HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/17/06) – Sophomore Sam Hunt (Calgary, Alta.) collected her first collegiate hat trick to lead Colgate University women’s hockey past Quinnipiac University, 5-3 on Friday, Nov. 17 at Starr Rink.

 

Hunt, the USCHO.com National Offensive Player of the Week, extended her scoring streak to nine games, collecting 13 points along the way. 

 

Four more Raiders had multiple-point efforts in tonight’s game that featured five power-play goals.

 

Quinnipiac’s Hayley McMeekin opened the scoring with a power-play marker at 7:24.  After receiving a pass from Nicolette Leone in the neutral zone, McMeekin skated the puck in on the right side, but couldn’t cut in due to the efforts of a Colgate defender.  In frustration, McMeekin tossed the puck towards the net and it tricked between the legs of Elayna Hamashuk at 7:24.

 

Hunt sparked a four-goal run for Colgate at 16:11 of the first, that extended into the second stanza.  Hunt won a draw in the offensive zone, to set up her own goal, as she slid the puck back to senior Ashley Bradford (Burnaby, B.C.).  Bradford passed the puck back to Hunt who went top shelf on Laura Brennan as she skated across the goal mouth.

 

Colgate took a 2-1 lead with a man-advantage goal at the close of the first.  Sophomore Kiira Dosdall (Fairfield, Conn.) had the puck on the left side and moved the puck up to senior Tara French (Truro, N.S.) at the high point.  French’s slapshot found its way through traffic and hit the pads of Brennan but rebounded back out on the ice where sophomore Elin Brown (Calgary, Alta.) had the open net as Brennan had not recovered from the previous save.

 

Hunt notched her second goal of the game on the power-play just 57 seconds into the second session.  Set up in triangular fashion, freshman Katie Stewart (Exeter, Ont.) sent French the puck at the point and French delivered it to Hunt on the left side, who drilled a shot to the back of the net.

 

Midway through the second, senior Carly McNaughton (Lethbridge, Alta.) poked in a Marissa Dombovy (Webster, N.Y.) rebound to give the Raiders a 4-1 lead.  After a battle deep in the corner, Brown came out with the puck and sent it to Dombovy on the right side of the net.  Dombovy had a low angle shot that was stopped but McNaughton was waiting at the post to knock it across the goal line at 11:33.

 

Quinnipiac cut the lead back to two goals with a tally from Karrah Stephens.  Jennifer Maclean broke the puck out of the defensive zone and up the ice to Elyse Cole who was skating up the right side.  Cole weaved in towards the goal and sent a low shot towards Hamashuk that banged off her pads and back out onto the ice where Stephens, skating in on the goal, was able to put it over the blocker at 15:16.

 

The Bobcats brought the contest within one at 10:13 of the third with a man-advantage goal.  Quinnipiac worked the puck around and had a few chances before McMeekin tried to sneak the puck in on the left side.  With Hamashuk standing strong at the left post, McMeekin wheeled around and sent a no-look pass to Antoinette Maldonado who was at the top of the crease.  Maldonado back-handed the puck behind a defender that went between the left post and Hamashuk.

 

Hunt sealed the victory for the Raiders with her third tally, on the power-play, at 17:57.  Dosdall controlled the puck on the left side and dropped it off to Stewart who sent the puck across the goal mouth and through traffic to Hunt, who tapped it in.

 

The Quinnipiac coaching staff pulled Brennan with 1:07 remaining for the extra attacker but could only muster one shot on goal that was turned away by ECACHL Goaltender of the Week Hamashuk.

 

Hamashuk stopped 30 shots, her second straight 30+ save effort, to help Colgate move to 4-7-1 and 4-1 in the ECACHL.   Brennan made 23 saves as Quinnipiac falls to 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the league.

 

Colgate hosts No. 9 Princeton, who topped Cornell 1-0 this evening, on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m.