HAMDEN — Quinnipiac men’s hockey is Lake Placid, New York, bound once again, narrowly completing the two-game sweep against Brown with a 4-0 shutout Saturday in the ECAC Quarterfinals.
And really, that can only mean one thing: postseason beards.
“I’m going to go with (junior forward) Victor (Czerneckianair),” graduate student defenseman Cooper Moore said regarding the best beard on the team Friday after winning Game 1.
Moore himself is settling for a goatee, he unfortunately “can’t grow anything that far up.”
There’s much more to Saturday’s matinee than who has the best facial hair — it’s definitely not sophomore goaltender Dylan Silverstein according to Moore — and it started almost immediately.
Brown came out with fresh legs and a fierceness that was certainly missing Friday — outshooting Quinnipiac 11-4 in the opening 20 minutes.
“That first period, we weren’t too thrilled,” assistant head coach Joe Dumais said. “We just weren’t ready to go and we didn’t realize how much they were gonna come and push.”
The Bobcats harp on going back to the basics to overpower opponents, and yet they continue to make crucial mistakes — committing lousy turnovers, miscommunicating, leaving sophomore goaltender Matej Marinov “out to dry” as head coach Rand Pecknold reiterates.
“I think anytime you play a team and you’re trying to end their season, that’s a hard thing to do,” Dumais said. “You know, these guys are playing for their lives.”
Freshman forward Tyler Borgula cracked open the 0-0 stalemate in the second, handing Quinnipiac a much-needed first goal that translated to a much cleaner period. He was also the nail in the coffin with three minutes remaining in regulation.
“I was just not expecting it,” Borgula said. “I just go out there and play my best, bounces tend to go my way sometimes so I’ll take it.”
A one-goal lead heading into the third period of a playoff hockey game is not ideal. Quinnipiac has notoriously struggled to put teams away from the jump this season.
And while a 2-0 advantage isn’t a blowout, sophomore Second Team All-ECAC wing Mason Marcellus’s goal from the slot to kick off the last frame was crucial to Brown’s demise which ultimately concluded at 4-0.
That, and Marinov’s absolute stonewall performance in net (34 saves), which added a fourth shutout to his college resume.
“It’s huge for me,” Marinov said. “These are the games I play hockey for.”
The Bobcats can’t feed off their netminder alone. If a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth means as much as Quinnipiac claims it does, it needs to compete for a full 60 minutes. Because right now, it has one shot left.
Quinnipiac hits the ice again March 21 at Herb Brooks Arena looking to snap a nine-year losing streak that’s kept it from hoisting the Whitelaw Cup since 2016. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m.
