By Gabbi Riggi
The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team continues its unbeaten streak after Michael Garteig’s (Prince George, British Columbia) second shutout of the season boosted the team to a 3-0 win over the Brown University Bears.
The Bobcats move to 9-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in ECAC hockey, while the Bears drop to 2-2-1 and 0-2-1 in league play.
Though the Bobcats spent a quarter of the period shorthanded, that did not stop them from getting on the board. Midway through the first, senior captain Cory Hibbeler (St. Charles, Mo.) broke the scoring open early. His one timer came directly off a pass from the face off, won by junior left wing Bryce Van Brabant (Morinville, Alberta). The second came with 1.2 seconds left in the period, off of a slap shot from the stick of freshman defenseman Connor Clifton (Matawan, N.J.).
The Bobcats kept the offensive pressure on even after their power play expired and were able to end the period up 2-0.
Keeping the tempo up during the second period was the top line of senior Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia), senior Kellen Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) and freshman Sam Anas (Potomac, Md.). Though the line showed a good sense of location and created passing lanes for each other, they were unable to capitalize.
On the other end of the puck, strong work from the Bobcats’ defense and penalty kill coupled with strong puck control from Garteig kept the Bears off the board.
Freshman Devon Toews (Abbotsford, British Columbia) is one defenseman that earned high praise from head coach Rand Pecknold after the game.
“I thought a couple of our freshmen ‘D’ were really good tonight,” Pecknold said. “I thought Devon Toews was probably the best player on the ice for us tonight. He was just outstanding and doing the little things well.”
Going into the third period, Garteig knew Brown was a team that scored most of its goals in the last period, but it did not faze him.
“I go into every period with the same mindset, but knowing that they have scored more goals late, it made my senses a little more sharp,” Garteig said. “I was a little more aware and I knew that, so that’s always big.”
The team is ready to use today’s game as a stepping stone to tomorrow’s headlining matchup, Garteig said.
“Realistically we played Brown tonight and it didn’t matter what was going on tomorrow or who we were playing,” he said. “I think we’re going to go with the same mindset as we did tonight, and we’ll be ready and we’ll be great for them.”
The Bobcats take the ice in the second of the weekend series on Saturday, Nov. 9 for the 12th Annual Heroes Hat Game against Yale University. The puck drop for this sold-out game is at 7 p.m.
(Photo by Rebecca Castagna)
