After a heartbreaking loss against Colgate the previous night, the Bobcats came out ready for revenge against #17 Cornell Saturday night. The Bobcats were stuck in a dogfight all game long with the Cornell Big Red, resulting in a 0-0 tie. With the tie, the Bobcats fell to 2-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in ECAC play, while Cornell improved to 1-0-1 overall and in ECAC action.

Quinnipiac came out with great intensity Saturday night against the Big Red. In the first period, they battled right alongside the 17th ranked team in the country, but their Achilles Heel was missed opportunities and penalties. On multiple occasions, the Bobcats had power play opportunities but failed to capitalize.
Quinnipiac hurt themselves with three penalties in the first period. One strong point of the first period was that Cornell had very few chances to score, taking only five shots on goal in this period. This was because of the solid play of the Quinnipiac defensemen and their freshman goalie, Nick Pisellini.

The second period began with a Quinnipiac power play, but once again they failed to capitalize on Cornell’s mistakes. It was in the second period that things began to get heated. As a result, Quinnipiac committed four penalties. If not for the Bobcats solid defense, these penalties could have been costly mistakes.

Midway through the second period, a Quinnipiac slashing penalty gave Cornell a chance for a penalty shot. The freshman goaltender was cool as a cucumber as Cornell’s Evan Barlow took a slap shot from the right face-off circle. Pisellini made a sprawling save, eliminating Cornell’s best opportunity. After his save, the crowd erupted and began chanting “He’s a freshman!” Pisellini’s save was without a doubt the highlight of this low- scoring affair.

In the third period, Quinnipiac kept fighting against the big and physical Big Red. There were a series of power plays which provided opportunities for either team, but neither could capitalize.
“Our huge bright part of this weekend was our penalty kills” Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold added. Once again, the Bobcats defensemen and goaltending prevailed. At the end of regulation the scoreboard was notched at 0-0.

The battle continued into overtime, where each team continued to fight for their chance at a goal. Quinnipiac gave Cornell two more chances with two penalties which nearly lost the game. The Bobcats got lucky and came out with a hard-fought tie Saturday night.

“I thought our intensity was better, I thought we did a lot of little things well and we made some good adjustments on our penalty kills,” Coach Pecknold stated after the game.

“I think honestly, we out played them five on five.and our penalty kills were unbelievable tonight,” senior forward David Marshall stated.

Freshman Nick Pisellini recorded his first shutout Saturday night, improving his record to 2-1-1 as a starter. In addition, Saturday night’s game was the first scoreless tie in Quinnipiac school history.

QU manages 0-0 tie against Cornell