The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 96, Issue 14

Quinnipiac introduces new campus bookstore

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QU BIPOC Caucus responds to DHS shootings in Minnesota

By LILLIAN CURTIN

On Jan. 11, Quinnipiac Black, Indigenous and people of color Caucus posted a statement on social media in response to the killing of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

In 2025, a group of Student Government Association senators came together to form the QU BIPOC after sharing their concerns about the lack of representation on campus.

The caucus posted the statement “condemning ICE violence and affirming support for all students.”

ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good after he alleged that she tried to run him over with her vehicle, claiming self-defense.

In response to the killing of Good, the caucus described its reaction as “horrified” and that it condemns “this violence and the systems that enable it. Silence, from any institution or organization regarding an attack on our communities make students feel unsafe.”

Good’s killing “reveals a(n) escalation in the federal immigration enforcement, revealing that the boundary between targeting “violent criminals” and exerting coercive power over the general public has collided,” wrote Kiera Baxter, sophomore political science and economics QU BIPOC Caucus Member, special representation chair and athlete senator for the SGA in an email to The Chronicle.

Law enforcement officers may only use deadly force “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Caucus members don’t agree that this was a case where deadly force was appropriate.

“(T)he Good case is part of a structural pattern where federal agencies normalize lethal force in ambiguous situations, and insulate themselves from accountability, creating a scary effect on political participation that is especially relevant to

students, who are historically central to protest, documentation and political mobilization, yet now face a reality in which even passive presence can be considered as obstruction or danger,” Baxter wrote.

Good was an American citizen, but the caucus says it doesn’t matter to ICE anymore.

“(T)he Renee Good case just exposed a deeper crisis of democratic legitimacy in which the citizen/non-citizen distinction no longer functions as a safeguard, state violence increasingly resembles political domination rather than law enforcement, and students must recognize that what appears to be an immigration issue is in fact a warning about the future trajectory of state power, civil liberties and the fragility of democratic constraints in the United States,” Baxter wrote.

“ICE is simply fueled by hate and being against ‘violent criminals’ was a ploy for something deeper,” junior film, television and media arts major, SGA sophomore

See BIPOC Page 3

Quinnipiac begins installing fuel cells to create clean electricity

By AVA HIGHLAND

As part of a clean energy initiative, Quinnipiac University is installing fuel cells across all three campuses to create clean electricity.

Each unit produces 460 kilowatts of energy through a chemical reaction, converting natural gas into electricity.

“So, it’s a clean way of making electricity from gas versus burning it like most power plants do,” Sal Filardi, vice president for facilities and capital planning, said.

Between the three campuses, 10 fuel cells will be installed — six on the Mount Carmel Campus, two on the York Hill Campus and two on the North Haven Campus.

“They’re all connected, and they run in parallel and provide electricity for the campus,” Filardi said.

In addition to producing clean energy, Filardi noted that the fuel cells are also cost effective long term.

“We’re going to fix a lower cost, and we’re going to fix it for 10 years, and then we have a 10 year option to renew,” Filardi said. “That actually reduces it even further for another 10 years.”

Having officially been approved in December, the project is currently under construction.

The first fuel cells will be installed on the North Haven campus and are expected to be completed in March. York Hill will follow with an expected completion date in April and Mount Carmel in June.

Along with creating electricity, the fuel cells create heat, which will be stored in a central plant.

“That will allow us to preheat boiler water, which will save us on the gas cost and heat the whole campus, really,” Filardi said. “So that’s another little perk.”

Several other Connecticut schools have already turned to fuel cells for more sustainable energy.

Others, like Quinnipiac, are beginning to install them now. This includes the University of Connecticut, which has been using them for years, as reported by CT Insider.

Just down the street from Quinnipiac, Hamden High School recently installed its first fuel cell, joining several schools in using renewable energy.

MEET THE EDITORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Alexandra Martinakova

MANAGING EDITOR

Gina Lorusso

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Emily Adorno

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Tyler Mignault

NEWS EDITOR

Ava Highland

OPINION EDITOR

Lillian Curtin

ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR

Joanna Farrell

ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITOR

Sophie Murray

SPORTS EDITOR

Claire Frankland

ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITORS

Emily Marquis

Cooper Woodward

DESIGN EDITOR

Katerina Parizkova

ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR

Emily Katz

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Elisabeth McMahon

ASSOCIATE SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Taylor Huchro

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION EDITOR

Quinn O’Neill

ASSOCIATE MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION EDITOR

Harper Ferraro

ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORS

Ryley Lee

Lily Zahka

COPY EDITORS

Anthony Angelillo

Amanda Dronzek

Chloe Grant

The views expressed in The Chronicle’s opinion section are those of the respective authors. They do not reflect the views of The Chronicle as an organization.

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Bookstore relocates for convenience

By CHLOE GRANT Copy Editor

Quinnipiac University recently opened a new and improved bookstore on the Mount Carmel Campus, bringing students everything from their favorite brands to textbooks for all majors.

The bookstore was originally housed in the Carl Hansen Student Center until its recent move to the former Faculty Office Building located behind The Dome.

“The other store was kind of cramped,” Bookstore Market Leader Cheryl Cartier said. “You know, it was like walking through a maze, and now we’re just spread open, you know, it’s so spread out that you could see everything all at once.”

The 15,000 square-foot building is home to two floors, each stocked with Quinnipiac apparel including t-shirts, sweatshirts, outerwear and more, as well as a variety of school supplies and course materials, ensuring students have access to everything essential.

“This one has a lot more light, which is much more inviting,” Bookstore Sales Associate Siera Davis said. “And then, just like, having the two levels can be, like, a

fun experience. Like, ‘oh my gosh, what am I gonna go see?’” Davis said. “I like (that it has) that surprise aspect, because people don’t even notice the downstairs until (they’re) like, ‘Oh yeah, you have to go downstairs (to) get your textbooks.’”

The bookstore also introduced a new Grab and Go food option, giving students greater access to healthier snacks and microwavable options.

“(I) think my favorite thing (is) the food that they have,” freshman film and television major Faith Cerrato said.

With the old bookstore location allotting two separate spaces for Quinnipiac apparel and textbooks/coursework, Cartier hopes this allows for less confusion from students.

“They don’t have to go upstairs to get textbooks and then come downstairs to, you know, get their pens. It could be all in one space, all in one transaction,” Cartier said. “It was kind of hard telling people, okay, go down the stairs, go down the hallway, go up the stairs, and then get your books there, then come back downstairs.”

Bookstore management has also taken steps to create a more inclusive establish -

Staff Meetings

ment, introducing size-inclusive mannequins at its new location.

Cartier then went on to describe a few of her responsibilities as market leader including managing all operations at both the Hamden store as well as the North Haven Campus store.

“It’s a great experience. Yeah, it’s a great campus, you know, I’m happy to be here. I feel like we’re great partners,we work towards improving the experience for students and faculty and staff.”

She also addresses some of the challenges faced in opening this new location, including difficulties moving inventory from space to space.

With the bookstore’s new location opening just days ago, Cartier shared that she and her team have already received a great deal of positive student feedback.

“This one just has so much more stuff,” Davis said, as she compares the current bookstore to its old location. “You literally don’t need to go to Walmart or Target. You have food goods, you have toiletries, you have all your clothing. You literally don’t need to go anywhere else, which is awesome.”

class President and QU BIPOC member JJ Saunders, wrote.

Fifteen days after the caucus posted the statement of Good’s death, a 37-year-old Intensive Care Unit nurse at the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Alex Pretti, was killed by Border Patrol agents.

The death of Good and Pretti shows that “White people can be a victim too, just look at Renee, and just recently this past weekend, Alex Pretti, who was an ICU nurse. In both cases, this administration had labeled them as domestic terrorists or agitators, when they were clearly not doing anything and using their constitutional rights. In Pretti’s case, they disarmed him and they still fired a full round at him,” Junior behavioral neuroscience major, QU BIPOC Caucus Chair, and Identity Senator for the SGA Victor Constanza wrote.

Both Good and Petti were killed in Minnesota, but despite the geographical distance, “students should be considered… ICE is lurking everywhere and if you put your guard down, it could always be you,” Saunders wrote.

For junior computer science major, Veteran Senator for SGA and QU BIPOC Caucus member Adhira Arun, it’s personal.

“I am an immigrant woman and American veteran and what ICE is doing in this country is very horrifying and disappointing,” Arun wrote.

The Caucus plans to work or will work with administrators and SGA to take “actionable and public steps” to ensure students feel safe.

It has already received support from faculty and Hamden community leaders.

“We hope that leadership is willing to collaborate swiftly,” Constanza wrote.

Although it hasn’t met with campus

leadership yet, it hopes to once its proposal is finalized and finished.

“While we have not received direct outreach from the BIPOC Caucus regarding this issue, we are always open to hearing from students and listening to their concerns,” John Morgan, Quinnipiac’s associate vice president for public relations, wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “We encourage continued dialogue and remain committed to fostering a welcoming, safe and supportive campus for everyone.”

However, Arun won’t accept silence.

“It feels like nobody is safe, and the silence from this University is deafening to the BIPOC community. It’s like they are saying that they don’t see the necessity to speak up because their main demographic is marked safe from ICE (they’re not),” she wrote.

If campus leadership doesn’t take ac -

tion, Constanza says the caucus will have to re-evaluate its strategy.

“We will not let this school do nothing on this issue,” Constanza wrote.

He said that, last year, the university had been asked at certain events why they hadn’t said anything.

“They usually say they do not want to be a target. But here is the thing, we cannot hide our skin color, hide our accents, or actions to help our fellow neighbors,” he wrote.

Constanza has a background in community organizing, which he says has helped prepare him for this.

Following the statement posted on Jan. 11, he was happy to see that Quinnipiac students care about each other. Yet, he was also surprised.

“This school historically is not very politically active and has a larger amount of

moderate to conservative students, which is rare for a university. The amount of social media engagement was high, and it shows that recent events are really changing the outlook from students,” he wrote.

He didn’t expect the feedback to be so positive.

Within the Caucus, the statement was approved by everyone before being posted.

Per a statement from SGA, the organization remains apolitical, and the opinions do not reflect SGA as an entire organization.

The QU BIPOC Caucus is a caucus within SGA. While there is a distinction, its SGA peers continue to give support.

“The United States is in a profoundly difficult place right now, and I’m sure many students are scared and unsure of where our country is heading politically and socially. Our job as representatives and advocates is to work for every student, regardless of their identity or background. We will do our best to keep students safe, and we will do that proactively until the students at Quinnipiac are safe,” wrote sophomore history major, SGA Sophomore Senator and SGA Historian Joshua Parr. Parr is not a member of the QU BIPOC Caucus.

He emphasized that representatives, not necessarily just members of the Caucus, are here to support students.

While it’s important to stay vigilant, students can always find support within the Caucus, the Caucus reiterates.

“If you ever need anything, no matter who you are and what you look like, standing together is the only way to weather the storm. Everything that seems like it’s happening in the horizon is already here,” Arun wrote. Her sentiments are echoed by fellow caucus members.

“Students need to fight to protect their home from becoming a tragedy,” Saunders wrote.

Quinnipiac launches new Bachelor's in Artificial Intelligence & Computing

By MADELYN DURKEE Staff Writer

A new Bachelor's program in Artificial Intelligence and Computing that was launched last semester is set to attract new students to Quinnipiac University next fall.

“We know that students are interested in artificial intelligence and so we want to respond to that. Seniors in high school want to major in AI, let’s see if we can respond to that,” Brian O’Neill, associate dean of the School of Computing and Engineering, said.

Quinnipiac is among the first to announce and launch a degree program in artificial intelligence. This comes from both student demand and recent announcements from competitors.

“We also saw some of our competitor schools launching AI majors and that drove us to be like ‘Oh, we need to do that too,’” O’Neill said.

Fairfield University announced a new program on artificial intelligence last September. Others are close behind and many nearby schools currently offer AI minors.

AI is a rapidly growing phenomenon, leading some parents and students to wonder how artificial intelligence will impact students’ career paths. This new bachelor’s program aims to address fears that AI is taking some jobs off the market.

“Our hope is that by having an AI degree, we are trying to sell people that ‘no, you can be an AI major’ and feel a little more secure,” O’Neill said.

Enrollment in existing AI courses at Quinnipiac has increased dramatically over the last year, indicating growing student

interest and leading faculty to believe the new bachelor’s program will be a major success for the university.

“This was a fast build, in terms of the actual major. There was interest from upper administration, from faculty here in computing and engineering, this fall,” O’Neill said.

The new bachelor’s program was built in August and September and didn’t officially launch until after Quinnipiac began

accepting applications for the fall 2026 academic year.

“This was a project that the whole computing department worked on. There were a lot of conversations about it, a lot of kicking around,” O’Neill said.

The program will expand upon the courses offered in the existing A.I. minor.

“We are taking a fair bit of what is in the AI minor and some of what is in the exist -

ing computer science programs and merging a little bit,” O’Neill said.

In addition, new courses on AI have been created based on professors’ knowledge and existing professional skills.

“It’s initially very similar to the computer science and software engineering programs that already exist on campus,” O’Neill said.

The current curriculum is designed to help students learn the basics of both programs, allowing students to make informed decisions about their junior year. The new AI and Computing program will function the same way.

“We want the AI and computing major to share the same freshmen core and beginning of sophomore core, so that a student can now flip between any of those three programs,” O’Neill said.

In their junior and senior year, students in the AI program will dive deeper into code and learn what it takes to make and run artificial intelligence.

“It’s setting students up not just to be users and consumers but developers and builders,” O’Neill said.

He says the program will be under constant review to keep up with the rapidly changing technology and student demands.

“We know that the program as approved and as published in next year’s catalog will probably not be the same program in the catalog five years from now. We will need to make changes responding to the student body, responding to changes in technology,” O’Neill said.

Opinion

The government is lying

The manipulated perception of Renee Good and Alex Pretti

By LILLIAN CURTIN Opinion Editor

On Sept. 10, I sat down at my computer to write, a couple of minutes after watching a man die on video. This past Saturday, I did the same thing.

While heartbroken and so very deeply disturbed, I can’t say I’m surprised. Something I seem to say a lot nowadays.

When conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed on Sept. 10, many people who “stay out of politics” were quick to post on social media — either how great they thought he was or condemning violence.

Where are they now?

The same people who were so angry are silent now. Both Renee Good, a mother and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse have died on the street, shot to death, yet they don’t get the same attention as a podcaster.

I had to grapple with that fact. I had to sit with myself and really try to understand how we got here, and how it’s getting worse. Because, seriously, how could it get worse?

People who choose to accept and defend a public execution, have been manipulated into wearing rose colored glasses.

Many are excusing the deaths of innocent people because they are listening to unreliable sources, including the Trump administration.

Because newsflash: it’s one of the most unreliable sources I’ve ever seen. Falling for its gaslighting will only end with more people being killed.

Good was a 37-year-old mother and a U.S. citizen. She was killed in a homicide by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.

Good was a poet. She was a mother. She was a person. ICE shot her in the head.

No, she wasn’t committing a crime. She wasn’t interfering with ICE. The worst thing she was doing was blocking the road. That would've been a job for local police to handle. ICE's job is to focus on illegal immigration. It seems like they

got too power hungry and a bit too cocky.

The Trump administration claims she was trying to hit an ICE agent with her car and called her a “domestic terrorist.” Multiple videos from different perspectives argue otherwise. So does local and state officials, yet state law enforcement has been barred from the investigation.

Let’s put this into perspective. Of course, local officials have the closest relationship to this case. They can especially see more locally and intimately than someone sitting in an office in D.C., over a thousand miles away.

Mind you, President Donald Trump sent the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, because he saw an altered video by Fox News. He thought it was literally on fire.

So yes, his perception and assumptions about the events have been known to be so, so far off.

Trump also justified the killing by saying it was because she was “disrespectful” to the officers. One, that’s not a crime. Two, ICE is merely cosplaying a militia, so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves with the “respect” thing.

Trump pushed the claim that she was a paid agitator.

All of this is a ruse to justify a murder and avoid accountability.

Good wasn’t an agitator. In fact, she was trying to de-escalate the situation. She was speaking calmly to the agent, saying, “That’s OK, I’m not mad at you, dude.”

One ICE agent gets upset with Good and her wife and orders them to get out of the car.

As a woman, if a man is acting hostile towards me and tells me to get out of the car, I am not getting out of that car.

“Well, these are officers.” These are officers who have had no training or proper vetting and some have criminal records of their own. If we’re not going to hold them to the same standards as other law enforcement, they should not be treated like other law enforcement.

This actually feels like a slap in the face to

the men and women who are genuinely trying to protect this country and did the work. It’s not fair to them just to have some guys who watched “Cops” feel inspired and go ruin public trust in law enforcement.

The shooter, ICE agent Jonathan Ross called her, “a fucking bitch.” You’re telling me that this was simply a man “doing his job?” No, he was mad and he had a gun, and because of the president, he had a title. If he didn’t have a title, it would just be voluntary manslaughter and a court would use that explicitly as evidence.

She didn’t try to hit him with her car. She was scared. The video clearly shows her trying to turn the wheel so she wouldn’t hit him.

As if it wasn’t bad enough, ICU nurse Pretti was killed by the U.S. Border Patrol in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. He wasn’t a criminal. He cared for veterans.

I separate these two cases because they are different. Yes, they are similar, but while Good was killed by ICE, Pretti was killed by Border Patrol. Two different things. Border Patrol being involved makes it much scarier, since these are actual trained officers.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Pretti approached officers with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Video evidence, witnesses and, again, local and state officials counter the claims. He was holding a cellphone, not a handgun, though he was legally armed.

Noem tried to make it seem like Pretti went there looking to kill someone. He legally had a weapon, as he was permitted to concealed carry.

Both the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration jumped onto social media to make statements before an investigation actually happened.

Noem claimed that the agent who killed Pretti took “defensive shots” and was “fearing for his life.”

There were about five or more other officers on Pretti, beating him before he was shot. When

he was shot and lying on the ground, most likely already dead, officers continued to shoot at his limp body on the pavement.

I’m not quite sure why you’d need to defend yourself from a dead man.

We can’t accept this. The purpose of all of this misinformation and propaganda is to separate the victims and dehumanize them in your mind. We do it with immigrants: calling them “illegal aliens” instead of immigrants. They purposely make that separation to allow it to be easier to commit atrocities against those they’re targeting.

The moment we listen to false narratives, we’re going to lose our humanity. The Trump administration can spew whatever hatred they want, call anyone whatever they want, but these are still people. They aren’t murderers, drug addicts or in these two cases, even immigrants. These are American citizens murdered on American streets.

AFCON: An underappreciated game

By REX NAYLOR Staff Writer

The African Cup of Nations final between Senegal and Morocco on Sunday, Jan. 18, did not disappoint. AFCON is basically the World Cup, but only for African nations. The tournament holds great prestige for the players and countries involved and has been known to have numerous memorable moments. This year was no different.

The tournament concluded with Senegal beating Morocco 1-0 in extra time, in a dramatic match played in the rain in Marrakesh, Morocco. Even though the tournament takes place in Africa, which is bigger than both Europe and South America, the coverage pales in comparison to the Euros or Copa America.

In the eight minutes of added time, a goal was wrongfully disallowed against Senegal. Morocco was awarded a penalty and Senegal went back to its locker room in protest. Once it came back out 20 minutes later, Brahim Diaz of Morocco missed the penalty, attempting a Panenka, trying to chip the ball in the center of the goal. Senegal’s Pape Gueye scored in extra time, picking out the top right corner, solidifying Senegal’s second-ever AFCON win.

Throughout the match, Moroccan ball boys

attempted to steal Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s towel. This prompted backup goalkeeper Yahvan Diouf to stand guard behind the goal, even getting into a staredown with Morocco midfielder/winger Ismail Saibari. The AFCON final on its own contained more drama and iconic moments than the last World Cup in 2022.

So why doesn't it get the same public ity and attention as the Euros or Copa America? Because the tourna ment takes place during this time of the year.

AFCON always occurs in the winter months, as heat would be too harsh for those involved; the same reason the 2022 World Cup was held in winter in Qatar.

About one year ago, English football pundit Jamie Carragher shared his thoughts on why certain players like Mohammed Salah or Sadio Mane don’t get the recognition they deserve. This comment drew criticism from fans, other pundits and former players, especially those from African nations.

On the BETWinner podcast, Nigeria legend

John Obi Mikel responded to Carragher’s comments saying, “I’ve played in it, I’ve won it, it’s not his f-ing place to discredit that African nation, it’s not his place.” Obi Mikel continues saying, “He didn’t win the Premier League, and he sits there week in week out telling people, teaching, coaching, trying to tell people how to win the Premier League.”

It’s worth mentioning that neither Carragher nor England has won the Euros or World Cup since 1966. The problem is that the press and media coverage of AFCON comes from English analysits and personalities. Every single World Cup winner has come from Europe or South America, and only once has a World Cup been hosted in Africa, and only once has an African nation made the semi-finals, that being Morocco in 2022.

The AFCON happens every two years, while the Euros and Copa America happen every four

and have had plenty of incidents involving poor preparation and human rights issues. They still get the best TV deals or media coverage. To watch the AFCON matches in the U.S., you need the beIN Sports Network, which very few people, if any, have.

The tournament features some of the best players in the world, Victor Osimhen, Salah, Mane and Ademola Lookman, to name a few. The passion from fans is unmatched and tickets are cheap given the tournament’s prestige.

The public perception of the tournament is a lack of structure and less funding compared to the Euros and Copa America. In general, the press doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to Africa as it does to Europe or the U.S., so people naturally wouldn’t care as much about AFCON as they do about the Euros.

Despite world-class players, iconic moments and idolized passion, the tournament still struggles to overcome long-term issues it once faced. Experts advocate for content from big names like Netflix and Amazon to broaden their horizons, but until then, the tournament still stands in the shadow of every other football competition.

Opinion

The problem with time travel and body swap movies

By NICOLE GEMMATI Staff Writer

Movies are often a common ground for people, with the subject being a great way to open up debate. No matter how thought-provoking they may be, movies that involve time travel or body swaps often leave people confused and thinking for days.

Time travel movies often give more thought to the science behind it. This logic usually begins and ends with the machine used to travel back and forth. After the plot concludes and the characters settle into their new lives, viewers are left wondering what happens afterwards.

As soon as characters time travel, they’re opening up alternate realities. One past choice means they’ll be traveling back to a different reality. In the movie “Hot Tub Time Machine,” once the characters travel back in time, they try their best to do things exactly as they were so they don’t change the future.

This attempt to preserve their reality is made easier by the fact that the main characters are transported back into their own bodies, a smart way to avoid making their situation even more confusing, given that most time travel movies feature multiple versions of the same character running around. As seen in other movies, this often leads to glitches in the matrix.

Though “Hot Tub Time Machine’s” version of time travel may not affect themselves or their world, it certainly affects those around them, in both the past and the future. To those in the past, the main characters suddenly begin acting differently one day, coming together for a goal

that they were never interested in before. Many questions also arise about the memories saved from these experiences. While these questions go unanswered, personality differences are more pronounced in body-swap movies.

The trope of characters trapped in each other’s bodies typically leans away from scientific explanatio. Using an unanswered questions of the universe often serves as a cop-out instead. Though viewers may still be confused about how the characters got body-swapped in the first place, they’re more likely to understand the fact that an explanation just doesn’t exist, rather than one they don’t understand.

Some of these explanations include spells (“It’s a Boy Girl Thing”) and energy transfusion (“The Swap”). Both movies follow a similar premise, though the latter is more childfriendly, while the former leans into the awkward parts of the encounter, with the characters forced to live with their new bodies.

“It’s a Boy Girl Thing” also raises an interesting question: whose body would be the ideal one to be swapped into? While a lot of people have probably wondered what it would be like to switch bodies with

the opposite sex for a day, this movie shows the pros and cons of this aspect. Given that the main characters hate each other, they revel in embarrassing one another… the only downside is that they get embarrassed in return.

With the characters in “The Swap,” Jack (Jacob Bertrand) and Ellie (Peyton List), being essentially strangers, their situation may seem ideal. The simple goal of reverting things to normal is the top priority. Though if you think about a stranger doing your business for you — including attending your important meetings — it gets a little more complicated.

While some may hope “Freaky Friday” is the body swap situation they find themselves in — seeing as how your partner in crime is someone you’re close with — they may fail to see that that closeness may lead to awkwardness when nature calls.

And just like the time travel dilemma, to everyone else, it seems as if the main characters in question decided to switch their personalities for the fun of it. Only to switch back soon after.

The last of this specific genre —

time loop movies — bring both the problems of personality switches and alternate realities. While the character is saved from their time prison in these other dimensions, they fail to learn their lesson.

In every time loop movie, there comes a day when they decide to do whatever they want. Given that there are alternate realities, there’s at least one where the main character is stuck dealing with the consequences.

Side characters see a different version of the main character, one that’s usually either suddenly unpleasant or incredibly wise.

“Happy Death Day” follows Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), who tries different tactics to avoid dying over and over again. Considering that other characters' lives go on, there are versions of Tree that meet her untimely end without ever making it out of her own personal Hell.

With all these questions being raised, the aftermath of the personal journeys would be beneficial towards the worldbuilding/ multiverse building of these situations, even if it’s more character-driven than plot-driven. And since these characters certainly don’t expect to find themselves in these situations, the influx of movies in our dimension may serve as a warning to establish a code word with someone, so that if we ever do find ourselves in these situations, we’ll be believed.

If that means having to say your code to your mortal enemy, so be it.

Buffalo Bills' window is shrinking while leadership stays comfortable with mediocrity

By ANTHONY ANGELILLO Copy Editor

Jan. 17 looked like the kind of playoff game Buffalo usually wins. No punts. Plenty of yards. A quarterback who still found ways to score even when nothing felt clean. The Bills then turned over the ball five times and lost 33-30 in overtime to the Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional round.

Two days later, Buffalo fired head coach Sean McDermott. A day later, owner Terry Pegula admitted he made the call in the locker room right after the loss while emotions were running high.

The same announcement also elevated general manager Brandon Beane to president of football operations, with Beane now running the coaching search.

Pegula described seeing Allen cry in the locker room after the loss and deciding that a change was needed.

That honesty might win points with fans who want transparency, but it also sounds like a franchise making its biggest decision at the worst possible time.

McDermott still had to go, at least in my view. Buffalo has hit the same postseason wall too many times.

The Bills have exited in the divisional round four times in the past five seasons, which is the definition of failure. Although McDermott coached a strong regular-season program, the playoffs kept exposing the same cracks.

However, Beane is now receiving more power, which makes no sense. If the Bills truly believe the operation needs a different structure, they need to fire Beane as well.

Buffalo basically announced that the coach was the problem while the roster builder was

the solution. That is the kind of messaging that turns a firing into a scapegoat story.

Beane has done some good. The Bills stayed relevant for years, kept winning and built a team that looks like a contender on paper. The core of the Beane debate is that he creates a good team, not a complete team.

The wide receiver discussion shows why. During the Pegula press conference, he interrupted Beane to explain that the coaching staff pushed for Buffalo to draft Keon Coleman, not Beane.

That is a bizarre thing for an owner to feel the need to say out loud, given that Coleman is still on the roster for the next two seasons. Coleman might still become a strong player as development takes time.

However, the stats compared with the next receiver selected, Ladd McConkey, fuel the criticism. Too often, the Bills look one piece short at the exact moment the playoffs demand answers.

That is why Beane's promotion irritates me more than McDermott's firing.

It tells the next coach that the GM is no longer just the GM and tells the locker room that the person who assembled the roster is untouchable.

If Buffalo wants the respect to mean something, the Bills cannot keep operating like a team that believes it is always one tweak away. They have been one tweak away for years.

The Broncos game is the perfect example of why the window feels smaller. Buffalo did almost everything needed to win.

The Bills did not punt on 11 drives. They racked up 449 yards. They moved the ball at will. Then the turnovers swallowed the entire night.

Allen took the blame after the game, which is what franchise quarterbacks who have four turnovers do. The concerning part is that Buffalo continues to expect Allen to be Superman and fix the numerous issues on the offense.

That works in October. It gets punished in January, especially if Allen is playing banged up with four known injuries heading into the playoff game against the Broncos.

Allen will also have a new coach for the first time. That reset costs time. Time is the one resource that the Bills have borrowed for far too long.

The Buffalo Bills clearly felt that pressure, which is why they fired McDermott. Pegula said the team hit a “proverbial wall.”

like this throughout this press conference, and when the dust settled, it made Buffalo look more delusional than teams like the Cleveland Browns or the New York Jets.

Candidates should be coming in droves to become the head coach of a team with Josh freaking Allen as quarterback, and in one day, Beane and Pegula made the franchise less appealing than canned sardines.

However, as of Jan. 27, the Bills promoted their offensive coordinator (OC), Joe Brady, as their next head coach. Brady will inherit a team where the person hiring him has more power than ever.

Brady's experience with the organization from his time as OC should make it easier for the locker room to accept him as their next head coach. All eyes are now on Brady to finally break through and win while Josh Allen is still in his prime.

Brady fails, Buffalo can fire him too. Beane likely stays. That is not a fair setup. It is not even a smart setup. do not have to love McDermott to see the imbalance. Pegula described McDermott as a coach who helped change the franchise's mindset. That is true. McDermott turned Buffalo into a regular playoff team. He also created an era that now feels like it peaked without cashing the check.

Buffalo chose an emotional firing and a comfortable promotion. Brady will either drag the franchise past its failures or become another name attached to it.

Arts & Life

‘Stranger Things’ turned my world Upside Down

By LILLIAN CURTIN Opinion Editor

Over nine years. That’s how long it took to get five seasons of “Stranger Things.” I’ve been here every step of the way.

If you were to tell 11-year-old me that she’d be 20 years old, spending her New Year’s Eve watching the finale to her favorite show for nearly a decade, she would’ve said you’re crazy.

That’s exactly what I did; and I’m feeling a mix of things. Now that I’m out of the five stages of grief, I can talk about it.

Maybe it’s because I’m a “Game of Thrones” fan, but I was expecting a lot more death. In the most gruesome of ways, to be extremely honest.

In episode six of the latest season, Holly (Nell Fisher) is falling from the sky. The scene cuts off to Holly falling, and her sister Nancy (Natalia Dyer) seeing her.

Then, we get to episode seven, Nancy and her brother Mike (Finn Wolfhard) reunite. Nancy looks emotionally distraught, but Holly's not with them.

It was at this moment that I thought the Duffer Brothers were deranged enough to kill a little girl, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” style.

I’m not complaining about the fact that beloved characters didn’t die. I love a happy ending more than shock value. I was just surprised. I knew it wasn’t going to be a massacre when the Duffer Brothers said there was “no Red Wedding.”

To those of you unfamiliar, the Red Wedding was single-handedly one of the most traumatizing scenes in all of fiction. Think about all of your favorite characters who’ve been there since the first episode, massacred in one fell swoop with no warning.

It taught me a valuable lesson that even the most beloved characters can be killed just for the hell of it. Since this was the last episode, nothing

was stopping the Duffer Brothers from pulling something like that. So, I was on edge.

My first concern: single mother of six, Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). I’m going to be quite frank: if Steve had died, I would’ve needed to be sedated. Not just because he’s hot (but c’mon), but because he has had one of the best character developments ever. From a cocky playboy jock to a hero.

Let’s also give a round of applause for Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono). M.I.L.F. of the year. She saved her daughter, got sliced and diced by a Demogorgon and proceeded to save all of them again by putting the oxygen tank in the hospital dryer.

We look back at older seasons, and the little things like them all eating dinner at her house or her scolding them like her own children, are all heartwarming. She’s everyone's mom. So when she heard over the hospital intercom that Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) was in trouble, she got out of her bed and saved them.

I have no clue where Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest) went for the majority of this season, and I honestly don’t care. Neither did the characters, apparently, because basically everyone forgot about him. I’m reluctant to give him “Walk-em down Wheeler” status because, yes, he did fight a Demogorgon with his golf club, but he’s also annoying, and people are giving him way too much credit.

I heard that we get a glimpse of Karen and Ted’s past before they were married in the Broadway show “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.” The same goes for information on Vecna/Henry’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) past. This really, really grinds my gears. Why are you putting key background information in a niche Broadway prequel that no one sees? It’s not even that I don’t want to see it. I can’t. It’s just inaccessible.

Speaking of Bower, I knew him as Caius in the “Twilight” franchise and Jace in “The Mortal

Instruments: City of Bones.” This man is such a bubbly person, but, for some reason, keeps playing insane and dark characters. It’d be amiss not to talk about the actual ending of the show. What the hell was that?

The battle scene was perfect. No notes. Clear increase in battle IQ.

With the amount of montages in the last episode, you would’ve thought we were in the “Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2” ending credits. The specific montage where we see glimpses of what everyone had lost had me in shambles. Then you have Robin (Maya Hawke) and Steve, who were really just there for the love of the game.

Listen, I’m not even that upset about the ending. But why could they not just give my girl El (Millie Bobby Brown) a break? Her happy ending was right there.

As I said earlier, I love a happy ending. This was not it for me. I wanted her and Mike together, happy and thriving. But no, because the Duffer

Brothers just hate joy, I cried because Hopper (David Harbour) lost another daughter. I watched everyone’s reactions to her killing herself and I had to hear the “goodbye Mike” all over again. I knew something was up when they defeated Vecna and there was still an hour left. For my own sanity, El’s not dead. I saw someone say she uses her powers to visit Mike, and that’s what I’m going with. Leave me alone.

She “died” to escape Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton), but what happened to them afterwards? Dr. Kay and her team just… left Hawkins? That’s a bit anticlimactic for a woman who was hunting a child.

Iffy (potentially A.I.) writing aside, it was overall pretty good closure. After 10 years, the actors have grown and are ready to move on, and so is the audience. Though I wished for a happier ending for the girl who carried it all, I’m going to take what I can get. Because I believe.

Is 2016 back, or is this just another passing trend?

A decade later, one of the most iconic and impactful years in terms of pop culture, internet humor and fashion, is making a comeback.

In 2016, I was leaving fifth grade and entering middle school with nothing but a choker and my high-top Converse. Life seemed so simple for many — the colors were bright, the air was fresh and we were, most definitely, cringe. We were cringe, but free.

Nearing the end of 2025, there was sudden talk about 2016 making a comeback in 2026, marking exactly 10 years since the era took over social media and wardrobes, consuming every aspect of people’s lives. What started as jokes on TikTok turned into something much more intentional, as if people were actually trying to summon the energy of a time that felt less curated and less exhausting than now.

Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino, Adidas Superstars, skinny jeans, chokers, chunky jewelry, Pokémon Go, the Mannequin Challenge — it’s all in rotation again, appearing on social media feeds and in stores, leaning into 2016s aesthetics like they never left.

One of the first major instances of a 2016 movement was the unexpected rise of singer-

Zara Larsson. Larsson opened for singer-songwriter Tate McRae’s recent “Miss Possessive Tour” and was widely recognized as an underrated artist.

For many social media users, her resurgence felt like the opening of a time capsule since many of her hits dominated 2016 radio. She developed a renewed appreciation, especially after channeling 2016 aesthetics in her wardrobe of bright colors and experimental makeup.

From one chronically online college student to another, I haven’t seen this much effort to revive an era with full commitment. Usually, it’s just a few trends that find their way back to us, like lowrise jeans or Juicy Couture tracksuits, but this feels weirdly different. It’s almost like people are so sick of the way we live now that they’re searching for the comfort and liberation many of us felt 10 years ago.

Beyond just music, social media has seen old trends surface like videos focused on nostalgic 2016 fashion, old Snapchat filters and bold makeup trends using

colors instead of the boring soft glam that’s usually featured on algorithms.

This revival feels incredibly tied to the apparent collective burnout many Gen Z’ers face in online spaces today. Everything we scroll through is heavily monetized and judged, but looking back, the internet was a place where self-expression didn’t require

standards of random people online.

Still, the question remains: is this 2016 revival here to stay, or will it fade as quickly as every other trend?

Waves of internet nostalgia come often, so 2016 may very well be just one of these waves. But the emotional attachment people seem to have to this comeback shows that it could be

At this point, people are actively seeking the joy and simplicity that the world has lost. I would do anything to go back to 2016 — as a version of myself that’s a little less embarrassing — but maybe that’s the point. The awkwardness and lack of self-awareness are what made that era feel

In revisiting 2016, many people might not be chasing the aesthetics — they may be chasing a version of themselves that didn’t feel so restricted by

Whether these trends last or not, I feel it’s safe to say people are ready to feel some type of unfiltered joy again.

As campus life resumes, student stress hits like it never left

By ANTHONY ANGELILLO Copy Editor

Well, everyone, it’s time to head back to school. It was nice while it lasted — sleeping late, enjoying family time and taking some moments to relax. That was the good life, but now we're back on campus, where life continues to move forward.

As a commuter, I don't experience winter break as a complete farewell to school. It’s more like the volume is lowered for a few weeks, then turned up again immediately after the calendar changes. My house remains my house and my responsibilities remain my responsibilities. The key difference is the routine that connects them.

That routine is important to me because I handle my mental health daily. I live with anxiety, depression and ADHD, which causes my focus to be sharp one moment and gone the next.

A break allows me to rest, but it can also disrupt the structure that keeps me stable. Returning requires quickly rebuilding that structure.

As a freshman, I am still learning how to manage everything without burning out. I juggle classes, student media and a work-study job, feeling the pressure to get everything right from the start.

Many Quinnipiac students experience similar stress, even if their routines differ from mine.

According to the 2025 Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed college students nationwide, 37% of students reported moderate to severe depression and 32% reported moderate to severe anxiety.

The challenge is that stress is not always visible. Sometimes, it appears when a student shows up to class carrying the same mental burden from the fall.

Other students come back with fresh goals and renewed energy, prepared for the challenges ahead in the coming months.

Further research confirms that commuting can impact well-being. A 2025 study on university commuting and student well-being shows that commuting effort influences student autonomy and subjective well-being, thereby affecting their overall mood throughout the day.

This doesn't imply that commuting causes

mental health issues, rather, it suggests that the commute can make an already heavy week even heavier. If I begin my day feeling stressed, I tend to carry that stress into my first class unless I take a moment to slow down and reset.

Sleep can also become the first battleground. My alarm goes off and I start negotiating with myself like it’s a debate. Then I get ready and have my usual beef with the morning traffic, the weather and the parking.

I need to switch my mind from home to campus mode while I am still driving. If I lose sleep, my

make schedules feel tighter. When I already feel anxious, these conditions will shrink my world if I let them.

If you let the world define you, you will never find peace. That’s why I adopt a mindset of viewing the reset not as a test of toughness, but as a process I can develop. When my mental health is fragile, I find small, repeatable habits more effective than setting large goals.

Sleep habits are a good example because they can influence nearly every part of daily life.

The American Psychiatric Association recommends avoiding screen time at least one hour before bed and increasing exposure to bright light during the day as part of healthy sleep hygiene that supports mental

several times last semester.

Support matters when routine and selfmanagement are not enough. Quinnipiac offers resources that students can use before stress becomes a crisis.

Quinnipiac University Counseling and Mental Health Services shares information on support options, including 24/7 resources like the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

The university has also committed to JED Campus, a four-year partnership that began in fall 2022 to strengthen student mental health, substance use and suicide prevention efforts.

I know how easy it is to delay seeking help. It is tempting to tell yourself you should handle it alone, especially when you look around and everyone else seems fine.

The truth is, many people are not fine; they're just quiet about it. National data shows that many students experience symptoms of anxiety and depression while going to class and trying to keep up.

When I talk about my mental health in my own life, I do not do it for attention; I do it because pretending I am okay does not make me okay, it just makes me worse.

well-

semester, even though that is not true.

Connecticut winter adds additional pressure. Dark mornings and early sunsets make it easier to stay inside and isolate.

The National Institute of Mental Health explains that seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that follows a seasonal pattern and lists treatments such as light therapy, psychotherapy, antidepressant medication and Vitamin D.

Even when it is not seasonal depression, the shift in seasons changes the feel of campus life. Cold air pushes people indoors, and short days

I don’t follow that perfectly, but I take the idea seriously. When I wake up earlier for class, I try to get at least six hours the night before.

You might think that's not enough, but when my body signals it's time to sleep, I'll go to bed, and it usually works.

If I stay up scrolling, I will pay for it the next morning with my mood and my focus. I notice that pattern more now than I did in high school. Routines also mean learning how to exist on campus as a commuter. I always make sure I have enough time to park and get to my classes on time. Trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way

I know many people facing similar struggles, so having a platform to discuss mental health allows me to support others and remind them they are not alone.

This week, I have tried to approach the return with a little more patience. I give myself extra time before my first class, so my commute does not affect my mood. I plan my day so there’s space to breathe. I focus on doing the next right thing instead of trying to win the entire semester in one morning.

Winter break has officially ended. The journey back may take longer than you expected. That’s OK. Right now, it's about building a rhythm that leaves you room to be human.

While we cannot manage every stressor, we can focus on the next small step. It’s a process, but we’ll keep showing up, one day at a time.

Why ‘The Ghost and Mrs. Muir’ still resonates

By JAMES DOBSON Contributing Writer

There is a particular kind of Hollywood fantasy — gentle, insinuating, almost embarrassed by its own yearning — that flourished briefly in the years just after World War II. “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (1947) belongs squarely to this moment.

The movie is a black-and-white romantic fantasy about a widow who falls in love with a ghost, and yet it is also about solitude, integrity and the struggles of compromise. Managing to be all of these things without collapsing into whimsy or sentimentality is the film’s greatest strength.

The premise sounds whimsical to the point of self-parody. Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney), newly widowed and stubbornly independent, rents a seaside cottage haunted by the irascible spirit of its former owner, Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison). He is at first blustery, sexist and vocally contemptuous of women, qualities that somehow only sharpen the pleasure of watching Gene Tierney’s Lucy refuse to be cowed by him. The movie’s real plot begins there, in this calm, rational refusal to be intimidated.

What follows is not romance so much as cohabitation under sustained scrutiny. Lucy and the Captain argue constantly, but their arguments have the rhythm of domestic life rather than seduction. He bellows; she reasons. He asserts tradition and authority; she invokes necessity and self-respect. Slowly, a system emerges. They share space. They make compromises. Their shared contempt

for falseness and social pretense becomes most apparent when Lucy’s in-laws attempt to reassert control over her life under the guise of concern. All the while, the Captain comes to respect Lucy while discovering that she cannot be frightened out of her convictions or worn down by bluster.

What makes the film endure is refusing to reduce romance to either destiny or instant chemistry. Lucy’s own love for the Captain similarly is not a thunderbolt but an accretion of shared space, shared labor, shared seriousness and a mutual intolerance for falseness. They eventually collaborate on a memoir of the Captain’s life at sea, a partnership in which he dictates and she shapes, edits and disciplines his voice into something the world will accept. Through this partnership, she publishes the book and achieves financial independence, ultimately buying the seaside cottage in full despite her inlaws’ objections.

Rex Harrison’s Captain Gregg, all curling lip and the bitterness of a man long accustomed to being obeyed, could easily have tipped into caricature, but the film grants him a real loneliness beneath the bluster. His authority is the residue of a working life at sea. His death, ruled a suicide is eventually revealed to have been a mere accident as he kicked a gas valve in his sleep, leaving his pride to harden where purpose once was. He is trapped not merely by his ghostliness but also by that pride, unable to move on, unable to fully give himself to the living woman who sustains him.

The Captain’s most consequential act is also

his quietest. Recognizing that his continued presence binds Lucy to a love that cannot age or appear in daylight, he deliberately withdraws, pretending to be nothing more than a figment of her imagination.

It is a gesture of self-sacrifice that carries none of the drama of renunciation and all of its cost: he chooses Lucy’s life over his own longing, allowing and even quietly encouraging her to pursue a flesh-and-blood suitor not because that love is greater, but because it is survivable.

The film’s final movement is devastating precisely because it is so restrained. Time passes. Lucy ages. The world narrows. Her young daughter has grown up and is preparing to marry an airline pilot, and in a visit to her mother back to the seaside cottage, casually mentions that she, too, had seen Captain Gregg growing up. This confirms that he was never merely Lucy’s private private invention; the ghost was real, the love shared, and the life Lucy lived was never delusional.

tips over a forgotten glass of milk, rises from her chair, and walks away from her own body. Captain Gregg is waiting for her, no longer blustering, just merely smiling gently and telling Lucy that now she’ll never be tired again. Now, both ghosts leave the house together, hand in hand, the romance finally made possible only once time, compromise and the demands of the living world have released their claim.

Watching “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” now, its emotional gravity remains strong and unsoftened by nostalgia. The movie trusts its audience to sit with longing that cannot be resolved, with love that does not conquer death so much as coexist with it.

It is a film that understands how often the deepest attachments in our lives can often be the ones we cannot explain, defend and cannot fully live out. Nonetheless, they shape us all the more enduringly.

One small habit getting me through a difficult season

How diamond painting helps me cope

By GINA LORUSSO Managing Editor

Gem by gem, color by color — diamond painting is something that’s helping me get through an already tough start to the year.

Never would I have imagined sitting in my dorm room at the start of my last undergraduate semester, consistently turning to a timeconsuming craft to cope with grief.

This past winter break, I experienced a heartbreaking loss in my life that I wasn’t sure how to begin healing from. As someone who has always been private about their struggles, I didn’t find much comfort in talking to others — I found it in diamond paintings. It sounds ridiculous, but it works for me, and it’s something I refuse to be ashamed of.

Diamond paintings, or diamond art, are a color-by-number-style craft that requires you to place different colored gems on a canvas to create a design. The gems, or drills, can be placed either one at a time or in groups onto the adhesive canvas using a special tool.

I picked up this hobby during COVID-19 when I had absolutely nothing else to do except sit in my room and watch Netflix, but it unexpectedly wormed its way back into my life a few weeks ago. Needless to

say, I’m so glad it did.

My diamond painting era in 2020 was sparked by boredom. Now, I returned to it with intention and care.

What surprised me most about this was how easily it became a part of my daily routine. In between classes, assignments and other tasks, I find the time to just sit and be present. I didn’t have to force myself into it again — it became a low-pressure habit I look forward to each day and gives me a sense of structure when everything else feels so unbearable.

There’s something grounding about the repetition of placing the gems — the quiet focus it requires leaves little room for intrusive thoughts that could upend an emotionally heavy day. It helps control the ever-present stress and anxiety that I didn’t have to deal with much before now.

To me, it’s all about the environment and making the space comfortable so you can enter a gentle state of mind and be at peace with yourself. Soft lighting, a comfort movie or show in the background and something warm to sip on is all I need to, at least somewhat, reach a place where I can reflect and be content with my healing journey.

Watching the canvas slowly come

together with each section feeling like a small accomplishment, even on days when simply getting out of bed feels like the greatest achievement.

Diamond paintings are tangible progress, not progress that is typically invisible. With every gem I place, it’s proof that time has passed and an effort has been made, even if it was in a quiet way.

Healing comes in moments. Right now, it’s gem by gem, color by color. diamond paintings aren’t a cure — they’re a pause. Some days are heavier than others, so it’s important to let yourself enjoy something simple that doesn’t need much energy. A gentle activity, such as this one, is choosing softness over that “just push through” mindset when you feel like you can’t.

Many people dismiss crafts as childish or unproductive, but in reality, healing doesn’t have to be productive or looked at as “serious” to be valid. Any way that you find helpful to handle grief is not embarrassing — it only has to make sense to you.

Diamond painting hasn’t fixed everything, but it’s given me space to breathe, and that feels like it’s enough for now. This small habit has given me something to hold onto. It reminds me that healing doesn’t need to be loud gestures; it can be found in smallest pockets of peace throughout each day.

So now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a diamond painting to finish.

What I would do if my closet disappeared tomorrow

By SOPHIE MURRAY Associate Arts & Life Editor

I used to open my closet and feel overwhelmed. Racks packed with clothes, yet somehow nothing to actually wear. It wasn’t because I didn’t own enough, but because I didn’t know how to style it or just completely forgot it existed.

As a devoted sweatpants wearer, I made it part of my New Year’s resolution to stop defaulting to lounge wear every day, especially since I own far more than just gray sweats.

I love fashion and I love putting outfits together, yet I constantly feel like I am missing key wardrobe staples, while simultaneously owning an excess of random sweaters I’ve had since my junior year of high school.

That contradiction got me thinking: if all of my clothes disappeared and I was left with absolutely nothing, how would I rebuild my wardrobe from scratch?

And in a world where trends are constantly cycling in and out, what pieces are truly worth investing in while staying timeless but can still reflect a personal style?

So, if you woke up tomorrow with an empty closet, here’s how to start your wardrobe over again.

The first step is inspiration, not shopping. Before buying anything, scroll through Pinterest and save outfit ideas that align with your actual lifestyle: everyday classes, work days, nights out.

One of the biggest reasons people overbuy then under wear is because their clothes lack styling vision. If I can’t picture at least three ways I’d wear something, it usually ends up in the back

of my closet.

Having a clear idea of how you plan to wear an item makes shopping more intentional and prevents pieces from going unworn.

Once you’re ready to shop, begin with “timeless” staples. No, this doesn’t have to mean boring. It just means pieces that won’t feel dated in six months and can be styled in many different ways. Clean lines, classic cuts and neutral color palettes will be your best friend, especially when you want your outfits to be effortless yet put-together.

Building this foundation does not have to break the bank either. Amazon is a great start to find affordable basics that will act as the backbone of any outfit.

A black, white and gray tank top, T-shirt and

long sleeve tops are a strong starting point for any outfit. They can easily dress up by pairing with jeans, statement jewelry and polished shoes, or styled casually with leggings or a colorful pair of sweatpants. I also like finding colorful undershirts or patterned ones for layering. These look best peaking out of a neutral sweater.

When it comes to pants, I would break them down into three essential categories: leggings, sweatpants and jeans.

A reliable pair of black leggings is a closet staple. They can be worn with any daytime outfit and offer the added benefit of comfort. Incorporating leggings in bolder colors can add variety while maintaining versatility.

Despite my goal to wear fewer sweatpants in 2026, they still deserve a place in a functional wardrobe. However, the difference is intention. A wellfitting, high-quality pair feels very different than the ones reserved for laundry day. A well-fitting pair can work for casual outings, travel days or just a relaxed weekend.

Jeans take the most trial and error, but are essential. You don’t need every style under the sun, just ones that work for your body and life. I highly recommend trying any pair of jeans on before committing so you can experiment with different variations: dark or light wash, high rise or low rise, straight or wide leg.

Sweaters were one of my biggest problems. I am a full sweater hoarder, and somehow they are still the most overbought and underworn item in my closet.

A lot depends on weather and lifestyle.

If you live in a cold climate, heavier knits are worth the investment. If your daily outfits lean more casual, look for sweaters that can be easily styled with leggings or sweats. When the weather transitions, cardigans or half zips offer flexibility and easy layering.

If you can picture a sweater working with multiple outfits and fitting seamlessly into your routine, it’s likely a smart investment. If you’re anything like me, it might be a sign to finally clean out your sweater drawer.

Hoodies and crewnecks are pieces I will never give up. While neutral options are always reliable, they’re also a great way to express personal style.

Whether it’s your favorite sports team, a nod to your music taste or a pattern you’re drawn to, hoodies can reflect personality while remaining practical. Lately, I’ve been into stripes. I love how they add a visual interest while still being effortless enough to dress up or down.

Finally, to rebuild my closet, I would invest in a small but reliable shoe rotation. Since I don’t play sports or need an overly athletic shoe, my go-to everyday sneakers are New Balances. I love that I can wear them to be active, but I can also wear them with jeans or a nicer outfit.

Next, I would repurchase my Ugg Minis. They’re perfect for the colder weather, extremely comfortable and still look nice paired with more dressed-up outfits.

My favorite recent investment has been my Adidas Sambas. I always reach for these to elevate a simple outfit. Mine are navy blue, which I love using as a subtle pop of color with otherwise neutral outfits. They’re incredibly versatile and surprisingly comfortable.

An intentional wardrobe isn’t about perfection. It’s about pieces that can show up in your life. When your closet reflects how you live and your personal aesthetic, getting dressed and curating outfits feels less like a chore and more about self-expression.

New York Giants turn to John Harbaugh to restore identity

By ANTHONY ANGELILLO Copy Editor

For a franchise that sells history as much as it sells tickets, the New York Giants made a rare move this month. The organization did not chase the next hot assistant or ask fans to buy patience for another restart, but rather hired a coach with a Super Bowl ring, a long resume and a reputation for “winning.”

The Giants named former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh as head coach, introducing him at the team facility in East Rutherford, N. J., on Jan. 20. Team President John Mara said Harbaugh stood out for “conviction and vision” during a search led by general manager Joe Schoen.

Since former head coach Tom Coughlin left after the 2015 season, the Giants have cycled through names like Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge and Brian Daboll, who was fired on Nov. 10, after a 2-8 start. Mike Kafka took over as interim head coach, never producing a coach who stayed longer than three seasons or lived up to the success Coughlin had.

The coaching carousel produced one playoff win against the Minnesota Vikings in 2022, but led to a complete descent, with a combined record of 55-109-1; the only team worse was the New York Jets at 49-116, which no proud franchise wants to be part of.

That slide is why the Harbaugh hire is a culture decision, not just a football decision. Giants fans still measure the team against the Big Blue Wrecking Crew era that legendary head coach Bill Parcells helped shape in the 1980s, as well as the two Super Bowl runs under Coughlin.

Those seasons carried a clear identity through physical defense and clean situational football.

The last decade rarely matched that picture, leaving the fan base fed up with the failures of the once-respected franchise.

On Jan. 5, the Giants confirmed that Joe Schoen would return as General Manager for 2026, while

emphasizing “continuity and stability” in the front office. Schoen then became the public face of the coaching search, describing leadership, accountability and quarterback development as top priorities.

That decision did not quiet fan frustration.

Schoen faced criticism for several major roster decisions over the last few seasons and has received more second chances than a kid being sent to the timeout corner.

The Ravens would then fire Harbaugh on Jan. 6, after the team missed the playoffs in Week 18 due to a missed 44-yard field goal on the final play.

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti cited an internal evaluation of the season and the organization's overall direction.

The timing stunned fans in part because Baltimore extended Harbaugh to a three-year contract extension that put him under contract through the 2028 season back in March.

Harbaugh's exit also came with a stack of recent warning signs.

In eight seasons with Jackson at quarterback, Harbaugh won only three playoff games, never advancing past the AFC Championship Game. That record became a major part of the criticism in Baltimore, especially in recent years when the Ravens were considered to have a Super Bowlcaliber roster.

Harbaugh teams have blown 46 fourthquarter leads since 2008, tied for the secondmost in that span.

However, besides the glaring concerns, the Giants did not wait, as they agreed to a fiveyear contract with Harbaugh on Jan. 17. The deal is worth about $100 million in total value, a figure that suggests the Giants wanted a proven coach at the helm, not a short-term plan with an inexperienced coordinator.

The resume speaks for itself, which is why the hiring could either be the best or worst in Giants history.

Harbaugh coached 18 seasons in Baltimore, won 180 regular-season games, reached the playoffs 12 times, won six division titles, reached four AFC Championship Games and then won Super Bowl XLVII.

Those numbers give him instant credibility in a building that has been chasing a lasting identity since Coughlin left.

Once the firing became official, the market moved fast. ESPN reported that Harbaugh's agent received calls from seven teams in the first 45 minutes after the decision, including at least one team that still had a coach at the time.

When the Giants introduced Harbaugh, he leaned into the full brand name, calling the team the New York Football Giants. He also framed the job as daily work, not a slogan, with a message the Giants later highlighted in a team recap: football as a verb, “all the time, every day.”

The Giants also sold Harbaugh as a culture fit, not only a trophy fit. In announcing the hire, Tisch described Harbaugh's teams as disciplined, resilient and prepared.

Schoen pointed to staff building, player development and accountability as the core of the plan.

The job also seems attractive in 2026 due to roster reasons, mainly rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.

The Giants have not had consistent quarterback stability in years. Dart gave the franchise a new lane. In Baltimore, Harbaugh lived through quarterback eras that demanded adaptation.

He started with quarterback Joe Flacco, then built around Lamar Jackson, a player who, when healthy, can be the greatest player on the field.

Quarterback development matters more than ever because the best version of Dart will need to become balanced through designed runs that punish defenses, along with a passing game that still works

when opponents force him to win from the pocket. For the Giants to make the playoffs in the seasons ahead, the checklist starts in the trenches.

A young quarterback cannot develop on broken plays, and a coaching staff cannot install an identity if the offensive line collapses in the same spots every week.

Schoen pointed to a “young nucleus of talent” while defending the decision to keep the front office intact, with players like rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter part of the long-term vision.

That is the optimistic view that I am holding onto for dear life.

The job ahead for Harbaugh will not be easy, as New York can be punishing if you aren't prepared. Harbaugh needs to prove that his end in Baltimore was a season-specific crash, not a trend that follows him across state lines.

If the Giants can assemble a coaching staff capable of developing a modern offense around Dart and establish a culture that keeps the team from falling apart as the schedule grows tougher, the Big Blue Wrecking Crew will evolve into the franchise I know and love and return to the national standard for greatness.

‘Final Destination’: The evolution of death

While the new millennium brought forth panic, it also brought forth the first film of an iconic movie series… that also brought panic. Released in the year 2000, “Final Destination” spawned a multi-movie franchise and a cult-like following.

The franchise is also responsible for impacting a generation into developing niche fears, such as driving behind log trucks and using tanning beds. Beginning with a catastrophic opening, each “Final Destination” movie follows a protagonist who appears to meet an untimely death. But because the movie can’t go on without them, their death is revealed to be a vision. After taking it upon themselves to save others, Death takes it upon itself to ensure their fate is sealed, killing off the survivors one by one.

The first seen protagonist is Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), a high school student who sees himself and his classmates perish in a plane crash on their way to France. After getting himself and six others off the plane, the group witnesses Alex’s vision become reality. While some are relieved to have avoided disaster, others are unsettled by Alex, especially when he realizes that Death, portrayed as a supernatural

villain, is coming for them. Though they fend off Death for as long as possible, the only survivor to appear in the next movie is Alex’s girlfriend, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter).

As the franchise continued, the opening disasters became more outlandish. While a plane crash is conceivable, rollercoaster derailments and high-rise collapses occur far less frequently.

This shift is likely due to advancements in technological effects. The deaths evolve as well, becoming less realistic and more shocking. Tod’s (Chad Donella) death in the first film, though a Rube Goldberg-style accident, needed to remain believable for Death to disguise it as suicide. In the later movies however, Death strives more for shock factor rather than believability. While this is a testament to its fearfactor, it also reveals a degree of laziness, as Death forgets to cover its tracks like it had in the past.

While the movies do get more elaborate, the sequel directly feeds off of its predeccesor. Each character is affected by the deaths in the original movie, surviving longer because of them. Death eventually circles back to claim their lives, crossing their names off its list. The second movie is also notorious for introducing loopholes to the

system. While one can skip a death, the survivors learn how to outrun it indefinitely by bringing a new life into the death loop.

Aside from this direct sequel, multiple references to the original movie appear throughout others in the franchise. For example, the number 180 serves as a sign of incoming doom, being present at both the plane crash in the first movie and the car pileup in the second. Characters are also connected to one another even if they never meet. The bus driver who runs over Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer) in the first movie becomes the protagonist of the novel “Final Destination: Death of the Senses,” attempting to avoid Death himself after witnessing a premonition of his own. This extension to the franchise leans into Death’s trail as well, as the lives of those who cause the deaths are also ruined.

One of these references ties into a theory in the second movie. After learning that new life stops the death loop, they attempt to hold out the life of a pregnant survivor. However, the most recent movie in the franchise — “Final Destination: Bloodlines” — denounces this, with Death coming to claim the lives of the descendants of those who were never meant to survive an accident in the 1960s.

The original concept for “Final Destination: Bloodlines” follows a similar premise, with Death targeting a group of EMTs who each saved a life that was never meant to be saved. Both iterations open up the franchise to more potential spinoffs.

Some fans have suggested that a TV show would work, with each episode following a survivor of the Sky View collapse, and their eventual descendants. This opportunity also opens up further worldbuilding, with the series taking place in the past.

This pattern can also foreshadow the future visionaries as well. Fans have noted that multiple characters experience injuries to their fingers in the movie, starting with Iris (Brec Bassinger) in “Bloodlines,” the first protagonist chronologically. While some of the characters whose fingers are affected aren’t visionaries — such as Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman) in the third film — they are still affected by the visions and close to the protagonists themselves, and many theorize that they are descendants from past survivors. Their deaths in their respective movies is simply Death coming back to finish up their list. This proved to be correct in “Final Destination 5.”

With “Final Destination: Bloodlines” revealing that Death’s plans have been thwarted before, it opens up to the fact that there have been visionaries in the past that remain unknown to the audience. This possible worldbuilding can reveal the reason why the visionaries see into the future in the first place. Some fans believe there is a force equal to Death: Life.

This new force has repeatedly and directly prevented Death’s plans for a period of time. A spinoff series to tie up loose ends will certainly breathe new life into the series that “Final: Destination: Bloodlines” has already begun to do.

The immediate impact of Ella Ryan

By COOPER WOODWARD Associate Sports Editor

Seventeen point nine points per game, 591 total points and career highs in single game points, assists and rebounds. That’s the kind of legacy former Quinnipiac guard Gal Raviv had on the women’s basketball program.

Her history-making year made her transfer to the University of Miami Hurricanes much more impactful. Raviv’s exit raised a very critical question for the 2025-26 season: Who was going to fill the void left in the Bobcat frontcourt?

Enter freshman guard Ella Ryan.

The Brentwood, Tennessee native is approaching her first collegiate season with a simple mindset: enjoy it.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “It’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Before Ryan ever stepped foot on Hamden hardwood, she had a high school career that was nothing short of historic. As a junior with the Brentwood High School Bruins, she averaged 24 points per game, shooting 35% from range and 91% from the free throw line.

Her senior campaign was even better.

In her final year as a Bruin, she averaged 25 points per game, finishing the year with a 38% three point shooting percentage. She left Brentwood with the career program records in points (2,321), rebounds (600), steals (275) and three pointers (309). Not to mention she also holds the single season point record (689) and single game point record (40). To say she left her mark on the program would be an understatement.

With a record-breaking career in the rearview mirror, several Division 1 schools came

calling. For Ryan, it was the first impression with head coach Tricia Fabbri on a recruiting visit that made Quinnipiac feel like home.

“Knowing the kind of environment I’d be stepping into here outside of the great academics, that was really a big draw,” Ryan said. “She knew that coming in, I’m obviously a freshman, I don’t know anything, kind of nervous, jitters, trying to make a good impression. So knowing that she believed in me to play, it made me feel closer to her.”

Coming to Quinnipiac gave Ryan a privi lege very few athletes get to do: play colle giate athletics with their siblings by their side. In Ella’s case, she gets to start her collegiate career with her sister, Sydney Ryan.

“It’s honestly meant the world. She has been my No. 1 supporter. My day one. Been there through thick and thin,” Ella said. “It’s so amazing to be out there with her and laugh with her and share all these experi ences that I missed out on over three years while she was at Furman…I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”

For Sydney, taking the off-court bond on the court continues to be a blessing.

“It’s just so gratifying,” Sydney said. “It’s just so amazing to watch her go run around and do all the things I’ve watched her work so hard for.”

Sydney hasn’t been the only one helping her adjust, with Ella crediting much of her early confidence to the steady mentorship of junior guard Karson Martin, helping the fresh man navigate the pace of college basketball.

“She’s been behind me from day one,” Ella said. “She really has just been on the sidelines talking me through things, slowing it down for me, taking it play by play, and just really

breaking it down into terms that I understand as someone who’s new to all of this stuff.”

Twenty games into the year, Ella has made her impact. She is currently third on the team in points, with 208 and second on the team in three pointers with 44, shooting 42% from range. She also recorded a career high in points, with 22, against the College of Charleston on Nov. 21.

It’s extremely rare to see this kind of play

faith is set in a foundation built off the court.

“I’m just a little ball of energy and so ready to laugh,” Ella said. “I love to laugh. I love being around people, I love playing guitar, I love coloring, I love a lot of random things and love to find out what I like.”

Ella’s infectious energy has taken deep roots in the program.

“I call her ‘joy,’” Fabbri said. “She brings a lot of joy on and off the court.”

Three nations, four Bobcats

Past and present Bobcats set to travel to Milano Cortina for the 2026 Winter Olympics

By CLAIRE FRANKLAND Sports Editor

Quinnipiac men’s and women’s ice hockey will be well represented in Milano Cortina for the 2026 Winter Olympics with three players and an assistant coach.

DEVON TOEWS

Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey will have one athlete representing the program in former defenseman Devon Toews ‘17, who was selected to the Team Canada roster, as Hockey Canada unveiled on Dec. 31.

The British Columbia native played for the Bobcats from 2013-16, tallying 67 points during his collegiate career. During his freshman campaign, he was drafted 108th overall by the New York Islanders.

Toews has one Stanley Cup to his name with the Colorado Avalanche from the 2022 season, and is currently in his sixth season with the club. As of publication, he has recorded 12 assists and one goal in 40 games as an alternate captain.

Toews is currently dealing with an upperbody injury that he sustained on Jan. 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He is listed as week-toweek, with no set date to return to the Avalanche’s lineup, or any discussion of his injury affecting his Olympic spot.

Additionally, Toews’ Olympic appearance was already uncertain due to his wife’s pregnancy, as SportsNet reported that “because due dates are not set in stone, Toews said that he will not leave his wife until the birth of their child.”

Team Canada’s men’s ice hockey opens Olympic play on Feb. 12 against the Czech Republic at 10:40 a.m. EST.

BRENT HILL

Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey will have three Bobcats representing the program, with the first announced being assistant coach Brent Hill, who will serve as an assitant coach for Team USA women’s ice hockey.

Hill is currently in his sixth season with the Bobcats, having previously coached for Merrimack College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

His resume includes extensive international competition experience with the USA Hockey

U18 Women’s National Team at the 2015 IIHF Women’s World Championships and Team USA during the 2025 Rivalry Series. Hill will take to the bench alongside Team USA on Feb. 5 against the Czech Republic at 10:40 a.m. EST.

JADE BARBIRATI

Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey freshman forward Jade Barbirati, who was the first Quinnipiac ice hockey athlete announced to play in the Olympics on Dec. 23, is set to take the Olympic stage with Team France.

The Savoie, France native has played 13 games for the Bobcats, tallying four goals and five assists. Prior to Quinnipiac, Barbirati competed for Team France at the IIHF World Championships, winning a gold medal in 2022 and a bronze medal in 2024.

Barbirati and Team France will take the ice on Feb. 5 against Italy at 8:40 a.m. EST.

KATI TABIN

The last Bobcat taking the trip to Milano Cortina is former women’s ice hockey defenseman and captain Kati Tabin ‘20, who will join Team Canada, per Hockey Canada’s announcement on Jan. 9.

Tabin skated for the Bobcats from 2016-20, tallying 52 points during her collegiate career, while being named to the 2020 Third Team AllECAC with a season-high 18 points.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba native was the first Bobcat ever drafted into the PWHL and is in her third season with the Montreal Victoire, recording 18 points, with two playoff appearances.

Before playing in the PWHL, Tabin played for the Connecticut Whale and Toronto Six in the Premier Hockey Federation, recording 18 points, and in the 2022-23 season led all defenseman in scoring, helping the Toronto Six capture the Isobel Cup.

Additionally, Tabin competed for Team Canada in the 2025 Rivalry Series, appearing in two games.

Tabin will play in Team Canada women’s ice hockey’s opening game against Finland at 3:10 p.m. EST.

Quinnipiac men's ice hockey falls 4-2 to UConn late in CT Ice Championship

By CLAIRE FRANKLAND Sports Editor

NEW HAVEN — In a game seeking revenge from the 2025 NCAA Regionals, Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey fell short to the UConn Huskies, 4-2 on Jan. 24.

“First, I’d like to congratulate UConn,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “I thought they played a great game. It’s a really good staff, good players and you know, they found a way to win.”

However, the game didn’t al ways look in favor of UConn. From opening puck drop, Quinnipiac came out with a dominant sense of energy, fired up by the momentum from its dominant 5-1 win the previous night.

The Bobcats outskated the Huskies while deliv ering 13 shots on UCo nn’s senior goaltender Tyler Muszelik, while only allowing the op position three shots on net. They came out with grit and determina tion, consistently being all over the Huskies, breaking up plays and generating chances of their own.

Yet, the Bobcats would get a man sent to the box first, with junior forward Mason Mar cellus being called for crosschecking. Quinnipiac’s defense would lock down, not allowing UConn to lay any shots on junior goaltender Matej Marinov, keep ing the game scoreless.

With the ice seemingly tilt ing in Quinnipiac’s favor, se nior forward Ryan Tattle would take a penalty for hooking, put

ting the Bobcats on the man advantage.

For a team tied for 11th in the nation in power play percentage, what could go wrong?

Yet, a Husky breakaway by junior forward Joey Muldowney would put UConn on the board first, despite the Bobcat man advantage.

PWHL from Page 12

ly look for the former navy and gold skaters while scouting, she knows what kind of player she will get out of this program.

“I know that there is a discipline, a commitment, a work ethic that those players embody and that allows them to play in a lot of different roles; they’re valuable and well-coached,” Marmer said.

In its 2025-26 season and home opener on Nov. 23 against the Montreal Victoire, the Fleet won 2-0. As of Jan. 20, the Fleet is at the top of the league with an 8-1-2-2 record.

MEGHAN TURNER

For Meghan Turner ‘17, stepping into the role of a general manager was definitely a learning curve, but not uncharted territory.

Having a background in operations through her International Business degree and an MBA from Quinnipiac and her experience working with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston, the administrative part of the job was a no-brainer for her.

And thanks to Marmer, the rest of it was not hard either.

“There was definitely a learning curve, but I never felt out of my depth,” Turner

said. “Just with the way that Danielle included me in a lot of the conversations and roster decisions in the past two years, I think that set me up for success pretty well too.”

In her four years as a Bobcat, Turner recorded 29 goals and 23 assists in 149 games.

“Everything has a purpose behind what she does,” Cass Turner — and no, there is no familial relation between the two of them, just pure coincidence — said. “She’s a super bright, very structured, diligent person. Her history with the military, how she sets expectations, how she builds her group, she’s gonna do a really nice job.”

All three of Meghan’s older brothers — as well as herself prior to working with Marmer — enlisted in the military. Her brothers are also the reason she ever strapped on skates in the first place.

Before Quinnipiac, she attended the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy for three years, serving as a team captain — while also playing lacrosse and cross country — earning 50 points on the ice in just one season.

On a drive home to Bedford, New Hampshire, her father suggested she stop by Quinnipiac to see what the school was about.

After watching one practice, Turner

and ability to generate plays quickly to keep the game in its favor.

However, Muszelik would stay locked down for the Huskies in the final frame, stopping all nine chances by the Bobcats to extend their lead late in the game.

“Muszelik was the best player on the ice, and he played great,” Pecknold said.

The Husky defense would further contribute to the team’s late success, only allowing Quinnipiac a handful of chances on Muszelik, while generating a clean breakout to let UConn lay 15 shots on Marinov in the third.

The Huskies would once again capitalize on a Bobcat turnover, with freshman forward Alexandre Blais winning the battle on Quinnipiac’s blueline and feeding the puck to freshman forward Carlin Dezainde to tie the game.

From there, the contest became who wanted it more. The team that is the threetime CT Ice Champions, or the team with the potential to become the latest back-toback champions?

It would take 10 minutes of back-andforth hockey, with chances flying on both ends of the ice for the puck to eventually find the back of the net.

Only it didn’t go in the Bobcats’ favor.

With 2:25 remaining, senior forward Jake Percival would sneak past the Bobcats’ defense, right as senior forward Trisitan Fraser rocketed a shot from the blueline.

With Marinov caught down on his left pad, Percival would be given the time and space to bury the puck in the Bobcats’ net, as Ingalls Rink roared with Husky fans.

Quinnipiac would look for the quick chance to tie the game late, pulling Marinov for the extra skater, yet a shot into the empty net by Muldowney would seal the victory for UConn.

Ethan Wyttenbach nominated for Hobey Baker award

By COOPER WOODWARD Associate Sports Editor

Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey freshman forward Ethan Wyttenbach was nominated for the 2026 Hobey Baker award on Jan. 21. The Hobey Baker is awarded annually to the top NCAA men’s ice hockey player.

Quinnipiac has yet to have a player win the award, with just two finalists: former goaltender Eric Hartzell ‘13 in 2013 and former forward Collin Graf ‘24 consecutively in 2023 and 2024. As of Jan. 27, Wyttenbach leads the team in points with 36, while his point total further leads all NCAA freshmen. The Roslyn, N.Y. native has amassed his 36 points on 14 goals and 22 assists, a category he further leads the

was hooked.

“It was intense, Cass (then associate head coach) was running the drill and it just looked good, like something I wanted to be a part of,” Turner said. “When Cass took over, she’s such an amazing leader and runs an amazing program. Plus academically, I really liked the 3+1 program.”

Post graduation, Turner chose to pursue the professioanl route, playing in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League for a year before joining the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, when Marmer asked her to come work with her.

When the league’s expansion was announced, Marmer was asked whether there was anyone she would recommend for the GM positions, Turner was not only the obvious choice, but the only choice, as she told the Boston Globe.

Being in charge of a team that is entering an already established franchise, even if it’s as young as the PWHL, is nerve-wracking.

According to Turner, though, “Seattle as a fan base has been amazing so far.”

“It doesn’t feel like we’re starting from scratch; they’ve been itching to get a team,” Turner said.

It’s also helpful that her players already

“He finishes plays,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “There’s a lot of players at our level that create a lot of offense, create a lot of scoring chances. And then he’s got that next gear and has that ability to finish those just next level, not scoring, but the

have league experience, and Turner can’t wait to arm them with the tools they need for a successful inaugural season.

“These players, some of them are coming off of really outstanding years, some of them are coming off of years where they wish they did more, and it gives everyone a chance to succeed,” Turner said. “It’s gonna be a good year.”

Part of Seattle’s squad are former Bobcats forward Lexie Adzija ‘23 and goaltender Corinne Schroeder ‘22, and while that was not the reason she wanted them on her team, Turner said she certainly knows what she’s getting when signing a former Bobcat.

“There’s less unknowns, right?” Turner said. “Because I know how the program operates and how good it is. You know you’re getting a good person and you know you’re getting someone who will work their tail off.” Before the season, Turner was most excited to see the team play and excited to compete. The Torrent did just that in their home opener against the newly established Vancouver Goldeneyes, falling 4-3 in overtime. Schroeder started the game, recording 27 saves.

As of Jan. 20, the Torrent is ranked second to last in the league with a 3-1-2-5 record.

Former Bobcats at the helm of PWHL Boston and Seattle

By ALEXANDRA MARTINAKOVA Editor-in-Chief

As kids, former Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey forwards Danielle Marmer ‘17 and Meghan Turner ‘17 often found themselves on opposite sides of the ice. From 2013-2017, they shared the locker room in Hamden.

Now, they’re both in charge of two PWHL teams on opposite sides of the country, serving as the general manager of the Boston Fleet and the Seattle Torrent, respectively.

Marmer has been the general manager of the Boston Fleet since its inaugural season, while Turner served alongside Marmer — or as she affectionately calls her, Marms — as her assistant general manager for the last two seasons. Following the PWHL’s first expansion this season, adding two teams to the league, Turner is in charge of the newly established Seattle Torrent.

“She’s an amazing leader,” Turner said. “She really focuses on how the people in her organization and around her feel and she’s so intentional about making sure that people are set up for success in their roles. It was a joy to work with her.”

Marmer only echoes that sentiment about Turner.

“I couldn’t be more excited for her,” Marmer said. “She’s going to do a phenomenal job. She’s incredibly bright, she’s organized, she’s a great leader. She’s culture-driven. She’s going to have something really special in Seattle.”

Quinnipiac is the only university in the nation with two PWHL General Managers from the same school and joins the short list of schools that produced more than one general manager across the NHL and PWHL.

The two were part of the program’s first and only ECAC Tournament Championship in 21 years in 2016.

“They were close, that whole class was close,” Quinnipiac’s women’s ice hockey head coach Cass Turner, who was in her first season as a head coach during that win, said. “We had a group of them that we called ‘the posse,’ and they had a lot of fun. They certainly put our team on a different level in terms of what we expect from our success; they really set the tone for higher expectations for the years following them.”

General managers are executives responsible for the team’s off-ice operations,

including drafting, trading, and scouting players, as well as managing player contracts and staff. Across the NHL and PWHL, there are only six female general managers, all of whom operate in the PWHL.

DANIELLE MARMER

Danielle Marmer ‘17 was making history long before she became a general manager of the Boston Fleet. In July 2022, she became the first woman to hold an on-ice coaching position with the Boston Bruins, serving as their player development and scouting assistant in the organization’s almost century-long history.

Marmer — who worked with the team’s Diversity and Inclusion Scouting Mentorship Program a year prior to being hired — saw it as an opportunity to learn despite the pressure she felt being the first female in such a role.

“To learn from them and how they see the game and how scouts view the game vs management vs coaches, it was a really incredible experience,” Marmer said. “I was excited to get to be a part of that and to continue to move hockey and women’s hockey in a positive direction.”

Marmer quickly realized how different this position was from her previous role as director of player development and operations. While she was looking for players with healthy habits, who played the game the right way with good sticks, maturity and experience, other members of the scouting team were looking for raw, natural talent.

“They would kind of laugh at me, they’re like, ‘You need to take your coaching hat off,’” Marmer said. “Some of those details and attributes that you’re excited about, those players only have because it’s the only way they get their ice time, which was kind of who I was as a player.”

Being scouted by both Division I and Division III teams before her collegiate career, Marmer didn’t know how far her hockey career could take her. She started skating when she was about two years old, watching her sister’s figure skating lessons and “screaming and crying, wanting to get on the ice.”

“As I got a little bit older, my dad made a comment that if I was going to be at the rink as much as I was, he wanted me to have

a stick in my hands,” Marmer laughed.

Growing up in the small town of Dorset, Vermont, Marmer knew that if she wanted to continue playing hockey, she needed to set her sights somewhere else. Hence, she started attending the Loomis Chaffee boarding school in Connecticut, where she caught Quinnipiac’s eye.

Marmer knew Division I was her ceiling and “hated the idea of there being an entire level of hockey being played above what I was playing.”

She suited up for 132 games during her career at Quinnipiac, recording two goals and 13 assists.

“It took me a while to figure it out and I was spinning my wheels for the first part of it,” Marmer said. “Going into my senior year, I felt like I was just getting a grasp of it and all of a sudden it was coming to an end.”

Believing that you can’t be really good at something after only a year, Marmer then faced a different decision than most of her teammates, who went the professional route. College hockey was always just a means to an end, something to get a scholarship for or get an experience that would enhance her resume.

But when the time came to put down a deposit for law school, she hesitated.

“I remember having that pivotal moment of ‘Is this really it?’” Marmer said. “‘Am I really about to just go into the real world?’ And that didn’t sit well with me.”

Turner then planted the seed of pursuing a career in coaching into Marmer’s head, connecting her with Connecticut College women’s ice hockey head coach Kristen Steele. This “coaching whisperer,” gave Marmer her first post-grad job as the assistant coach for the Division III squad.

Marmer’s experience as a college athlete who had to earn ice time gave her a unique outlook as a coach, being able to connect with players from the starting lineup to healthy scratches.

After two years in that role, Marmer wanted to return to Division I hockey, when Turner stepped in again and offered her a position on the Bobcats’ staff.

Marmer served as Quinnipiac’s director of player development and operations for three years, completing her Master’s of

Strategic Communications simultaneously.

“I remember the first time I went up to the press box to set up the camera, being blown away by how many people were up there,” Marmer recalled. “As a player, you sort of take that for granted. It was really neat to see how Cass operates and how she works with her staff; that insight was really pivotal for the next steps for me.”

Turner recalls their time working together with a smile on her face.

“We laughed a lot, had a lot of fun,” Turner said. “I think for her, there were so many moments where she was like, ‘I didn’t know you were like this.’ She pushed me to get better and I hope that I did the same for her.”

When the time came for Marmer to move forward in her career with the Bruins and then later the Fleet, Turner knew Marmer had what it took, even if she didn’t see it herself yet.

“She was a little bit outside of her comfort zone, and now I think she has that confidence,” Turner said. “She may not know how to do it yet, but she’s gonna find a path and she’s gonna make sure she talks to the right people and figures out the best approach. She’s really bright and we’re very happy and excited for her and where she is now.”

When looking back at her first year in her position with the Fleet, Marmer said that “sometimes I feel like I blacked it out.”

In the inaugural 2023 PWHL Draft, Boston had the No. 3 pick and, in 15 rounds, selected two former Bobcats, forwards Shiann Darkangelo ‘15 and Taylor Girard ‘21.

“I went back to my room and laid on my bed and I remember just staring at the ceiling like, ‘I can’t believe we just did that,’” Marmer said. “It was one of the coolest feelings and probably still is one of the coolest moments of my career.”

The Fleet was runner-up to the Minnesota Frost for the Walter Cup in the league’s first season.

In the 2025-26 preseason, the Fleet had the most former Quinnipiac players in its training camp, including forwards Kelly Babstock ‘14, Julia Nearis ‘24, Olivia Mobley, Shay Maloney ‘23 and defender Zoe Boyd ‘23. While Marmer doesn’t specifical -