Quinnipiac Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold pulled the goalie with a little more than six minutes to play in the third period, hoping that if paired with the ensuing power play, the Bobcats would be able to muster up a game-tying goal.
However, Quinnipiac could not find the energy to muster up a game-tying goal, falling to the Cornell Big Red, 2-1 Saturday night.
“It was a frustrating night.” Pecknold said. “I thought Cornell played hard and won a lot of battles. We had some guys that were really good tonight, but we just had a group that struggled…We just aren’t playing to our identity.”
The deciding goal came halfway through the second period after both teams struck for a goal in the opening 20 minutes.
Cornell found itself on the power play after a questionable call by the referees sent Quinnipiac captain Derek Smith to the box for interference. The Big Red took advantage of the power play when Alex Rauter found a puck on the doorstep of the Bobcats’ goal and scored his sixth goal of the season to give Cornell the 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
“I say it to the guys all the time, ‘you can’t fake passion,’” Pecknold said. “And we had some guys try to fake it tonight and it just doesn’t work at this level.”
Cornell struck first in the opening period after coming out strong when Brendan Smith corralled a Mitch Vanderlaan pass and fired it to the left of Quinnipiac goalie Andrew Shortridge forcing him to the left post. The puck squirted out to the other side of the net where Jeff Kubiak was there to corral the shot off the boards and score on the doorstep to give Cornell the 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the first period.
“It starts in pregame skate and then pregame warmups.” Tommy Schutt said about the Bobcat’s lethargic starts, “We have to be a little bit tighter and we have to be more motivated.”
The Bobcats’ lone goal of the night came on their first power play chance of the game.
Chase Priskie passed the puck from the face-off circle to the right of Cornell goalie Mitch Gillam up to Brogan Rafferty who was at the blue line. With Craig Martin to his right, Rafferty faked the shot and slid the puck to Martin who stroked a strong one-timer for his eighth goal of the season to tie the game at one less than three minutes after Cornell opened up the scoring in the first period.
The Bobcats found success in their goaltending again Saturday night as Shortridge saved 29 shots in his third straight start for Quinnipiac, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff.
“The positive that has come lately is that Shortridge has had three good games in a row. He’s played really well, so we are happy with that.” Pecknold said.
Quinnipiac will pick play back up in two weeks after a weekend when they welcome in Arizona State for two games at the High Points Solutions Arena.
“It’s a great group of guys and we will figure it out,” Pecknold said. “I rather figure it out in January than March, but I think we will figure it out. We will get on a good run. It’s coming.”
