ECAC semifinal: Dartmouth (7) vs. Quinnipiac (1)
The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team and the Dartmouth Big Green will venture to Lake Placid, New York for the ECAC semifinals this weekend with a spot in the ECAC final on the line.
The two teams will face off on Friday night for their third meeting of the season.
How they got here: Dartmouth is coming in hot after pulling the upset to defeat the No. 2 Yale Bulldogs last weekend in the quarterfinals.
The Bobcats are also playing well after a 6-2 thumping of Cornell this past Sunday to close out the Big Red in game three.
Previous meetings: Back in November, the Bobcats took care of Dartmouth handily, winning by a final score of 6-2 in Hamden.
When the two teams met again in January, the Bobcats rattled off their most impressive victory of the season. Quinnipiac put together six goals in the third period to battle back from a three-goal deficit to beat Dartmouth.
The Bobcats are currently 17-8-1 against Dartmouth all time, including winning eight of the last nine meetings between the two teams.
Brosh’s prediction: This weekend is much more significant than Quinnipiac winning the Whitelaw Cup to win the conference title.
This is the fourth straight year that the Bobcats will travel up to Lake Placid with previous seasons looming over them.
In the past three years, Quinnipiac has struggled in the ECAC Tournament and have returned to Hamden empty-handed.
The Bobcats are looking for a better turnout this season as they’re armed with more scoring depth and a stronger team overall.
One key factor for both of these teams is the size of the ice.
The Herb Brooks Arena features Olympic-sized ice and is something the Bobcats upperclassmen are used to, having played on it the past three years.
I think this will benefit the Bobcats because they’ve figured out how to make plays successfully when they are given space.
Defensively, Quinnipiac has strong veterans such as Connor Clifton and Devon Toews, who have all played on this ice before.
The seasoned defensemen should be able to avoid getting caught going too deep into the corners, not allowing Dartmouth to get any open looks.
Quinnipiac is coming off a weekend where they unleashed 15 goals on Cornell from 11 different skaters. These numbers illustrate just how prolific this offense can be.
Sam Anas, the Bobcats’ top playmaker, was held to just one goal last weekend and should return hungry to Lake Placid, especially after not playing in the tournament last year due to injury.
When you put that all together, Dartmouth is facing a very tall task in defeating Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats have an answer for everything right now and should advance to the final on Sunday if they continue to make plays defensively to spring their offense.
Quinnipiac wins 4-2.
Cloutier’s prediction: As I have written before, I hate how this pivotal hockey game comes down to a one-game playoff, because I believe hockey is built for a series-style playoff.
Anyway, it’s hard to choose against this Bobcats team in this scenario because of the resiliency they have shown all season long.
This season, it seemed as though every time this team found themselves down by one goal or two, they’d find a way to tie it up with little time left on the clock.
I expect this to be an excellent hockey game, especially considering Dartmouth is coming in playing the best hockey they’ve played all season.
Both goaltenders will play well in this one but expect some jaw-dropping saves from Michael Garteig, similar to the saves Quinnipiac fans have seen all year.
For Dartmouth, this game comes down to the play of senior Brett Patterson.
Is Patterson going to fall into Quinnipiac’s physical game, lose his head and have a seat in the sin bin or watch as a Quinnipiac player skates by him to score adding to his -12 plus/minus rating?
Is he going to be the player of the game, gaining power-play points, as both teams know he is capable of doing?
I believe it will be the former and the Bobcats win 3-1.
Brosh’s player to watch: Quinnipiac’s Chase Priskie exploded on to the scene last weekend with a two-goal game against Cornell, but he’s been an integral part of the Bobcats’ defense all season.
If the Florida native can match the intensity he played with last weekend, the Bobcats will be on the right track to coming home with some hardware.
Cloutier’s player to watch: Aside from Dartmouth’s Brett Patterson, Quinnipiac’s Devon Toews is another critical player to watch.
Last weekend he appeared to be hurt against Cornell, but not one aspect of his game slipped in his return. Expect Toews to control the power play and to be a deciding factor in this game.
