HAMDEN — Quinnipiac men’s hockey hasn’t exactly had a stellar season — and it seems like Northeastern is at the forefront of that measuring stick.
Circle back to its season-opening exhibition loss to the Huskies on Oct. 6, 2024. The stakes were entirely different, but the outcome was eerily similar to that of Saturday’s stunning 5-1 loss against the very same team.
“We just struggled,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Give (Northeastern) credit, they found a way to be really good on the road, and kind of sucked us in a little bit.”
The Bobcats held one of the longest winning streaks in college hockey as of earlier in the week, boasting a 7-1-1 record and jumping to the ECAC’s No. 1 slot.
But in unusual fashion as of late, a below .500 Northeastern proved yet again to be one of the toughest offenses Quinnipiac has faced all year, handing it one of its worst home losses in the last few seasons.
Against an aggressively charged team like Northeastern, strength behind the blue line is all the more important.
The Bobcats held the Huskies to a scoreless first period that bled into the halfway point of the middle frame, running circles around their defense with countless opportunities to capitalize.
More notably, Quinnipiac’s penalty kill prevailed despite several shorthanded attempts, as it now stands 22-23 against opponents’ man advantage since Nov. 15.
In the unfortunate aftermath of its second kill of the night, a comfortable Quinnipiac failed to defend senior center Ryan McGuire out of the box, who received and executed a pass through the neutral zone from Huskies junior defenseman Jackson Dorrington to give Northeastern a 1-0 lead.
“I think that goal changed the whole game, for sure,” Pecknold said. “But even in the first period, we gave up too many partial breakaways, 2v1s. We did the whole game. We gotta defend better.”
The Bobcats barely had time to regroup before sophomore forward Dylan Hryckowian doubled the lead on a one-timer three minutes later.
Even amidst the constant chaos in front of Northeastern sophomore netminder Cameron Whitehead, Quinnipiac couldn’t buy a single goal until there were 90 seconds left in regulation. A red-hot freshman forward Chris Pelosi tapped in a power play goal to avoid a shutout.
One aspect of this team that has been consistent so far is offense. It’s the driving force for Quinnipiac’s recent success, helping it narrowly escape with one or two goal wins.
Without that factor on Saturday, the Bobcats were forced to scramble for momentum that never came — a feat that became crystal clear after Hryckowian capped off a commanding Northeastern performance with a hat trick, the final goal coming in the waning minutes of the third.
Quinnipiac closes out its non-conference slate at home Jan. 6 against Stonehill for the first-ever meeting between the programs. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
“We’ll reload,” Pecknold said. “This is a good group, got good leaders. We’ll be ready to go by Monday.”
