HAMDEN — Quinnipiac men’s hockey didn’t look too strong after dropping back-to-back away matchups between Colgate and Cornell in January 2023.
But things got better when the Bobcats won Connecticut Ice. And after slaughtering Harvard 6-0 last February, everything went right.
The same pattern is playing out in 2024. Quinnipiac defeated Harvard 2-1 on Friday following a lackluster trip to Ithaca Jan. 19-20 and then clinching CT Ice Jan. 27.
“I think we got a team to go all the way again,” junior forward Cristophe Tellier said. “We believe in this group and hopefully we do it again.”
After 12 minutes of back-and-forth hockey in the first frame — and a shooting frenzy that lasted nearly two minutes from Quinnipiac’s offense — junior defender Davis Pennington broke through the glass and handed the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
Junior forward Collin Graf kept the puck in the offensive zone, tipping it to senior forward Travis Treloar.
Treloar sent the puck straight to Pennington’s skates in front of the goal line, where the Michigan native launched a shot past Harvard sophomore goaltender Aku Koskenvuo.
“I wasn’t happy with my last weekend,” Pennington said. “I wanted to come into this game with really good detail and I think I did. It feels good.”
Midway through the CT Ice championship, Pecknold broke up Quinnipiac’s top line of Graf, junior forward Sam Lipkin and sophomore forward Jacob Quillan.
In a separate line from Graf, Quillan and Lipkin earned the assist on a top-shelf goal from Tellier halfway through the second period, heading into the locker room up 2-0.
“Me, (Quillan) work hard on the forecheck, (Lipkin’s) a great goal scorer (and) playmaker so it’s good to shake it up,” Tellier said. “Those guys played really well.”
Combined with Graf’s early assist in the first, the trio racked up three points.
“(Quillan, Lipkin, Graf) they’re so good together,” Pecknold said. “They’re so dominant so at some point we will put them back together.”
The Bobcats spent the majority of the third period vying for another goal. Harvard’s defense wasn’t relentless, Quinnipiac’s offense just couldn’t connect.
Freshman forward Mason Marcellus failed to capitalize on a breakaway pass from Tellier, who also laid down a perfect puck to Lipkin in front of an empty net seconds later.
“I thought (Koskenvuo) was really good,” Pecknold said. “He kept it at 2-0, it should’ve been three or four or five.”
Then again, good teams find ways to tough games out. And that’s exactly what Quinnipiac did.
“We found a way,” Pecknold said. “We grind out wins.”
Defensively, Quinnipiac was sound. With four minutes remaining in regulation, Harvard pulled Koskenvuo to give the Crimson a 6-on-5 advantage over the Bobcats.
Sophomore forward Marek Hejduk sliced the Bobcats’ lead in half, ending senior goaltender Vinny Duplessis’ 56-minute shutout.
“We want to just be perfect, you know?” Pennington said. “Sometimes obviously you’re not (going to).”
Aiming for the equalizer, the Crimson emptied their net for the remainder of the period. Quinnipiac maintained a 2-1 lead to the buzzer, but it had several opportunities with an empty net.
“Unfortunately we kind of hung (Duplessis) out to dry,” Pecknold said. “We missed a couple (of) empty nets, the game would’ve been over earlier but you know, that’s life.”
Quinnipiac has another evening showdown in Hamden Saturday against Dartmouth. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
“Dartmouth gets fired up to play us,” Pecknold said. “They’re going to be good tomorrow night.”
