“I don’t lose in this building,” she said, with a smile.

She really doesn’t.

The Clinton native captained the Bobcats to the conference title, defeating the Yale Bulldogs 5-1 in the first-ever ECAC women’s hockey championship held at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

It’s nearly identical to how Lopata left the ice the last time she was here, when she guided her Clinton High School girls’ hockey team to a NYSPHSAA state championship more than six years ago.

The Quinnipiac women’s hockey team smiles after winning the women’s ECAC title on Saturday in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo – Parker O’Brien)

“In all seriousness, it’s such a full circle moment for my hockey career,” said Lopata, now a graduate student with Quinnipiac.
”If you had told me when I was in high school that I was gonna win an ECAC championship here, I don’t know that I would have believed you.”

Well, it’s now a reality.

The tournament’s third-seeded Bobcats secured their second-ever ECAC title and their first since 2016. They did so, following a dominating effort from its goaltender, Felicia Frank, who stopped 31 shots while earning the tournament’s most outstanding player award.

Ella Johnson scored twice, while Avery Bairos, Zoe Uens and Emerson Jarvis also scored for Quinnipiac, which improved to 28-8-3 overall and locked up the automatic berth to the NCAA Division I tournament. Makayla Watson added two assists.

Mariya Rauf scored Yale’s lone goal. She made a slick move past Frank, after collecting a pass from Jordan Ray in front of the net to cut the Bobcats’ lead to 3-1 early in the third period. Samson Frey stopped 22 shots in the net for the Bulldogs, while Molly Boyle also picked up an assist in the “disappointing” loss.

Quinnipiac’s Emerson Jarvis and Yale’s Gracie Gilkyson get tangled up during Saturday’s ECAC Championship game in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo – Parker O’Brien)

“This is not how you draw it up when you dream about getting up on championship day,” Yale head coach Mark Bolding said. “But we’re proud of our team. We’re a heck of a team, but we’re not done playing hockey.”

The Bulldogs entered Saturday’s title game, having scored at least one goal in each of their last nine periods – including their 7-2 rout over Cornell in Friday’s semifinal game. The team’s high-powered offense came from hard pressure in the neutral zone, leading to a solid forecheck.

It forced the Bobcats to go back to the basics, Quinnipiac head coach Cassandra Turner said. Get pucks in, and get pucks out.

“We had some moments where it was hard to do that,” she said. “But I thought that we were consistent enough with it, that it honestly really allowed us to play to our strengths. It gave us some opportunities to use our speed.”

Johnson opened the scoring with a breakaway goal early in the first period, after taking advantage of aggressive play by a Yale defender and skating past her.

Quinnipiac’s Mia Lopata hoists the ECAC championship trophy on Saturday in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo – Parker O’Brien)

The Bobcats then took firm control of the contest, with goals in the second and third periods, to push the lead to 3-0. Bairos first tipped in a shot in the second period, before Uens buried a one-timer in the third. Jarvis and Johnson scored empty-netters at the end of the final period.

As the buzzer sounded and celebrations started, Turner told herself one thing: “Don’t cry.”

“It’s so hard to get here, let alone win this game,” she said. “Our league is a gauntlet. It’s so challenging. To get all the pieces together, to get to this place and then to execute and build on the semis and win the final. It’s hard, it’s really hard.”

It really is, that’s why it’s taken the Bobcats a decade to win another ECAC championship. Turner, who coached the 2016 team, said some of her former players had already reached out to congratulate her.

“Some of the girls from the 2016 team were, like, ‘I’m gonna name my first child, Jarvis,’ or ‘I’m going to name my second child, Frank,'” she said. “They are totally 2 feet into this, too. I think that’s what this is all about to me. This is your job, your life and a career, but these women are my family.”

Quinnipiac’s Jade Barbirati shows off her champion's hat after beating Yale in the women’s ECAC title on Saturday in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo – Parker O’Brien)

Lopata said winning the conference title is a testament to how far the program has come in 10 years.

“I’m so excited that we made it happen again,” she said.

But she had no doubt they would get it done in Lake Placid.

“Before the game started, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna win,'” she said. “Honestly, before I even came here, I got my nails done. I was so excited. I was like ‘My nails need to be done when I lift that trophy.'”

Her confidence resonated with the team. It’s not hard to see why, with her goaltender, turning away shot after shot.

And seemingly every time, the Swedish goaltender delivered. It’s why her teammates described her as the heart and soul of the team.

“She’s played every single game and backstopped us to some incredible wins,” Watson said. “We’re so lucky to have her. She just keeps getting better every day. She pushes her teammates, and she’s also just so calm back there.”

Yale finished with a 32-27 advantage in shots.

“We had a lot of great chances,” Bolding said.
”So, what do you do now? You use this for motivation. It’s one game we’ve been on a hot streak. We could turn rhubarb into a pie and do something with it because we’re playing next week.”

Up next, Quinnipiac will compete in the opening round of the NCAA tournament against the Franklin Pierce University Ravens at 8 p.m. on Thursday in Madison, Wisconsin. Yale will take on the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in their first round at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.

The Princeton Tigers, which suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bobcats in Friday’s other semifinal, will face the UConn Huskies at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament in State College, Pennsylvania.