Two national championship game appearances in four seasons might be the norm for some college hockey teams, but for Quinnipiac it’s the culmination of hard work and consistency.

The team has rapidly climbed the college hockey rankings ever since its first national championship appearance in 2013.

The 2015-2016 season was the most historic run for the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team. The Bobcats sat at the top of national rankings, clinched the ECAC regular-season and postseason titles, and landed a trip to the Frozen Four in Tampa, Florida.  

After a first-round exit in the NCAA tournament against North Dakota last season, Quinnipiac still held a promising future.

The team only lost two seniors – co-captains Dan Federico and Matthew Peca. Federico was an integral component to Quinnipiac’s top defense and Peca a dynamic, two-way player. This season, head coach Rand Pecknold looked to fill their roles with incoming freshmen.

Graduating senior forward Travis St. Denis reflected back on this season’s group of players.

“I’ve never been on a team that’s been this close before,” St. Denis said. “Everyone was best friends on the team and that kind of translated to how we played on the ice. That was nice to see all year, you don’t play on teams like that that much.”

OCTOBER

The Bobcats earned a preseason ranking of No. 18 in the USCHO.com Poll.

Six freshmen came into the 2015-2016 season and almost all made an impression in the lineup.

Chase Priskie made the most of his freshman campaign by scoring a goal and five assists as a defenseman in the first month.

Priskie ended the year with four goals and 22 assists and a +15 rating in 43 games.

“At the beginning of the year the seniors brought the group of guys together and explained the culture and lead by example,” Priskie said. “All 28 guys in the locker room bought into what Rand laid out as our identity and ever since we’ve had success.”

Priskie could potentially be drafted in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft this summer as he is still of eligible age.

The exciting month continued when junior defenseman Devon Toews scored an impressive end-to-end goal which was featured on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.

Toews finished the year with seven goals and 23 assists in 40 games. The junior will forgo his senior year as he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the New York Islanders on April 15.

By the end of the month, USCHO.com’s PairWise Rankings had Quinnipiac at No. 1.

NOVEMBER

With the momentum of sweeping their 2013 Frozen Four opponent St. Cloud State, the Bobcats earned an overtime win against Cornell.

The tale of the Bobcats this season was their resiliency and will to win. The personification of this team’s identity was exhibited on the road in a come-from-behind victory over Dartmouth in which Quinnipiac was at one point down 4-1.

Key contributors to that win were the Matawan, New Jersey natives, Connor and Tim Clifton.

During the month of November, Connor added to the scoresheet with three goals and two assists. He netted the overtime goal after tallying an assist earlier in the game against Dartmouth.

“My confidence was good. I was making plays and things were just working out for me,” Connor said. “I think it was more so me jumping up into the play to create those chances. Obviously, my teammates really kind of did all the work. When I give it to them, they’re scoring goals.”

Older brother Tim got the Bobcats on the board after being down 3-0 with a first period goal. This was his fourth goal of the season, extending his goal-scoring streak to four games.

In the Nov. 13 home game against Harvard, who spoiled Quinnipiac’s road to the ECAC championship game in the previous season, Tim scored a power-play and shorthanded goal.

Tim’s role on the ice shifted dramatically as his offensive production jumped from a combined 27 points in his first two seasons to 43 in just his junior campaign.

“At the end of the day, it gives me something to work for,” Tim said. “I don’t want to say the bar is set but the bar is kind of set.”

On Nov. 13, Sam Anas scored his 50th career goal against Harvard and later joined the 100-point club against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Anas won’t return for his senior season as he signed with the Minnesota Wild.

The team set a program record, 11-game winning streak with a victory over the University of Connecticut. In that same game, freshman defenseman Luke Shiplo tallied his first collegiate goal. In 13 games played this season, Shiplo scored five goals.

DECEMBER  

Quinnipiac started off the month defeating conference rival Yale on the road 3-0 extending its unbeaten streak to 16 games.

But, the Bobcats’ first loss of the season came against Boston University, 4-1, to end their unbeaten streak of 17 games.

Heading into the winter break, senior goaltender Michael Garteig began to hit his stride.

Garteig recorded his 60th career win against Brown, which gave him the program record.

In the same stretch of time, Garteig posted three consecutive shutouts against UMass-Amherst, Yale, and Brown. This is the longest shutout streak in program history with 194:49 minutes.

“When you’re feeling confident and you’re playing like that, the puck is pretty much the size of a beach ball and you can see it pretty well,” Garteig said. “I thought we were playing some pretty good hockey at that time as well, so obviously it makes it a little bit easier on myself.”

On Dec. 29, the Clifton brothers combined for six points against Princeton, further proving they will have a position of leadership in the 2016-2017 season.

“I think just knowing they have that confidence in me, that helps my confidence,” Tim said. “It helps everything. It helps me want to succeed for them, for the boys.”

Both Tim Clifton and Garteig were given ECAC monthly awards for Player and Goalie of the Month.

JANUARY

The Bobcats started off the new year playing their fifth Hockey East team of the season in Northeastern, expanding their Hockey East conference record to 4-1-1 after a 3-3 tie.

Of the three goals scored by the Bobcats, sophomore forward Landon Smith collected assists on two of them.

In a 5-0 victory over Union, Landon Smith scored the game-winning goal and tallied an assist, finishing with two goals and seven assists for the month January.

St. Denis joined the 100-point club against Union after scoring two goals and grabbing an assist.

“That’s something going into the year that was on the list of goals I wanted to accomplish,” St. Denis said. “You look up at the guys on the banner, I played with a couple of them. They’re unbelievable players.”

One of the highlights of the month was the overtime victory over Harvard at Madison Square Garden.

Quinnipiac fans traveled to New York, with more than 12,000 fans in attendance. Quinnipiac went up early with four goals coming in the first period. Harvard came storming back in the second and third period, erasing the lead to tie the game 4-4.

Junior defenseman Derek Smith was the unlikely hero as he scored the game-winning goal just about three minutes into overtime.

By Jan. 18, Quinnipiac earned its first No. 1 ranking of the year in the USCHO.com Poll.

FEBRUARY

In February, Quinnipiac clinched the ECAC regular season title after a victory against Brown. The following night, Quinnipiac defended the Heroes Hat after beating Yale at home by a score of 4-1.

With five of eight games in February heading to overtime (5-1-2), the pace of the season started to slow. This wasn’t the case for senior forward St. Denis, who had a five-game goal-scoring streak from Feb. 12 to Feb. 26.

St. Denis attributes his production and two-way game to his work ethic and team conditioning.

“I wasn’t really that strong defensively my first couple years,” St. Denis said. “I was kind of a bit weaker; I was a smaller forward. Over the past couple years I gained more strength that helped me on the ice especially in the defensive end, offensive zone, and in the corners.”

MARCH & APRIL

The month of March marked the beginning of the playoffs for Quinnipiac.

The team kicked off the ECAC playoffs taking down Cornell in a three-game series and later went on to defeat Dartmouth 3-1 in the semifinals.

Quinnipiac earned its first Whitelaw Cup in a 4-1 victory over Harvard in the ECAC final. This win closed out a three-game season series sweep of the Crimson.

The Bobcats received their second ever No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In the East Regional, Quinnipiac shut out the RIT 4-0 and punched its ticket to the Frozen Four with a 4-1 win over the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

Locking up the regular-season title, the conference postseason title and getting to the Frozen Four were all monumental achievements.

As to which win or game was the most important to the program, the players have their own opinions.

“I think the biggest win in program history for Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey is the Harvard win at Lake Placid for the ECAC championship,” Garteig said. “We’re finally gonna have a banner up in Lake Placid and we’re gonna have one here. That’s really cool in my opinion.”

St. Denis agrees with Garteig’s choice.

“The Harvard game, when we won the ECAC,” St. Denis said. “I think with that being the first one in program history that’s definitely the top win.”

The final month of the 2015-2016 season saw the program’s second-ever Frozen Four appearance.

With two out of the three championships it sought to capture in hand, Quinnipiac entered Tampa as the No. 1 overall seed.

All that remained was the national championship title.

In the semifinals of the Frozen Four, Quinnipiac took on the Boston College Eagles to face the winner of North Dakota and Denver in the championship game.

Prior to the semifinals, the Bobcats had never played Boston College, who are one of the most storied programs in college hockey.

The Eagles have won five national championships, one of which being in 2012 which was also played in Tampa.

Although the Bobcats entered the Frozen Four at the top of every college hockey poll, they were still viewed as the underdog.

Quinnipiac defeated Boston College to get to the biggest stage in college hockey, the national championship game.

“I think the biggest win I felt was the Frozen Four win against Boston College,” Derek Smith said. “Just beating a team that has 25 Frozen Fours, such a perennial powerhouse in college hockey. I just think for our program and for our school it’s a big step moving forward.”

The depth of the team propelled Quinnipiac to the national championship game for the second time in four seasons, giving it the most successful season in program history.

The loss to North Dakota in the championship game wasn’t the ending the team envisioned but Pecknold remains positive in his reflection of the season and team.

Throughout the season, many drew comparisons to the 2012-2013 team that brought Quinnipiac to its first Frozen Four.

“I always thought that team was better than this one and now I’m kind of on the fence a little bit,” Pecknold said. “It just has been impressive: the resiliency, how we extra attack our goals, and coming from behind and things like that.”

The 2015-2016 men’s ice hockey team built and developed its persona around character wins, ending the year with a 32-4-7 record.

The Bobcats hope to replicate their historic run with their incoming freshman class and rising upperclassmen leadership.