Nearly a week after losing to Eastern College Athletic Conference opponent Cornell, the Quinnipiac Bobcats came out rejuvenated and hungry in a 5-2 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday.
The win came after a ceremonial puck drop by Quinnipiac’s president John Lahey, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the TD Bank Sports complex.
“We’re very grateful for Quinnipiac to have given us a facility like this to compete in,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said, reminiscing on his time coaching in Quinnipiac’s state of the art arena which he openly joked was the envy of many.
“We had to have this,” Pecknold said. “If you want to be a top 20, top 10, top five program like we’ve been, you have to have a big-time facility, and we certainly have a fantastic campus… it’s a great package.”
The Bobcats had noticeably impressive starts in the second and third periods in tonight’s game. Bo Pieper scored his ninth goal of the season with three minutes left in the first and just fourteen seconds into the second, Alex Whelan scored his second career goal.
“I thought it was a really good win tonight, I thought it was a good battle,” Pecknold added. “Our guys were focused and locked in.”
Chase Priskie was evidently locked in. He had a striking performance scoring the Bobcats’ fourth goal on a power play in the third period, followed by Arizona State’s Wade Murphy finally put his team on the board and cutting Quinnipiac’s lead 4-1. Like clockwork, Priskie answered with a second goal with five minutes left in regulation.
Quinnipiac’s Connor Clifton scored the first goal of the night just four minutes into the game and gliding effortlessly into a 2-on-1, came out unscathed. Despite the crowd shouting “shoot it!” repeatedly, Clifton took his time and delicately found the back of the net and set, what seemed to be, an unusual tone for the night: patience.
However, the Sun Devils came back with some pressure and the patience quickly turned to hostility, in which it remained for the rest of the game. In the first two periods of play, there were a combined 16 penalties between both teams with 24 in total. Despite being outshot 57-22, Arizona State put up a fight. Neither team would take the loss easily.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a big challenge for us,” Pecknold said. “We haven’t been as good on the second nights this year and it’s going to be a good challenge. Arizona State was pretty good; they didn’t quit. They were battling at the end and it’s a tough team and it should be a good game tomorrow night.”
The Bobcats face the Sun Devils again on Saturday at High Point Solutions Arena at 7 p.m.
