The final horn sounds. The 3296 fans in attendance at the High Point Solutions Arena start to scurry out of the exits as Quinnipiac joins at center ice for their traditional end-of-game stick tap and make their way off the ice for a post game stretch and a victorious meal.
Tim Clifton isn’t off the ice quite yet. He is removing his right glove and shaking hands with the four officials that officiated Quinnipiac’s 4-1 win over RPI Friday night.
Clifton’s classy gesture comes after the senior put in a full 60 minutes of the style of hockey that Quinnipiac fans have come to expect out of Clifton.
The senior was involved in a few scrums during an above-average chippy contest, mostly coming to the aid of teammates that were hit from behind or after the play; something Clifton isn’t afraid to do for his team.
“When teams push you, you have to push back. You can’t let players take liberties with every guy on the ice without getting a little angry and pushing back,” Clifton said. “I am not scared to get in there and get in the mix, mix it up and do my thing. I gladly would do that, other guys don’t have to. I will do it for the boys.”
Clifton would then become a playmaker for the Bobcats, receiving a pass from Chase Priskie midway through the third period and beating RPI goalie Jared Wilson five-hole to push the Bobcats out in front 2-1. Clifton, who can easily change from enforcer to scorer in a matter of seconds, considers it all one package.
“It’s business as usual,” Clifton said with a smile. ”It’s do whatever I can to help our team win. Every night it’s blocking shots, every night it’s getting pucks deeps, every night it’s getting pucks out of our zone. It’s the little things that not only myself, but Davo [Scott Davidson] and Marty [Craig Martin] are buying into. It’s simple hockey, it’s ugly hockey, but i’m not a skilled guy anyway. I’m not going to pretend I am and things like that are what help this team get the results.”
Clifton continues to find himself in the right spot at the right time when it comes to scoring chances for the Bobcats. His team-leading tenth goal of the season finds him tied for 22nd in NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey so far.
When asked what his reaction would be if someone told him his freshman year that he would have been a continual scorer for Quinnipiac, Clifton’s answer was simple.
“I would have laughed,” Clifton said. “It’s kind of ironic. I really don’t feel like my game has changed. I don’t think I have become a different player. It’s not like freshmen or sophomore year I was skating through the neutral zone, dangling and skating around people. It’s been the same thing- pucks in, pucks out, blocking shots. It’s ugly hockey and ironically, that’s the kind of stuff that has been working for me.”
Clifton is seen doing just about everything on the ice while he leads all forwards on the team with 20 blocked shots and continuing to lead the entire team in offense with 15 points. His hard-nosed and gritty style of play is something he is not shy about crediting to his associate head coach.
“I was never scared to mix it up, go to the front of the net, and take the beating,” Clifton said. “But coach Riga really helped me out…We have had a lot of conversations, we have watched a lot of film. He has really helped me become the hockey player I want to be. He was the first one to say it and tell me to ‘go to the net, go to the net, go to the net, chip and go get it.’”
Clifton’s senior season comes after a breakout junior year campaign that saw the forward set career-highs with 19 goals, 24 assists and 43 points for Quinnipiac during their run to the Frozen Four in Tampa. Clifton’s biggest contribution came on the power play where he was tied in the lead for most power-play goals in the ECAC with 10 goals on the man-advantage. Clifton’s second straight year of strong success has not gone unnoticed by his head coach.
“He’s been our best player all year,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said about Clifton. “And he was good tonight… No question he is one of the more dominant players in our league and one of the more dominant players in college hockey.”
It’s almost an hour after the final buzzer of arguably the Bobcats’ most chippy game all year with RPI dishing out hard-hits after the whistle all night. Clifton is at the midway point of a weekend that will see him spend more than half of his weekend inside the TD Bank Sports Center. For the the New Jersey native, a sense of calm comes over him when he talks about shaking the refs hands before getting off the ice.
“At the end of the game, it is just a game,” Clifton said. “At the end of the day, when that buzzer rings, we are all human beings. We all have lives outside of this arena.”
