The No. 11 Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s ice hockey team (20-8-3, 15-2-2 ECAC) hosted their rival, the No. 13 Yale Bulldogs (15-7-4, 10-6-3 ECAC), on Friday at High Point Solutions Arena for the 13th annual Heroes Hat Championship.
The Heroes Hat was established to honor those who risked or lost their lives during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The “Heroes Hat” would have been awarded to the winner of tonight’s game, but the game ended in a 2-2 draw for the second time this season.
Tonight’s game marked the ninth consecutive time the Bobcats and Bulldogs have battled for the award. Quinnipiac won six of the previous eight matchups, and had a 13-6-4 all-time record against Yale coming into tonight.
The Bobcats were flying up and down the ice, and were too fast for the Bulldogs. Quinnipiac senior co-captain Matthew Peca continuously threw the puck in front of the net in hope of creating some sort of a scoring chance.
The Bobcats did not have to wait long for that chance to come. There was a mess of players in the front of the net, but then the puck trickled out to Quinnipiac senior defender and co-captain Danny Federico. Federico threw the puck on net, and managed to put it past Yale’s goalie Alex Lyon to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
Federico said after the game that he doesn’t deserve all of the credit for the first goal.
“I’ll take the goal but Tim [Clifton] did a lot to get that,” Federico said. “He screened the goalie the whole time and he didn’t see it.”
The game slowed down for a couple minutes in the middle of the period, and a lapse in Quinnipiac’s defense allowed Frank DiChiara to work his way into the crease. DiChiara found a hole and snuck the equalizer past Quinnipiac’s senior goaltender Michael Garteig with a little over seven minutes to play in the first.
The pace and tempo picked up again after Yale’s goal, and not even two minutes later, Quinnipiac broke the tie. Freshman Andrew Taverner took advantage of a neutral ice turnover and dumped the puck off to fellow freshman Tanner MacMaster. MacMaster made a quick move towards the net and tucked it past Lyon’s stick side to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead heading into the second period.
The lone action of the second period came with just over 10 minutes left to play. Yale’s Matt Killian picked up a loose puck and raced down the ice, and found himself in a 2-on-1 breakaway against sophomore Derek Smith. Killian swung the puck over to Rob O’Gara, who saw a small opening and capitalized. Garteig left a little too much room on his stick side and could only watch as the puck sailed over his shoulder and into the back of the net.
A lot of the third period took place in the neutral zone. Neither team was able to generate scoring chances, and both sides struggled to keep the puck in opposing territory.
“We were in complete panic mode the entire second and third period,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “I mean we’re a better team than that.”
Even on the power play, neither team was able to break through the defense. The last few minutes of regulation passed by without incident, and the two teams prepared for their second overtime matchup of the season.
Quinnipiac nearly ended the game early but Lyon flashed the leather and caught a slap shot just before it reached the net.
Shortly after, Yale had multiple chances to net the game-winner. But Garteig came through for the Bobcats and stopped five consecutive shots to keep the game locked at 2.
“I thought we got outplayed in the third period and overtime,” Pecknold said. “But he [Garteig] saved us. He got us the point.”
Overall Pecknold said after the game that he was not impressed with the way his team played tonight. He said that he thought they showed their immaturity, and that they didn’t prepare well [mentally] for the game, and that they were lucky to walk away with a point.
“I guess it’s better now than in the playoffs,” Pecknold said. “But it was not a good effort on our part.”
Quinnipiac will look to rebound with a win against Brown on Senior Night tomorrow night back at the High Point Solutions Arena.
