The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team rang in a new season Saturday night – one that includes one of the biggest and most impressive freshman classes in recent history – with a comfortable 5-2 victory over the University of Prince Edward Island.
In their only tune-up game before heading to Vermont for the season opener, Quinnipiac’s youth was on display. Fifteen underclassmen, including ten freshmen and an all-underclassmen forward line consisting of Wyatt Bongiovanni, Ethan de Jong, and Odeen Tufto, spent substantial time on the ice during the win. The rookies played well, too, with center Desi Burgart recording two assists in his debut.
“I thought Desi Burgart was really good,” lauded head coach Rand Pecknold. “He was great on the penalty kill, great on the 5-on-5… he was really good. They were all good.”
Burgart recorded the first of his two assists with a little over five minutes to play in the first period, when he and Scott Davidson set up Nick Jermain at the edge of the crease to score the first Bobcats goal of the season.
“It was a good feeling,” said Burgart on taking the Quinnipiac ice for the first time. “It’s been a long five weeks of just practicing and training, and we’ve been putting in a lot of hard work. It was good to finally get that first game under my belt, get my feet under me, and it felt pretty good to open the season.”
Davidson, after recording just ten points a season ago, was another shining star tonight, as he recorded two assists to go with a goal of his own.
“It feels good. It’s good for my confidence going forward. I’m pretty excited about it,” said Davidson after his big night.
Before Burgart and Chase Priskie set up Davidson for his goal though, it was Brandon Fortunato who gave the Bobcats the lead in the second period. The second-year transfer from Boston University latch onto the end of a pass from Tufto at the edge of the crease and rifled the puck into the top left for a Bobcats goal.
Second-liners Alex Whelan and Craig Martin also scored goals in the game, with Whelan’s coming just twelve minutes after Fortunato lit the lamp. The junior winger snagged the puck at center ice, took it all the way down to the left faceoff circle, and beat UPEI goaltender Matthew Mancina’s glove side to extend the lead to two.
Despite going on the power play eight times, Quinnipiac only sounded the horn one time, thanks to Martin just 96 seconds into the third period. After a clearing attempt by UPEI was kept in the offensive zone due to a lucky deflection off the skate of Peter DiLiberatore, Martin sent off a shot that was almost a flipped carbon copy of the one Whelan has scored on in second period – a shot from the right faceoff circle beat Mancina’s stick side, extending the lead to 4-1.
UPEI got one back two minutes later, but it was Davidson who put the game away with his goal ten minutes into the third period that sealed the game for the Bobcats and gave them a confidence-boosting win before the start of the regular season.
“It was a good win tonight,” commented Pecknold. “I thought our compete level was good, we weren’t perfect, we had ten freshman in the lineup, so we had some issues at times, but I thought the compete level was there and we battled. We found a way to win.”
Davidson was also impressed with his team’s showing, even with the abundance of youth taking the ice together in a game for the first time.
“There was a lot of positives. The freshman all fit right in. I wouldn’t say there were many negatives. Just little things to clean up, but besides that, I think it went well tonight,” he said.
Up next for the Bobcats is a trip north for their season opener against Hockey East’s Vermont Catamounts. Puck drop for that game is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 13.
