By Brian Farrell, QBSN Staff Writer
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/85663391″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Hamden, Conn. – For Quinnipiac fans that were in attendance at the 2002 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Regional in Worcester, welcome back; for the rest of Bobcats Nation, welcome.
“It’s been a fun year and a great ride and the nice thing about our team right now is our character, but we aren’t done,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We’re still hungry.”
A lot of the hunger brewed up for the team last week after being bounced in the semi-finals of the ECAC tournament to Brown. The Bears blanked Quinnipiac and finished the season as the only ECAC team to not lose to Quinnipiac.
That was last week and now the Bobcats are ready to take the ice in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Canisius College. Canisius is the hottest team in the nation, riding an eight-game win streak into the national tournament.
“I watch their power play and their goaltender and I can’t understand how they lost games earlier in the year,” Pecknold said.
The Golden Griffins enter the tournament at a modest 19-18-5 after struggling through stretches of the regular season. The Griffs’ eight-game win streak comes on the heels of a five-game losing streak that forced them into the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic Hockey tournament.
One of the major pieces to Canisius’ success has been its goaltending. Junior Tony Capobianco boasts a 2.35 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. Capobianco has faced the Bobcats twice in his career. Two years ago he helped the Griffins to a 2-2 tie, but last year gave up four goals in a 4-0 loss.
Last weekend Quinnipiac’s Eric Hartzell struggled in the semi-final matchup against Brown. Hartzell returned to form the following night in the consolation game against Yale, making 30 saves for the 3-0 shutout.
The Bobcats enter the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, but QU is not among the favorites for the national championship and many in the media don’t think they will even make it out of the East Regional in Providence.
When asked at the press conference yesterday if the team was offended or surprised that not many people are picking the Bobcats to make it to the Frozen Four, Pecknold along with Zach Davies and Jeremy Langlois, turned to captain Zack Currie.
“We’re just excited to be here and to show that we are legit and have what it takes to go the whole way,” Currie said.
