HEALTHY RETURN: Princeton University women’s hockey player Molly Contini battles a foe from Yale last Friday. Sophomore forward Contini scored a goal and an assist in the game as Princeton prevailed 4-1. A day later, Contini, who was sidelined last year due to a hip operation, tallied two goals and an assist to help the Tigers defeat Brown 5-1. Princeton, 10-9-1 overall and 8-6 ECAC Hockey, is currently on exam break and will return to action on January 26 when it plays at No. 1 Boston College. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Molly Contini had to scuttle her first attempt at playing her sophomore season for the Princeton University women’s hockey team.

Hampered by a hip injury, Contini withdrew from Princeton before the start of the school year in 2013 and underwent surgery that October.

Contini started rehab two weeks after the operation and was skating by last January. Steadily progressing and focusing on improving her skating, the 5’8 forward from Arthur, Ontario came back at full strength for the Tigers this winter.

Understandably, Contini is thrilled to finally be getting a chance at her second campaign of college hockey.

“It is really nice being back,” said Contini. “I missed hockey for sure but I really missed being with the team and being on campus. I am really just so happy to be going to school and playing and being around everyone. I think after taking a year off and coming back you definitely appreciate what we have here a little more, having been away from it for a season.”

Expressing that appreciation by going on a scoring tear, Contini is leading Princeton with 12 goals through 20 games.

Last Friday against visiting Yale, Contini’s offensive prowess helped the Tigers post a 4-1 win as she assisted on the game’s first goal and then notched the final tally of the contest on a late empty-netter.

“Slow starts have troubled us all year but especially against Quinnipiac we didn’t have a very good first period,” said Contini, referring to Princeton’s 3-1 loss to Quinnipiac on January 6.

“We wanted to make sure that we came out and had a good start today and we were able to do that and that makes a big difference. I think we were dialed in right from the get-go. As soon as we were here, the atmosphere was good. Everyone was just focusing on the game and was ready to go and that showed in our play for sure, especially in the first 10 minutes of the first period.”

Contini and linemates Jaimie McDonell and Hilary Lloyd got things going for the Tigers, combining on the first goal just 2:15 into the contest.

“Lloyd was awesome all during the game making plays in the corner so she chipped it back to me and Jaimie was wide open in front of the net so I hit her and she buried it and made a really nice shot,” said Contini. “It was good to get that first one.”

Contini’s empty net tally in the last minute of the game had special meaning for her.

“Lloyd actually made a really nice pass,” said Contini. “When I was a freshman, Yale put us out of the playoffs that last weekend. It was really nice to come back and beat them today.”

The trio of Contini, McDonell, and Lloyd has gotten off to a really nice start as Contini is the team’s top scorer with 21 points (12 goals, 9 assists) with junior McDonell third at 18 (7 goals, 11 assists) and sophomore Lloyd fourth at 14 (4 goals, 10 assists).

“We all complement each other,” said Contini, who tallied two goals and an assist to help the Tigers defeat Brown 5-1 on Saturday and improve to 10-9-1 overall and 8-6 ECAC Hockey. “I think Jaimie and Lloyd are so solid in their own end, they get to a lot of pucks. We will work hard and try to win pucks down low. I would say my spot is to put pucks in the net.”

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal is thrilled with the production he is getting from his top line.

“They have been great all year,” asserted Kampersal, whose team is currently on exam break and will return to action on January 26 when it plays at No. 1 Boston College.

“Lloyd played gritty, Molly can finish, and Jaimie is a workhorse. Jaimie makes the whole thing go, she is probably one of the better two-way players in our whole league. She did a good job on our face-offs, she is a tough kid.”

Kampersal decided to tweak his team’s warm-up routine to get things going quicker.

“I usually never watch our warmups but when I was at Quinnipiac, the way the rink is set up, I had to watch their warmups through ours almost,” said Kampersal.

“I realized that one end looked a lot different than the other. Those kids were flying and our kids were like moseying around so we had to stitch that up. It is just a mindset and an attitude. We had them play it out with real scenarios, break a sweat so they are into it rather than just going through the motions. We want them to play the first period in warmups so we can start the first period as the second period almost, that is our mentality.”

In the win over Yale, Kampersal was happy to see some different players get into the scoring column as senior captain and defenseman Ali Pankowski and sophomore forward Cassidy Tucker each found the back of the net.

“It was good getting some of those other groups going, with even production by keeping the puck in the other end, wearing down teams, drawing penalties, they were able to do that,” added Kampersal.

The Tigers wore down Yale with some good defensive play. “It was great, they played really strong, the whole team,” said Kampersal, who got 31 saves from junior goalie Kimberly Newell in the victory.

“The core, the d-men played good but we had good block pressure and when we needed to block a shot at the point, we did that. We cleared out fairly well. Kim  was awesome so that helps. If we got scrambling, she helped us out. We did weather a couple of storms and when Kim is our best player we can beat pretty much anybody, I think.”

With Princeton heading into a 16-day exam break, Contini and her teammates were determined to scramble for as many points as possible last weekend.

“Yale was 4-4 in the league and we were 6-6 so this was a huge win for us today,” said Contini.

“We want to take it to Brown tomorrow to try and get as many points as we can because at this point these other teams are going to be playing and they are only going up and we are staying in the same spot. We really have to capitalize.”