Quinnipiac vs. Yale on Feb. 9 in New Haven, (Photo by Steve Musco/Yale Athletics)
By Cliff Nadel
The ninth-seeded Quinnipiac University men’s hockey team will make the short trip down Whitney Avenue to New Haven to face its rival, No. 8 seed Yale, at 7 p.m., Friday night at Ingalls Rink.
It is the first game of a best-of-three series in the first round of the East Coast Athletic Conference men’s hockey championship tournament.
The last time Quinnipiac and Yale faced off in the postseason was in the 2013 NCAA national championship game in Pittsburgh, where the Bulldogs won, 4-0.
The Bobcats hold a 17-7-5 advantage all-time over Yale, and are 16-2 in ECAC first-round games having never lost an opening series.
You can watch game one here, or listen to the game here.
About 1,500 Quinnipiac University students waited Saturday night for 21 cards to be flipped over to reveal how much money they had raised for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
A “Let’s go, QTHON!” chant starts as organizers turned over each card.
When the cards had been flipped, the numbers revealed $265,431.79.
The crowd erupted into cheers, chants and tears as QTHON surpassed its fundraising goal by more than $15,000, establishing a new high in the eighth year of the event at Quinnipiac.
“There’s something so special about holding one of those cards. It was a rush of emotions,” QTHON recruitment director Alex Ford said.
The QTHON management committee and student organization committees worked through the school year to put on the 10-hour dance event that took place in the Quinnipiac University Recreation Center Saturday.
Athletics teams, greek organizations and clubs like Alpha Delta Pi, Quinnipiac Student Nurses and IceCats created teams to dance for the entirety of the event and also hosted a “miracle child,” or, a specific child who benefited from the money raised.
“I do (this) for my future patients and to make sure another kid doesn’t see the inside of a hospital room,” Ford said.
Alex Clarke, a senior public relations major, said, “This is a way to give kids a voice and raise money for a good cause.”
Miracle child Emma singing Taylor Swift’s: “Look What You Made Me Do”
Each participant was responsible for achieving a personal fundraising goal.
Some got creative with ways of receiving donations, like fundraising committee member Megan McCarthy, who took her personal fundraising to another level by using Venmo.
“I Venmo-requested friends, family and my ex to donate to QTHON throughout the week and night,” McCarthy said.
“I am so proud of all of the people who worked so hard to make this goal achievable. It makes me so incredibly happy that we were raise that much for the kids,” she added.
Various activities took place through the 10 hours to keep the energy up.
Decked out from head to toe and wearing neon pink shirts were members of the morale committee.
Every hour on the hour they performed a 10-minute routine — rehearsed months prior.
“I knew I wanted to be a role model and have more of an impact on this event, so I applied for (the morale committee) and never looked back,” Melissa Podias said.
Throughout the day, organizers went on stage and asked participants to take out their phones and ask family and friends to donate through apps. That effort raised about $7,000 in one hour.
Fundraising co-chair Katie Stokarski said, “I was very nervous about us reaching our goal. A quarter of million dollars is a huge goal for a school our size, but the push we had at night of made us reach our goal.”
Other activities during the long day included a game of knockout and a game of HQ Trivia QTHON version. There were also different theme hours that included Disney, holiday and throwback Thursday themes in which participants dressed up.
Morale dancer Erin Schirra dressed as Moana for Disney Hour
“Throwback hour was definitely my favorite because it reminded me of my childhood,” QTHON participant Jess Ciccarella said.
Quinnipiac University will host its eighth annual QTHON charity event Saturday from 2 p.m. to midnight. The 10-hour dance marathon will take place in Quinnipiac’s recreation center at Quinnipiac University’s Mount Carmel campus.
QTHON has been an annual event at Quinnipiac University since 2011. QTHON has raised more than $450,000 to date for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Dancers and sponsors raised $218,184.83 for the cause at last years event.
The dance marathon charity event began in 1973 in the HUB Ballroom at Penn State. Penn State’s IFC President Bill Lear put on the inaugural event. His goal was to host a dance marathon for a worthwhile cause. Over $2,000 was raised in its first event. Since then, the event has adopted the name “THON” and has raised well more than $100 million to date at Penn State alone.
Students and community members around Hamden will gather Saturday to attempt to reach the goal of $250,000 raised. Dancers who have raised more than $100 prior to the event will receive a QTHON dancer shirt, as well as food and other amenities.
The entry fee for all other attendees is $10 at the event according to QTHON co-executive director, Steph Rivera.
To donate or start your own fundraising page visit QTHON’s website here.
**UPDATE: Quinnipiac won Sunday afternoon’s game against Marist, 80-74, in double overtime. The victory clinches the fourth consecutive Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championship for the Bobcats, who move to 22-5 overall and 16-0 in conference play. Aryn McClure led the Bobcats with a season-high 25 points, while Jen Fay added 21.**
Quinnipiac University women’s basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri collected her 400th career win Feb. 11 against Siena College. It is unlikely that this is on her mind now, as her team prepares to face off this afternoon against arch-rival Marist College — the only Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference team that has challenged the Bobcats.
Fabbri is already a member of the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as a player for Fairfield and, now with 400 wins, is adding to an impressive 22-year coaching career. Fabbri certainly seemed to enjoy the moment for a few minutes in this video posted on Quinnipiac’s women’s basketball team Twitter page.
.@QUCoachFabbri collected her 400th victory yesterday on the road at Siena. Hear from coach Fabbri about what this milestone means to her: pic.twitter.com/b5xgj3T4Jy
In the video, Fabbri spoke about sharing the victory with everyone around her.
“The team is not I, and it’s shared with everybody. I don’t do this by myself,” she said.
Carly Fabbri, a senior guard and the coach’s daughter, said staying focused game to game is the key to the team’s success this season.
“We hate to lose. I think that’s what fuels us,” the young Fabbri, who is averaging 4.3 assists per game, said.
“Once you start focusing too much on the future, that’s when you’re going to get picked off in MAAC play.”
As her mother collected her 400th win, Fabbri and the team are also on a 16-game win streak. In case that wasn’t good enough, the team is also unbeaten in conference play amassing a perfect 15-0 record.
“I think it’s just that mentality (that) everyone’s going to have their chance if they put in the work and they buy into the system,” Carly Fabbri said.
Her mother’s system, which includes five-player substitutions known as the “gold rush,” was put on display when Quinnipiac made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament last spring when it upset Marquette and the University of Miami.
Quinnipiac has three games remaining on its schedule before the MAAC Tournament opens in Albany, New York.
The Bobcats face MAAC opponents Marist, Rider and Monmouth starting today at 2 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, the place that Carly Fabbri called “one of the loudest places to play.”
Technical difficulties marred what was otherwise a proud and lively display of black excellence last night at the Quinnipiac Black Student Union’s Black History Month Showcase.
The showcase in Buckman Theater was just the latest in a series of events Quinnipiac University planned to commemorate both Black History Month and the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birthday.
The event saw its first technical setback during this opening video when the sound feed was cut three minutes in. The video played on in silence. Awkwardly at times of black triumph, yet harrowing at any of the many instances of horror in the history of African-Americans. The sound continued to be resurrected and subsequently cut throughout the night.
Despite the difficulties, the crowd still enjoyed multiple performances that included poetry from students, a performance from Quinnipiac spirit group Step to Perfection, and a series of intermittent hip-hop, spoken word and beatbox performances from proverbial warm-up guy/hype man Frank E. Brady (affectionately referred to as The Hope Dealer).
Though the members of the Black Student Union who organized the event were clearly disappointed, they still had a vision for what the night meant to them and their fellow black students. The organization’s director of public relations Kerri Gravesande described the event as a celebration of black excellence.
“The point of this event was to show the different aspects of black history,” she said. “It’s not like slavery is forgotten but that’s not the point of this, it’s not a pity party and it’s not a cry for help, it to show everybody that we are resilient people and we always come back stronger and that we’ve done amazing things.”
When asked what black excellence meant to her, Black Student Union Secretary Coralie Joseph said, “I would say it begins with just loving yourself and accepting yourself… and realizing you are useful to society whether you see it or not. It doesn’t matter the adversities that you’ve faced throughout your life you are a very valued person in society… and taking that and using that to help other people, not keeping it to yourself and sharing it with the rest of the world.”
When asked the same question, Gravisande simply said “Us.”
Walking into the student center, a winter wonderland appears just seconds after opening the door. Friendly snowmen line the tables, as do pine branches and glittering flakes of fake snow. Christmas music echoes throughout the building, playing softly behind the laughs and conversations that come from the students eating their dinner.
This scene is nothing new to Quinnipiac University. On Thursday, Dec. 7, Quinnipiac hosted its annual Holiday Dinner. The festive event has become a school tradition – a tradition that has been around for 33 years.
***
Jill Martin, professor of law and chair of the Holiday Dinner Committee, has been a part of the Holiday Dinner for all 33 years. In fact, she was one of the people that started the tradition.
“We wanted to get everybody together. It’s the one event on campus, frankly, that has both students, faculty, staff, administration, Chartwells, everybody on campus involved, or can be involved if they so choose,” Martin said. “And we wanted to offer something for the students before they left for the break and before they start their exams.”
Martin based the dinner off of several events she attended as a student at Keuka College. The school hosted a Christmas dinner for the students as well as an Italian dinner where the faculty served the students. Martin decided to use a combination of both as her template for the Holiday Dinner at Quinnipiac.
“In the beginning we played around a bit with the menu and we tried different things, and now we basically have the menu set,” Martin said. “This works really well and it’s a good menu, and you get roast beef or turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and pasta.”
The Holiday Dinner requires an impressive amount of food preparation, according to Leean Spaulding, the director of dining at Quinnipiac. The staff starts preparing the meal the day before the event. The large food orders and decorations are ordered a month prior.
The food order includes: 320 pounds of roast beef, 560 pounds of roast turkey, 100 pounds of pasta, 15 gallons of marinara sauce, 20 gallons of alfredo sauce, 132 pounds of broccoli, 120 pounds of carrots, 440 pounds of mashed potatoes, 100 dozen dinner rolls and 186 assorted pies.
Preparation for the Holiday Dinner includes more than ordering the food. In fact, the Holiday Dinner Committee holds up to three meetings a year to prepare and organize, and none of it would be possible without the 120 volunteers that pitch in their time each year. For Martin, the students’ reactions are worth all of the dedication and hard work.
Currently, the school gives out 2,000 Holiday Dinner tickets to students. However, only about 1,500 students regularly attend the dinner. Martin would like to see the number grow within the next few years.
“We’d like students to know more about it because we really are trying to give something back to the students. We all know everybody’s stressed now. We all know how busy everybody is. We’re busy, we’re stressed too, but we wanted to do something for an hour to make you have a nice time,” Martin said.
An uproar has taken place at Quinnipiac University, and it’s coming from all of the Bobcat hockey fans. The university’s longtime hockey rival, Yale University is set to play in Hamden on Saturday, Nov. 18. This is during the mandatory Thanksgiving vacation for Quinnipiac students.
Students should not be discouraged until they know the outcome of the online ticket portal, which is known to be a high-intensity moment for most student fans. The Quinnipiac Bobcats’ ticket office releases a hyperlink to students that leads them to an online queue. From there, the student is prompted to generate a ticket for the game. Due to the popularity of the event, tickets go quickly. This also becomes an issue for some students due to the high traffic on the website, while using the same WiFi network.
This year, students will be sent a link in the evening of Nov. 5. According to Quinnipiac’s Assistant Director of Residential Life Mike Guthrie, students with a valid ticket will be able to file a late-stay request. They will be able to submit a plea to stay for the game taking place during the start of the break period. Requests must be made on the My Housing portal through the Quinnipiac student website, no later than Friday, Nov. 10. The late-stay request sign-up form will be released on Monday, Nov. 6.
A Quinnipiac issued ticket must be presented to one of the 20 volunteer resident assistants that are completing the room checks on Friday evening. The number on the ticket must match the student’s name that has requested to stay. Student’s will not be able to sell their tickets to others. That tactic has been popular amongst fans on campus in the past.
In a poll posted on HQ Press’s Twitter page, presented some potential results of involvement.
Do you plan on staying at school for the Quinnipiac-Yale game on the first weekend of Thanksgiving break?
Some students might also be sticking around campus for the game set to take place on Friday night. The Quinnipiac Bobcats will be playing Brown University in Hamden. A late-stay request is also available to students with a valid Quinnipiac generated ticket. Students granted permission for just this game must be out of the dorms no later than noon on Friday.
Another event that could potentially impact attendance is happening right down the street. One of the biggest rivalries in Ivy League history will be held at the Yale Bowl in New Haven. The Harvard vs. Yale football game is set to take place on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
According to Guthire, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, ECAC, had made the hockey schedule far in advance. No changes would be made due to the university’s recess.
Hamden Mayor, Curt Balzano Leng will be hosting a “Mayor’s Night Out” event next Monday, Oct. 23. Mayor Leng will be available to citizens to informally discuss neighborhood and town wide issues. The goal of Mayors Night Out is to enrich the Mayor’s relationship with Hamden residents. The event will take place at the Board of Education Health Quarters from 6 to 8 p.m.
Culture is not a Costume
By Dorah Labatte
“My Culture is not a Costume” campaign by the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement will be hosting a kickoff event Monday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. in SC120. The event is an open discussion with students, faculty and staff to talk about Halloween costumes that appropriate different cultures.
Image from Google Maps
Construction on Merritt Parkway
By Katherine Koretski
Motorists will continue to experience delays while traveling on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut this week. The Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) is hosting an event on Tuesday Oct. 17 to discuss the Route-7 project. The plans are to improve safety, and overall access for users. Each roadway redesign has been put under environmental scoping and screening, according to Connecticut DOT. Scoping is the first part of the process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Tuesday’s public scoping meeting will take place in the Norwalk City Hall Auditorium, 125 East Ave. Drop-in times are between 4 to 8 p.m., and the meeting will be an open house format with informational presentations at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
President Trump has chosen Kirstjen Nielsen for his pick to be the next secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Nielsen served as General John Kelly’s chief of staff at the DHS, as well as worked as a member of the Resilience Task Force of the Center for Cyber & Homeland Security think tank. Nielsen joined the White House team in September shortly after Trump named Kelly as DHS Secretary. President Trump announced his pick for the position on Wednesday Oct. 11 at the White House.
“I promised that my highest priority would be to secure America’s homeland. I pledged to protect our country from the many threats we face from all around the world, to keep our people safe and secure at home, and to give our full support to the men and women of law enforcement,” Trump explained in a statement released by the White House.
DHS was formed in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, according to NBC News. Its purpose was to bring multiple agencies into one place. Nielsen’s final decision will go to the Senate for final confirmation.
