinals six times and the semifinals three times, unable to make a deep run despite strong regular seasons.

    The outlier was in Turner’s first year as head coach during the 2015-16 season, when the Bobcats swept RPI in the quarterfinals and defeated St. Lawrence in the semifinals, before outlasting Clarkson 1-0 to win the program’s first and only ECAC Championship. 

    After once again dropping the best-of-three quarterfinal series to Clarkson this weekend, Turner continues to search for another breakthrough postseason, aiming to replicate the championship run in her first year. With a bid to the NCAA Tournament still a possibility, depending on how the cards fall, Turner and the Bobcats have an opportunity to change this narrative with some signs of life in the tournament.