HAMDEN – Quinnipiac men’s hockey ended 2023 the same way it started the year: in the win column. In their first game of 2023, the Bobcats took down Dartmouth, and tonight in their final game of 2023, they took down Holy Cross by a score of 5-2.
The Bobcats had four players having two points in the contest, junior forward Sam Lipkin, sophomore forward Collin Graf and freshman forwards Andon Cerbone and Mason Marcellus. Defensively the Bobcats held the Crusaders to 18 shots on goal with graduate student Vinny Duplessis making 16 saves.
Three former Bobcats were featured on the Crusader team. Senior forward Tyler Ghirardosi (transferred after the 2020-2021 season), junior forward Liam McLinskey and head coach Bill Riga (left after the 2021-2022 season) all made their return to Hamden. Riga was on the coaching staff for 13 years at Quinnipiac, the last seven were spent as the Bobcats’ associate head coach.
“I thought coach Riga and his staff did a phenomenal job getting ready, confused us with a few things today,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We didn’t handle certain things as well as we should have. But he’s done a great job in year three, and they’re only going to get better.”
Playing against a former assistant of Pecknold can offer some difficulties to play against.
“It’s something coach harped on saying they would have the same system as us and run the same faceoff plays and everything as us so it’s kind of difficult,” Marcellus said.
McLinskey was the only former Bobcat to appear on the score sheet, factoring on both of the Crusaders’ goals. Ghirardosi, while not obtaining a point, performed well on the defensive side, having three blocked shots.
Freshman forward Andon Cerbone started the scoring, firing a pass from Marcellus past senior goaltender Jason Grande. Grande was taken out of the game following the goal after sustaining a non-contact injury minutes before Cerbone’s goal. Junior goaltender Thomas Gale replaced Grande and tallied 21 saves on the night.
In his first game back from injury since Nov. 3, senior forward Travis Treloar missed two high-scoring opportunities to try to double the Bobcats’ lead minutes after the Cerbone goal. Having him back is a step forward helping the team in the second half, Pecknold said.
“(Treloar)’s a really good hockey player,” Pecknold said. “He’s going to get his legs back under him. He’s going to be really good for us in the second half of the season.”
Quinnipiac put immense pressure on Holy Cross in the first period, firing 14 shots on net while the Crusaders only mustered three. Unfortunately for Quinnipiac, one of those three found twine. Senior defenseman Jake Higgins finished a two-on-one chance to tie the game at 1-1 going into the first intermission.
Just like the first period the Bobcats opened the scoring in the second. A saucer pass from freshman forward Matthew McGroarty to sophomore defender Charles-Alexis Legault put Quinnipiac back in the lead 2-1.
After scoring Legault committed a tripping penalty which allowed McLinskey to even the game back at 2-2 scoring his first goal at the M&T Bank Arena.
The Marcellus and Cerbone connection once again proved troublesome for the Crusaders when in the third period, Marcellus found Cerbone on the backdoor to score the game-winning goal.
“Coming in, I knew I was going to play with some good guys, but I was lucky to play with (Cerbone) because he’s an exceptional player,” Marcellus said. “So, it’s been easy for me. (Cerbone) talks to me on the ice and talks to me on the bench so we have a really good friendship.”
The Bobcats tacked on two more goals with junior forward Collin Graf scoring on the power play and sophomore forward Sam Lipkin finding the empty net in the final two minutes.
Quinnipiac will start 2024 with another non-conference fight, facing off against Northeastern on Jan. 6. The Bobcats met the Huskies in exhibition action on Oct. 9, falling 3-2 in the shootout.
“I think if we just kind of play our way and limit the turnovers so if we play with speed, put it in and work them down low I think they are one of the best teams in the country so we should be able to show out against them,” Marcellus said.
