Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey has been a solid contender this year to make its way back to the NCAA Tournament, and maybe even end its decade-long drought in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Across all lines, on the offense and defense, Quinnipiac has seen consistent improvement throughout the season. The incoming freshmen class exceeded everyone’s expectations, tallying a total of 69 goals on the season so far, leading both the ECAC and NCAA in multiple categories. Quinnipiac also secured two Hobey Baker Award nominees in forwards freshman Ethan Wyttenbach and sophomore Chris Pelosi.

What remains a big unknown for the Bobcats is what happens in its crease.

Junior netminders Matej Marinov and Dylan Silverstein have been splitting their time in net since last year, a trend that continues deep into this season.

Silverstein got the start in Quinnipiac’s season opener against Boston College Oct. 3, but since then only played 12 more games.

“He’s doing great, big win for him obviously,” head coach Rand Pecknold said after the win against BC. “I was excited for him tonight, to give him a start.”

And while it is understandable why this would be the case in the early weeks, this late in the game it might be only causing more confusion. To put it plainly, Quinnipiac still does not have a designated starting goaltender, despite there only being two more regular season games left.

If a team had two solid goaltenders that it could rely on, it would be the dream scenario.

In Silverstein’s second season with the Bobcats, the Los Angeles, California native appeared in 13 games so far with a 8-1-4 record.

In Marinov’s third season with the Bobcats, the Nitra, Slovakia native appeared in 22 games so far with a 17-2-3 record.

Silverstein sits on .916 save percentage as of publication and at one point led the nation in goals against average. Marinov, on the other hand, sits at a .905 save percentage.

But it is hard to objectively only take into account the statistics, as Marinov has found himself in the net this season against opponents such as No. 20 Maine, No. 13 UConn and No. 14 Dartmouth, while Silverstein only faced No. 10 BC and No. 11 Cornell out of the top 20 teams in the nation.

An easy example to look at is the 2026 CT Ice Tournament, where Silverstein earned a 5-1 win against Sacred Heart who plays in the AHA and Marinov started in the 4-2 loss against UConn in the finals.

Despite playing in eight more games than Silverstein, Marinov has only started back-to-back games three times this season — against Maine back in October, on the road against Clarkson and St. Lawrence in late November and against RPI and Union in early December.

“He was good, he battled,” Pecknold said of Marinov following a win over Boston University Nov. 15. “He did a good job tonight and he had some awesome saves.”

Since then, the two goalies have been splitting weekends, with Silverstein starting in Friday games five out of eight times.

“Frequent goalie rotation can disrupt team chemistry and make it harder for players to adjust to different styles,” wrote the Youth Coach of Western Canada Hockey Academy’s Manitoba Wolves. “Goalies might also struggle to establish momentum or confidence with limited consecutive starts. This approach can lead to uneven performances, as consistency often develops through regular game time. Additionally, over-rotating might prevent one goalie from standing out as a reliable choice during a critical playoff moment.”

When you take a look at Quinnipiac’s 2025 postseason, there might be some truth to his statements.

Taking on Brown in last year’s ECAC Quarterfinals, Marinov started both games, as well as the ECAC Semifinals loss to Cornell in Lake Placid, N.Y. However, that was after only playing 14 games that season, and it also was his first time playing back-to-back games in the same weekend.

Silverstein, who played 23 games before, started in the Regionals loss to UConn, after not playing for a full month — as the first round of the NCAA Tournament was played March 28 and his last game was against Clarkson Feb. 28.

This year, Marinov has indeed found himself in the Bobcats’ net more often than years prior, that is true, but as mentioned before, only played back-to-back three times. Silverstein has not played a back-to-back weekend once this entire season.

While it might be obvious to assume based on stats alone that Marinov will find his way into the net once postseason comes back around, it is hard not to notice the parallels between this and the last season.

“Matej made some huge saves for us,” Pecknold said after the Bobcats’ senior night win over Colgate Feb. 21. “We weren’t perfect, but Matej bailed us out when we made mistakes.”

The Bobcats still have the last two regular season games on the road against Dartmouth and Harvard. If they win in regulation against the Big Green, the Cleary Cup will find its way to Hamden for the sixth time in a row and they will face the lowest surviving seed of the first round of ECAC playoffs.

Which goaltender will end up in the net and whether or not Quinnipiac will be finally able to break its Lake Placid curse, only time will tell.