HAMDEN – Sometimes everything just goes your way. That was the case for Quinnipiac men’s hockey on Friday, as the Bobcats scored six goals in the first period in a 9-2 route over Princeton.
The party got started in Hamden just 14 seconds into the game. Junior forward Christophe Fillion cut loose, finding himself wide open in the middle of the offensive zone before taking his shot top shelf to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
Junior forward Jacob Quillan kept the scoring going 40 seconds later, angling a puck off his skate into the back of the net. The play was reviewed by officials for a potential kick, but ultimately stood as a good goal.
“I definitely didn’t kick it,” Quillan said. “It’s pretty hard to kick it from the outside edge, so I was just re-directing it.”
Quillan added another point to his tally minutes later, assisting on a goal from senior defender Cooper Moore. With the deficit at three, Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty had seen enough of freshman goaltender Arthur Smith, yanking the Connecticut native in favor of freshman goaltender Conor Callaghan.
The replacement wasn’t much better, as the Bobcats scored on Callaghan just three minutes into his time in net. This time, it was sophomore forward Victor Czerneckianair who rebounded a loose puck in front to make it 4-0.
The Bobcats added another before Princeton finally got on the board with just over six minutes to play in the frame. Junior forward Collin Graf capped off the record-breaking period with a goal, his third point in a seven minute span, pushing the lead to 6-1.
The six-goal period was the most goals Quinnipiac had scored in a period since 2016.
“We couldn’t do anything wrong in the first period,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Everything we put on net went in. Those happen once in a blue moon, so we’ll take it.”
Following the dominant period, the Bobcats’ play plateaued in the second.
The Tigers were able to score the only goal of the period with the Bobcats in cruise control. Senior forward Adam Robbins found the net for the Tigers, cleaning up a rebound in front on the power play to cut the deficit to four.
Quinnipiac wasn’t satisfied with just a four-goal advantage, so the hosts put pedal to metal in the final frame.
Three separate Bobcats scored in the third, as the Bobcats closed out the Tigers for a 9-2 victory.
Both teams will now head to New Jersey, where the Tigers will host Quinnipiac on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
