Weekend Recap and Look Ahead

By: Mark Pierson

On the road again…

Where we were: Brown/Yale February 1/2, 2013

After the second of two 10-day laqoffs sandwiched around a mid-week win over UConn, the Bobcats went on the road to take on the Brown Bears at Meehan Auditorium in Providence, RI. 

In what ended up being a 1-1 tie, Quinnipiac battled a tenacious Brown team that showed a tremendous amount of heart. Riddled with illness and injuries during January, the Bears came out and skated with the Bobcats for 60… er… make that 65 minutes. Anchored by the stellar play of goaltender Anthony Borelli who made 38 saves, Brown gave Quinnipiac all they could handle. 

The Q definitely left a point on the ice and that may have cost them their shot at a #1 ranking in the polls this week.

The following night, the Bobcats boarded the bus for the shortest road trip in the ECAC: 7.4 miles down Whitney Avenue to Ingalls Rink, home of the Yale Bulldogs. In a matchup of the #2 and #8 teams in the polls (#1 and #5 in the PairWise), this was installment one of the most anticipated game on Q’s schedule (the second installment will occur on February 22). The Whitney War was receiving numerous amounts of press both locally and arounf the Division I landscape.

The rink was filled to capacity with a very strong showing by the blue and gold faithful. Even the governor, Dannel Malloy, was in the house as were some prominent Yale alumni/sports figures with names like Mike Richter, Ron Darling, and Rich Diana. The energy in the building was palpable.

The puck dropped and a mere 6:45 into the first, the Bulldogs were dominating with a 2-0 lead after a pair of power play goals. Hartzell looked shaky, and the rest of the team seemed out of sorts. Then Rand Pecknold calls a time-out and addresses the troops. Whatever he said seemed to have a positive effect as they started skating smarter and playing their game.

Yale was whistled for a penalty just past the 10-minute mark and Q went on their first power play. A mere 39 seconds later, the Bulldogs forgot how to count and took a too many players penalty giving the Bobcats an abbreviated 5-on-3 opportunity. Mike Dalhuisen took a cross ice pass from Danny Federico and one-timed it past netminder Maricic to pull the Q within one. Heading into the final 2 minutes of the period, Cory Hibbeler walked down the right side and put another one past Maricic to tie the game. The Q faithful in attendance were rejuvenated as were the fella’s on the ice. Going into the 1st intermission tied was something most of us never expected when Rand burned his time-out.

Both teams came out to start the 2nd and Quinnipiac just took over. They were able to counter Yale’s forecheck and established their own as well. They would go on to score a pair of power play goals by Matt Peca and Ben Arnt, taking a 4-2 lead, and all of the momentum, into the 3rd.

The Eli’s came out in the final period in what appeared to be desperation mode trying to mount a comeback, and play got a bit chippy at times. The final dagger came when Kellen Jones poked at the puck being skated up by Yale’s Jimmy Fallen, chipped it over Fallen’s fallen body, and wristed one past backup goaltender Connor Wilson. 

With a comfortable 5-2 lead and just over 10 minutes to play, the Bobcats were in control. Just in case anyone on Yale’s bench thought they could climb back into the game. Zach Davies would wrist one from the top of the circle that was initially stopped and then backhanded the rebound past Wilson giving Quinnipiac a commanding 6-2 lead with 2:31 remaining in the game. 

Game over. Lights out. The Bobcats took care of the Bulldogs with a come-from-behind  thorough thumping. The Whitney War, Battle 1 belonged to Quinnipiac.

Unfortunately, even though Minnesota was idle on the weekend, the 3-point weekend wasn’t enough to sway the pollsters as Quinnipiac remained a #2. No matter, the more important number is the PairWise, and they’re still comfortably at #1 in that ranking.

Where we’re going: Cornel/Colgate February 8/9, 2013

This coming weekend the team travels to central New York to face the Cornell Big Red at Lynah Rink and the Colgate Raiders at Starr Rink.

Cornell, in the midst of a 5-game winless streak and almost at the bottom of the ECAC standings, will be hungry for sure. Lynah has been described as one of the most hostile rinks to play in, but Quinnipiac has won there before and knows how to get it done. 

Colgate, tied for 6th in the ECAC, has been hot and cold thus far this season. Currently, their temperature gauge is rising so this should be a tough game for the Q. Again, all the Bobcats need to do is stay focused and play their game.

What they cannot do this weekend is get caught up in the media hype regarding polls and rankings. The team leadership needs to keep everyone focused on the bigger picture. 

One shift, one period, one game. Go Q!