Women's hockey sets records

When the final buzzer rang the Norwich women's hockey team had not only beaten Nichols College 8-0 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference women's quarterfinal game, but also accomplished something no other women's hockey team at Norwich has.

The Cadets won their 21^st game of the season, a new program record, right before they headed into postseason play.

"We are taking it one game at a time and know we have to play every game like it's our last," said Meghan Papagno, 18, a freshman communications major, "because if we don't; we know it will be our last."

"We are very excited right now with the way our team is playing going into the playoffs," said Bianca Bogda, 20, a sophomore biology major from Cranston, R.I.

The Cadets extended their unbeaten streak to 16 straight games with the win over Nichols.

"We are a very young team, with 11 freshmen, and have gotten a lot better since the beginning of the season," said Kayla Lascelle, 19, a freshman sports medicine major from Cornwall, Ontario, "We are really playing our best hockey heading into the playoffs."

With a young team the Cadets depend on the six seniors for leadership and to help them rack up wins.

"The seniors have brought a lot of leadership and have stepped up to make sure everyone is comfortable in our system," said Papagno, who is from Wakefield, Mass. "They are always there to make sure the team is as working as hard as possible so we can be playing our best hockey all the time."

In ECAC end-of-season awards, Sophie Leclerc won the player of the year award, Renee Lortie won rookie of the year award, and head coach Mark Bolding won coach of the year.

The Cadets are clicking on all cylinders as of late having scored 27 goals in the last five games before the playoffs, while giving up just four.

"In the playoffs it comes down to who has the most heart and whoever does will most likely win those games," said Papagno.

"The seniors have been on us all season to make sure we bring our A game every single night out and its really helped us get to the point we are at right now," said Lascelle.

"We are a very close team on and off the ice and will do anything to win because no one wants to go home yet," Papagno said.