The puck stops with Angers

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This article was published 24/11/2022 (1366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Logan Angers has reached a place for which college hockey players spend a lifetime preparing.

The 22-year-old Winnipegger is the No. 1 goaltender on a team that is a serious contender for an NCAA women’s hockey championship.

Her production — she has a 1.22 goals-against average, a .938 save percentage, three shutouts and a 8-1-0 record in nine appearances so far this season — is a big reason the 12-1-0 Quinnipiac University Bobcats were ranked No. 4 in the most recent DCU/USCHO Women’s Division I hockey poll.

Only the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota Golden Gophers, ranked Nos. 1 through 3, are more highly regarded.

“We all really want that national championship,” said Angers by phone from Hamden, Conn., Wednesday afternoon. “I know we always always say that — that’s our goal every year — but I think that everyone this year really feels like that’s actually a possibility and that we can really do it.”

Angers, a fifth-year senior, has paid her dues to get to this point.

She redshirted her first season, played four games as a freshmen, 12 more as the No. 1 puckstopper during a COVID-19 restricted sophomore season and 15 games as a junior in 2021-22, serving as the No. 2 behind Boston University transfer Corrine Schroeder of Elm Creek.

In 2022-23, with Schroeder moving on to the professional ranks, the 6-foot Angers is back as the No. 1 and she’s responded with all-star calibre play.

“I think that once you get to this position you really grow to appreciate the first couple of years,” said the St. Mary’s Academy grad. “My freshman year I redshirted but I think that really helped me in my development.

“Obviously, there’s a part of you that wants (to play all the time) but I think as a goalie, it’s kind of a unique position where you don’t just get to go in for a few minutes each game… Being able to redshirt and giving me that extra year of eligibility at the end, I was OK with that.”

On Friday, the Bobcats host Bemidji State in the opener of their annual tournament, the Nutmeg Classic. These weekend games will be a formidable challenge but looming in the schedule are important tests against traditional rival Providence — a home-and-home series slated for Dec. 9-10 — and Wisconsin, a perennial national powerhouse, which visits Quinnipiac on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

“A big piece of it is confidence,” said Angers. “When you get older you get more experience playing, even if it was only a few games my first couple years. It just gives you that confidence and the comfortability of being able to go into a game and be like, ‘OK, I can do this.’ Our team is very competitive in practice… and I think that makes the goalies better, whether you’re playing (games) or not.”

The Bobcats, led on offence by junior forward Olivia Mobley, are not short on Canadian content. Quinnipiac has 11 Canucks on the roster, not including eighth-year head coach Cassie Turner, who hails from Campbellford, Ont.

“Our team is just super connected and we all really trust each other when we go out there every day,” said Angers. “We battle so hard every day at practice that when we go out for games, it’s just kind of natural. And we do such a good job defending. It’s a huge focus of our team and that’s kind of our identity.”

A major part of Angers’ identity also revolves around her academic life.

While she was in the process of graduating with an undergraduate degree in mathematics last spring, she also enrolled in Quinnipiac’s Masters of Business Administration program. More recently, she put her MBA studies on hold to pursue a Masters in business analytics and will complete that degree in spring.

Coincidentally, the NCAA has granted all athletes who were enrolled in school during the 2020-21 season an additional year of eligibilty due to the pandemic. Angers could finish her MBA while playing an additional year of college hockey.

“I go back and forth on it a lot, but yeah, I could essentially play next year if I chose to,” she said.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14