Not sure what’s in the water in Connecticut these days, but Quinnipiac, Yale and the University of Connecticut are three of the surprise teams in women’s college hockey.
Looking at Hockey East and the ECAC as the calendar nears December, five teams jump out as surprises.
A lot can happen, of course, but Quinnipiac, Yale and UConn have turned heads along with Princeton and Merrimack.
The three Connecticut teams have only lost five games out of 36. They are a combined 28-5-3 heading into this weekend’s action.
Quinnipiac was picked to finish sixth in the ECAC preseason poll, while Yale was tabbed to finish seventh. Quinnipiac is ranked sixth in the country and Yale is ninth. UConn, meanwhile, is in third place in Hockey East and off to a terrific 11-2-1 start.
Here’s a look at the five surprising teams:
Connecticut
Picked to finish fourth in Hockey East, UConn is third in the league with a 6-2-1 mark.
Balanced scoring has been a key for UConn, which has received strong production from three graduate students. Defenseman Taylor Wabick (1-10-11) leads the way followed by forwards Natalie Snodgrass (4-6-10) and Morgan Wabick (3-7-10).
Senior Samantha Carpentier-Yelle has been solid in net. She owns a 1.73 GAA. The Huskies will be mightily tested this weekend with games against Providence and fourth-ranked Northeastern.
With an on-campus rink under construction, things are looking up in Storrs.
Merrimack
The Warriors finished last in Hockey East the last two seasons, going a combined 3-35-5 in league play. So it’s not surprising they were picked to finish 10th again. But Erin Hamlen’s crew has demonstrated impressive resilience.
Merrimack started out 0-5 and was outscored 23-4. However, the fifth-place Warriors (4-9-1, 4-5-1 HE) are 4-1 in their last five games and outscored opponents 14-7.
Junior Katie Kaufman (7-3-10) leads the team in scoring. She has four goals over her last three games. Junior goaltender Emma Gorski has been immense in recent weeks, including a 51-save shutout of UConn.
Hamlen, the only coach in program history, deserves kudos for the turnaround.
Princeton
Good luck scoring on the Tigers.
Princeton has allowed only eight goals in six games en route to being ranked No. 10 in the nation.
The Tigers (5-1-0, all in ECAC) have a pair of quality wins, shutting out Yale, 2-0, and handing Quinnipiac its first loss, 1-0. Princeton will receive stern tests this weekend with games at Colgate and Cornell.
Junior Maggie Connors is off to a terrific offensive start. Connors has netted at least one goal in five of six games. Senior Rachel McQuigge has been stingy between the pipes, compiling a 1.21 goals-against average and .961 save percentage.
Princeton did not play last season, but Cara Morey’s squad is playing like it did during the 2019-20 campaign when the Tigers went a program-best 26-6-1.
Quinnipiac
The Bobcats were on a five-game winning streak and a 13-game unbeaten streak when they finally tasted defeat, falling 1-0 on Saturday to nationally-ranked Princeton.
Quite a start for a team predicted to finish sixth in the preseason ECAC poll. Quinnipiac (11-1-2, 5-1-0 ECAC) has outscored opponents 47-17.
Graduate student Corinne Schroeder, a transfer from Boston University, has provided terrific goaltending. She’s 6-1-1 with a 0.75 GAA and .965 save percentage.
Junior Sadie Peart (6-10-16) and senior Lexie Adzija (4-10-14) are dangerous offensive threats.
Yale
The Bulldogs turned heads when they swept Cornell, 7-0, and Colgate, 4-0, during a Nov. 5-6 road trip to New York.
Yale (6-2-0, 4-2-0 ECAC) has put together a four-game win streak in which the Bulldogs have outscored opponents 22-4. Junior Claire Dalton (5-13-18) is a threat to score whenever she jumps over the boards. Also producing points are junior Charlotte Welch (5-9-14) of Winchester, Mass., and sophomore Elle Hartje (4-9-13).
In net, senior Gianna Meloni is 5-0-0 with an eye-popping .981 save percentage. Yale’s only two losses have been to top-10 teams Princeton and Quinnipiac.
The Bulldogs, who won a program-record 17 games two seasons ago, did not play last season.
