HAMILTON, N.Y. — Three hundred and eight days ago and 177 miles north, Quinnipiac men’s hockey struggled in a 2-1 double-overtime decision against Colgate in the ECAC Hockey semifinals in Lake Placid. Back in New York to face the Raiders Friday, the score was the same, only this time Colgate knocked off the defending national champions in regulation.
“I didn’t think we did a good job of preparing for the game,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We had some struggles early, some of our players, and they didn’t do a good job of resetting and reloading.”
Raiders junior defenseman Reid Irwin sunk the dagger early in the third period as the Bobcats reeled from a five-minute major assessed to sophomore defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault.
Legault received a game misconduct for a hit to the head of freshman forward Dom Foglia at Quinnipiac’s bench. There was no call on the ice, but a successful challenge by Colgate sent him to the locker room.
“It’s been an Achilles’ heel all year, we’ve taken bad penalties all season long, which is not indicative of our culture and what we normally do,” Pecknold said.
The Bobcats were the least penalized team in the country last season averaging just 6.8 penalty minutes a game. This year, that number is up to 9.8, putting them 25th in the nation.
Junior forward Alex DiPaolo opened the scoring for the Raiders midway through the second period. An awkward line change on a delayed offsides handed Colgate an odd-man rush that left Dipaolo open to put home a rebound off a shot from Irwin.
Five minutes later, Quinnipiac had its answer. Sophomore forward Alex Power connected through traffic for the second goal of his career, sending the game into the second intermission tied at one.
Other than Power’s tally — on which Colgate head coach Mike Harder vehemently wanted reviewed for a high stick — the Bobcats couldn’t solve Raiders senior netminder Carter Gylander.
The Albertan struggled in a 7-4 drubbing by the Bobcats in November, giving up all seven goals on 38 shots. But he was near perfect in this meeting with Quinnipiac, stopping 35 of 36 en route to victory.
Coming off back-to-back overtime losses to LIU last weekend, Colgate — now sixth in the ECAC — entered the game with an urgency to right the ship as it looks up in the conference standings with the postseason looming.
“The worst thing that could happen to us is they’re coming off a bad weekend,” Pecknold said. “But it is what it is. I knew Colgate was going to be good tonight, we need to be better.”
The loss was only Quinnipiac’s second in regulation this season, the other a 3-2 collapse against Boston University on Nov. 22. It’s the Bobcats’ first regular season in-conference loss since this road trip last season, where they were swept by Colgate and Cornell, ending hope of an undefeated ECAC campaign.
Quinnipiac is back in the saddle Saturday at No. 16 Cornell looking to snap a three-game losing streak in Ithaca dating back to 2019. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
