Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey opens up its season with a 4-3 win Friday night against No. 6 Boston College.
“It’s a great win for us, I thought both teams battled hard,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “It’s a very unique situation when you play the first game of the season, so obviously it’s even for both of us.’
Yet, this game was not like any other to open up both teams’ seasons.
The last time these two faced off was in 2024 at the NCAA Tournament, where the Eagles sent the Bobcats back to Hamden in overtime fashion, 5-4.
Between two nationally ranked opponents that have only met a handful of times, the tension and stakes were high in Conte Forum, where the Bobcats last competed in 2022.
Junior goaltender Dylan Silverstein got the start in net for the Bobcats, after ending last season with a .903 save percentage in 24 games played. Against the Eagles, Silverstein was a brick wall in net, making 12 saves with an .800 save percentage.
“He’s doing great, big win for him obviously… I was excited for him tonight, to give him a start,” Pecknold said.
From the high intensity preseason matchup, here are the important notes.
Boston Bruins prospects
Tension was increasingly high between the eight Boston Bruins prospects between both squads, with two representing Quinnipiac and six representing Boston College.
From the Bobcats, this would include sophomore forward Chris Pelosi and sophomore defenseman Elliot Groenewold.
For the Eagles, this would include freshmen forward William Moore and defenseman Kristian Kostadinski, sophomore forward James Hagens and forward Dean Letourneau, as well as senior forward Oskar Jellvik and forward captain Andre Gasseau.
“It was pretty cool seeing everyone out there, you know knowing everyone out there. But at the end of the day it’s our team vs their team, we kinda just put our heads down and kinda forgot who knows who,” Pelosi said.
Coaches matchup
Along with the athletes, the coaches in this matchup added a further interesting element.
Boston College head coach Greg Brown is the winningest coach among active Division I coaches in career win percentage, with a .697. Brown, a former Eagle defenseman, has coached BC for 19 years, serving 14 seasons as an assistant coach before being named head coach.
While for Quinnipiac, Pecknold is the winningest coach among active Division I coaches in career wins, starting the 2025-26 game with 666, in his 32 seasons in Hamden.
And both coaches have great respect for each other.
“Brown and his staff do a great job,” Pecknold said.
Pressure is privilege
Quinnipiac got the momentum going early with freshman forward Antonin Verreault flying off the faceoff, getting a quick chance with a one-on-one, with Pelosi on the back door, but unable to sink it in.
Junior forward Mason Marcellus honed in on this idea of pressure, fighting and pushing through the Eagles’ defense multiple times in the first period to get quick shots off on junior goaltender Jan Korec.
In its third goal, Quinnipiac forced a turn over on the Eagles, leaving the puck sliding in front of the net to the stick of freshman defenseman Graham Sward, alone in front of BC’s net.
“Our team was on a roll the whole game. You know hitting them and getting pucks in, you know playing hard and doing our job,” Pelosi said.
Even the Bobcats’ fourth goal of the game would further be aided by pressure, with senior forward Jeremy Wilmer throwing it in from the point and getting the puck lost behind Korec in the crease. Pelosi would follow the shot, crashing the net to stuff it in past the Eagles netminder, scoring the game-winning goal.
The hard pressure the Bobcats put on the Eagles forced them to panic and throw the puck, resulting in turn overs and control of the game by Quinnipiac.
Patience, speed and shots
Good teams are characterized by puck control, speed and hockey IQ. These factors combined create teams that have strong reads of the ice and plays, knowing when it’s the best moment to strike. Many of the Bobcats would put this on display in today’s matchup, giving them that extra edge over the Eagles.
For the Bobcats, Wilmer would strike first, using his patience and stick handling to toe drag it around the sliding body of sophomore defenseman Michael Haegans, giving himself space to snipe it past Korec.
The college hockey rookies got their time to shine, with freshman forward Ethan Wyttenbach feeding a nice puck to freshman forward Matthew Lasing to put Quinnipiac in the lead once again.
“They’ve been awesome, they want it… it’s really exciting to see them chip in and you know they’re going to be a big piece of our team,” Wilmer said.
Faceoff momentum
With winning 32 faceoffs, the Bobcats used their wins to explode off the faceoff and generate opportunities in center ice and the offensive zone.
Quinnipiac’s faceoff positioning gave it chances to burst off its faceoff wins with a man rushing to the net hard.
While these chances do no always result in goals, with another man rushing hard to the net, goals are bound to come from rebound chances, as the pressure builds on the netminder.
Keep minutes down
Quinnipiac’s flaw in the game was its penalties, taking three throughout the duration game.
Quinnipiac dominated full strength play, easily shutting down multiple Eagle attempts, yet with a man down, the Bobcats struggled to hold strong.
While the Bobcats played a good box formation with great stick control to deflect an Eagles pass into the corner on a couple of occasions, Boston College would score two power play goals on three opportunities.
On the other hand, Quinnipiac could not generate on the man advantage, with a weak power play tonight going 0-2, with only three shots.
Quinnipiac will travel to Providence, R.I. to face off against the Providence Friars on Oct. 5. Faceoff is set for 2 p.m.
