For the first time since 2018, No. 8 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey has lost to the Union Chargers.
In the squad’s Saturday evening contest, the Chargers scored four straight goals on the visiting Bobcats, handing them their first shutout since Nov. 19, 2024 against Harvard.
The game also marked the end of Quinnipiac’s six game win streak and freshman forward Markus Vidicek’s nation-leading six game goal streak.
At the start of the first, there was little inkling that this performance would be the Bobcats first loss in the month of December. Initially, Quinnipiac seemed to have taken the momentum from Friday night’s victory into Union, harboring a shot advantage of six to one in the opening minutes of the first period.
Then the mistakes started to build up.
In a fashion similar to that of Quinnipiac’s previous losses, turnovers and lazy passes began to shift the momentum of play. The shots on goal ratio quickly flipped as the period progressed, with untimely turnovers testing junior goaltender Matej Marinov.
Although Quinnipiac would escape the first frame scoreless, the grade-A chances didn’t stop for Union after intermission.
Aided by a five minute major penalty to Quinnipiac sophomore defenseman Drew Hockley, Union continued to pepper Marinov with shots. The Chargers would capitalize on the second attempt of the power play, with junior defenseman Tyler Dunbar lighting the lamp for his first of four points on the night.
Because of the major penalty, Union would continue on the man advantage. With limited help from the penalty kill, Marinov would be forced to make multiple stretching saves to keep the Charger lead at one. However, that overcompensation would lead to disaster when the Nitra, Slovakia native found himself out of position, allowing sophomore forward Lucas Buzziol to score the second Union goal on the Hockley major.
The offensive special teams were struggling just as much as Quinnipiac’s penalty kill. Even with three nearly-consecutive Union penalties in the second, the Bobcats were unable to even move the puck effectively.
Even on the six shots that the Bobcats fired on goal during the man advantage, Union’s freshman goaltender Brayden Gillespie was sharp. Playing in only his third collegiate game, the Oakville, Ontario native stopped each of the 31 Bobcat shots through the course of play.
Two more Chargers goals would chase Marinov from the crease halfway through the final frame. Junior goaltender Dylan Silverstein would come in briefly for relief before head coach Rand Pecknold pulled him on the next Union power play.
Even with the six on four advantage, the Bobcats offense was unable to break through. A terribly timed icing with 6:07 left in the contest forced Silverstein back into the net. Despite another Union penalty less than a minute later, Pecknold wouldn’t pull Silverstein again, and the score would hold.
The frustrating night would cap off Quinnipiac’s season until the new year. The Bobcats will enter 2026 with a 12-4-2 record, ranked sixth in the ECAC.
After the holidays, Quinnipiac returns to home ice on Jan. 2 to take on the Harvard University Crimson. Puck drop in Hamden is at 7 p.m.
