Kelly Babstock and Matthew Peca Named Quinnipiac's February Athletes of the Month

Quinnipiac ice hockey stand-outs Kelly Babstock (Mississauga, Ontario) and Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) have been named Quinnipiac's February Athletes of the Month.

Babstock had an outstanding month as she propelled the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team, not only into the ECAC Hockey Tournament, but also led the team to a Quarterfinals victory at Clarkson in the month's final weekend. The sophomore forward posted six goals, five assists and 11 points for the month, including three multiple-point games. Her most notable achievement was breaking Elyse Cole's career goals record against Union when she scored twice in a 6-2 win.

Bobcats followed that performance with a hat trick against RPI on the following night, en route to ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors. Once in the playoffs, she tallied a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win in Game 1 before picking up an assist in a 2-0, series-clinching Game 3 victory.

Also nominated for the award were acrobatics & tumbling senior Erin Trotman, women's basketball sophomore Brittany McQuain and softball's Mina Duffy.

Peca also had an impressive month, leading the team with 12 points on a goal and 11 assists, while also posting a team-best four multiple-point games. He had a pair of assists against Harvard before recording a one-goal, two-assist performance in a 7-6 win at Clarkson. His other multiple-point games came against Brown and Yale, respectively.

The first-year Bobcat had an unbelievable weekend as he became the first Quinnipiac player in University history to record an assist on six consecutive goals and also the first to record an assist on every goal the Bobcats scored on the weekend. Quinnipiac knocked-off Brown, 4-1, on Friday, Feb. 24 to clinch home ice advantage for the first of the upcoming ECAC Hockey Tournament before tying Yale on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2-2.

Peca is currently a finalist for the ECAC Hockey's Rookie of the Year award and currently sits at 30 points in his first season, good for second place among all Bobcat skaters, on the power of 23 assists. Peca is just the fourth player in program history to reach 30 points in his first season and the fifth to reach 20 assists. The last player to hit both marks was Bryan Leitch in 2005-06.

Also nominated for the award were men's basketball senior James Johnson and men's lacrosse junior Basil Kostaras.