Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey (3-3-1 overall, 0-2-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) dropped their second conference game to the Colgate Raiders (4-2-4 overall, 1-0-1 ECAC), 4-1.
Quinnipiac entered this game losing the ECAC opener against the Cornell Big Red 2-1. This defeat snapped a three-game winning streak for the Bobcats. Meanwhile, the Raiders entered this game off a 0-0 draw to the Princeton Tigers, which marked their fourth tie of the season. In addition, Colgate only notched a single victory in their last seven games. The last time these teams took the ice against each other resulted in a 4-1 victory for the Bobcats. However, the script was flipped in this one.
The first period started well for the Bobcats as they killed a penalty called against sophomore defender Brogan Rafferty roughly four minutes into the game. Despite the successful penalty kill, the Raiders scored first when sophomore Bobby McMann missed on his initial shot attempt, but then was able to get a shot on goal. The rebound was collected by junior center Adam Dauda, who buried the puck for the game’s first goal.
Colgate didn’t stop the goal-scoring there. The Raiders had an odd man rush just a few minutes following their goal, yet a bad pass broke down that opportunity. Nevertheless, the Raiders were awarded with another opportunity when sophomore right winger John Snodgrass received a lead pass from Dauda, and the team leader in assists tucked in an insurance goal for a 2-0 Raider lead. These two goals for Colgate were scored just 86 seconds apart from each other. Quinnipiac sophomore goaltender Andrew Shortridge then made three key saves on Colgate attackers to maintain the two-goal deficit at the first period’s conclusion.
“It wasn’t our best effort tonight,” Pecknold said. “But, Colgate played a great game against us, so congrats to them.”
Quinnipiac opened the second period with a bang as the Bobcats cut Colgate’s lead in half just a minute and a half in. Sophomore defenseman Karlis Cukste threw a wrist shot on goal, and it squeaked through the five-hole of Colgate netminder Colton Point. The Bobcats tried to eliminate the Raiders’ lead on several occasions, but Point exposed his poise and made several saves to maintain their lead. The Ontario native made one astounding point-blank save, robbing sophomore Alex Whelan with his right pad to steal what easily could’ve been a second Quinnipiac goal.
“Point made a huge save when the game was still two to one,” Pecknold said. “I thought that really changed the momentum moving forward.”
Pecknold correctly predicted the significance of that save as the Raiders buried their third goal of the game and their second of the period. Senior captain Mike Panowyk capitalized off a breakaway with just 0.3 seconds left in the second period. This tally gave the Raiders their two-goal lead back heading into the third period.
“The goal at the end of that second period was a back-breaker,” Pecknold said. “And it really stinks because we’ve practiced that type of play many times before.”
The Bobcats were awarded two power play opportunities in the third period, but were unable to register any goals as Quinnipiac finished the game 0-for-4 on the man advantage. The Bobcats even had a two-man advantage with seven minutes left in the third when Pecknold pulled Shortride to give them a 6-on-4 power play. Despite that effort, they still didn’t find the back of the net on special teams. Colgate scored the dagger when Panowyk notched his second breakaway goal of the game off a pass by freshman Josh McKechney.
Quinnipiac looks to move past this weekend of play and snap their two-game losing streak when they begin a two-game road trip, starting with a matchup against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday at 7 p.m.
