No. 1 Quinnipiac dominates Brown, finishes regular season unbeaten at home with 5-2 victory

Cameron Levasseur

Quinnipiac men’s hockey finished the regular season unbeaten at home for the first time in program history with a victory over Brown Saturday.

Cameron Levasseur, Sports Editor
February 18, 2023

HAMDEN, Conn. – Building off of the momentum from a Heroes Hat victory over Yale Friday night, No. 1 Quinnipiac men’s hockey used a second-period surge to cruise to a 5-2 win over Brown on senior night Saturday. 

“Our guys came out and they started the game really well,” Bobcats’ assistant coach Mike Corbett said. “It’s nice because it’s senior night and it’s one of those things where it shows how close our guys are, because they want to play for the seniors.”

Less than four minutes into the contest, graduate student defenseman Zach Metsa sent a fluttering shot towards the Bears’ net that somehow found its way past freshman goaltender Jacob Zacharewicz. The goal was Metsa’s sixth of the season in the final regular season home game of his collegiate career. 

When Quinnipiac gets one goal, it tends to bury teams. But Brown wasn’t going away easily. Bears sophomore forward Noah Wakeford broke into the offensive zone and pivoted backwards, feeding senior defenseman James Crossman just above the hash marks. Crossman promptly wasted no time rifling a shot past Bobcats’ sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets. 

Brown continued its offensive surge in the minutes that followed, nearly taking the lead on a rebound senior forward Nathan Plessis couldn’t put home. 

On the other end of the ice, the Bobcats created a net-front opportunity of their own, and unlike their opponents, they converted. Graduate student forward Ethan de Jong wheeled the puck around the Bears net before feeding it to freshman forward Sam Lipkin waiting at the far post for a tap-in that squeaked through the pads of Zacharewicz. 

While Quinnipiac’s power play hasn’t been clicking as of late, the Bobcats still found a way to get it done on special teams early in the second period. On the penalty kill after a hooking call against senior defenseman CJ McGee, senior forward Skyler Brind’Amour dropped the puck to de Jong, who picked the top left corner with ease for the team’s first shorthanded goal of the season. 

Doubling down on special teams play, Brind’Amour got himself on the board with a double deflection on the power play off a shot from sophomore forward Collin Graf to make the Bobcats’ lead three. 

Lipkin added his fourth of the weekend as the period drew to a close as Quinnipiac headed into the third with a dominating 5-1 lead after outshooting Brown 11-0 in the frame. 

Pecknold gave the nod to freshman netminder Chase Clark to start the third period, but it didn’t take long for Clark to give up a goal. 

On the penalty kill less than a minute in, Crossman found twine again for the Bears. The Denver native ripped a one-timer home from above the right dot for his team-leading ninth goal of the season. 

The rest of the game went by rather uneventfully for both sides. Quinnipiac continued to pepper the opposing net with shots, but none broke through and the game ended with a 5-2 final. 

After clinching the Cleary Cup as ECAC Hockey regular season champions with Cornell’s loss to Clarkson Friday night, the Bobcats lifted the trophy following Saturday’s win over Brown. It’s the fourth of the six trophies the team outlined at the beginning of the season, putting them one step closer to that elusive first national championship. 

“We’re four-for-four so far, but the next two are going to be the hardest,” sophomore forward Jacob Quillan said. “You want to play great in the championship games to follow up on the next trophy.”

With the victory, Quinnipiac completes an unbeaten regular season at home (13-0-1) for the first time in program history. The Bobcats close out the regular season in the Capital Region next weekend with battles at Union and RPI.