Two summers ago, sophomore forwards Mason Marcellus and Andon Cerbone picked up sophomore goaltender Matej Marinov from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to bring him to summer training in Hamden.
But it wasn’t Marcellus’s first time meeting Marinov, and it wasn’t Marinov’s first time in the U.S.
Before Quinnipiac, the Nitra, Slovakia native skated for the USHL’s Fargo Force for two seasons, where he initially met Marcellus.
“I knew him from prior years, I played against him probably 15 different times,” Marcellus said. “So it was kind of easy because you have a lot to talk about.”
While in North Dakota, Marinov combined 57 regular and postseason games between the pipes with a .905 save percentage. He was also selected for the U20 Slovakian World Juniors team in the 2022-23 season.
But things were different when Marinov suited up for Quinnipiac in his rookie outing. The reigning national champions picked up senior Boston University transfer Vinny Duplessis, the intended and eventual starter.
Some might assume that an international student-athlete would struggle with acclimating to a new country, or that they would automatically latch on to other international teammates to find common ground.
But there wasn’t much common ground for last season’s European athletes to find — forward Iivari Räsänen ‘24 of Finland mainly spoke Finnish, while Quebec defenseman Charles Alexis-Legault was predominantly French-speaking.
“I grew up in France, and the French from France is different from the French (in Canada),” Marinov said. “As a European player, sometimes (it’s) a little easier for us to understand each other, which helps a bit.”
So no, it wasn’t entirely a walk in the park interacting with teammates, but it also wasn’t overly challenging. After all, he’s approximately 4,400 miles from home.
“We didn’t really have to do a whole lot with Matej,” Marcellus said. “He’s pretty independent and kind of figured it out on his own. We’ve talked about differences in cultures, but I feel like he’s pretty aware of surroundings, and then just kind of knows what’s going on and adapted.”
Last season, Marinov recorded 11 games and 10 starts, including a shutout against AIC on Oct. 14, 2023.
“I played goal(ie) my whole life, I knew what my position was coming here,” Marinov said. “So I was ready for it.”
Heading into the 2024-25 campaign, it looked like Marinov was slated to be Quinnipiac’s next starting goalie. But enter freshman Dylan Silverstein, and that starting slot was suddenly a question mark.
Marinov is 2-1 on the season with a .871 save percentage, already tallying one-fifth of his minutes from his freshman year. At first, it seemed like head coach Rand Pecknold was rotating goaltenders as he often does during weekend series.
In four games — and consecutive starts against New Hampshire from Oct. 25-26 — Silverstein posted a .940 save percentage.
It hasn’t been a perfect month for either netminder, but Marinov doesn’t think that way.
“I try to focus just on the present moment,” Marinov said. “Just go step by step. Like, let’s say if we lose, or if I play a bad game, just try to forget it and make sure I’m ready for the next one. It wasn’t the best start, but I know we’ll do better.”
That ‘we’ extends further than the team on the ice. Marinov receives help from several members of Quinnipiac hockey’s staff, including clinical sports psychologist Devin Markle, strength and conditioning coach Brijesh Patel and goaltending coach Justin Eddy.
“The coaches and everyone knows how to take care of us and if we need help, they always want to help us,” Marinov said. “Everyone I know here helped me a lot to make it easier for me (to be) here.”
That includes getting help outside of the sport as well. From time to time, Marinov borrows his roommate’s car.
“Cars are different (in Europe),” Marcellus said. “They have smaller roads, so he’s like, ‘It’s much easier to drive here with the roads and everything.’”
Navigating American roads is one thing, but what about attending U.S. schools? Playing hockey for a nationally ranked Division I NCAA program in the States?
“You also have to remember, the difference from juniors (to) now is that you have to go to university as well in your second language,” junior forward Alex Power and one of Marinov’s roommates said. “I can only imagine, (it’s) very tough.”
Marinov isn’t afraid to admit he’s faced adversities as the only European on Quinnipiac’s roster. But he also came to America three years ago and couldn’t speak a lick of English. Now, it’s his third language.
“It was Christmas when I first came here, playing (for) Fargo in the USHL,” Marinov said. “At the time, I didn’t speak English or anything so (it) was a little harder.
“It’s just a huge change compared to back home, like, the mentality, the people here and everything, which make it a little bit harder to adapt at first,” Marinov said. “Once I got used to it, it was much easier to come back for the next season.”
