Finally. After 23 games this season, the “Q Crew” as they are called, and the rest of Quinnipiac faithful showed life and took over the “World’s Most Famous Arena” last night.
The Bobcats are putting together one of their best seasons since head coach Rand Pecknold took over the QU hockey program, but the games have been quiet. Whether it was from the drubbings this team has put on opponents or the typical Saturday night jaunts down to New Haven, the crowd has not matched the team’s play all season. That changed last night. It felt different from the beginning.
The Bobcats’ fans were a strong and boisterous part of the 12,016 fans that were on hand in what was supposed to be a Harvard home game. However, even before the puck drop, it was anything but.
I walked down 8th Avenue last night around 5 p.m., headed toward Madison Square Garden. I heard chants bellowing out from bars on the street.
“Let’s go Bobcats! Let’s go Bobcats!”
When the clock struck 7:19 p.m. and Harvard made their way out onto the ice, the place erupted in boos but quickly changed to cheering once the men in blue and gold made their way out of the tunnel. The fans didn’t stop there.
After the three-goal barrage from Quinnipiac in just 37 seconds, the press box was left spinning, while the place officially erupted down below into pure chaos, forcing me to scream to possibly be heard. I was impressed.
After the game, Pecknold backed that sentiment when he spoke at the post-game presser.
“ It was a unique experience at Madison Square Garden with our fans, that was pretty cool,” he said. “Were still a relatively young program… so moments like this…they galvanize the university.”
The crowd refused to sit down quietly after a 4-0 lead for the Bobcats was erased by Harvard, and continued to cheer going into the extra period. Finally, with 2:55 to play in overtime, Derek Smith put one away to give the Bobcats the win. It was pandemonium.
This comes just a month removed from when the sold out crowd at the High Point Solutions Arena in Hamden was outdone by 10 Boston University fans who quieted the entire building.
Since then, the Bobcats have won four of their last five coming off the holiday break, and are continuing to play some of the best hockey the fans have seen them play all year. Add that to a crowd that seems to be reenergized and who are starting to realize the team that they call theirs may be embarking on a special season.
Put that all together and you have a recipe for a dominant home rink that no team wants to step into come the latter part of the season.
