It was a second period turnaround that helped to spur the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team (20-8-2, 15-2-1 ECAC) to a 4-1 win over the Clarkson Golden Knights (11-15-4, 8-8-2 ECAC) on Saturday night.

It took the Bobcats a second period turn-around to pull past the Golden Knights after a slow start to the game. The lone highlight from the first period for the Bobcats was pretty passing on the power play that led to a goal, allowing the Bobcats to escape the first period tied.

It took Rand Pecknold lighting a fire under his players between periods to turn things around.

“I don’t get mad often at my guys, but I’m not gonna lie I was furious with our first period effort,” Pecknold said. “I was as disappointed as I’ve been all year with our team.”

Junior Travis St. Denis believed it was that change that allowed the team to turn around and step up their play for the last two periods of the game.

“It was a tough first period for us but we kinda hit the reset button,” St. Denis said. “The last forty we played a great game.”

It was two second period goals, the first from freshman Landon Smith and the second from fellow freshman Kevin McKernan 26 seconds later boosted Quinnipiac ahead of Clarkson.

“We were really good in the second and the third period I don’t even know if they had a shot on net,” Pecknold said. “I think we looked great in the third period, only losing one draw.”

The win also guaranteed the Bobcats a first round bye of the ECAC playoffs.

“It’s a tough league. It’s hard to win on a nightly basis,” Pecknold said. “We got a lot of character, we’re not perfect, but we found a way to get back and found a way to win in the second and third.”

Quinnipiac hosts the last two games of the regular season Friday against Yale and Saturday against Brown.

With a win against the Bulldogs, the Bobcats have the opportunity to capture the Cleary Cup as ECAC regular season champions, as well as the Heroes Hat, the trophy given to the winner between the two rivals every year.