In the first round of the Connecticut Ice Tournament at Webster Bank Arena, the Quinnipiac Bobcats gutted out a 3-2 victory over the Sacred Heart Pioneers thanks to an overtime winner by Zach Metsa. Quinnipiac will play the University of Connecticut in the championship, while Yale will take on Sacred Heart in the consolation matchup.

The Bobcats struck first in the contest, where Joey Cipollone found some room in the slot and ripped the puck past Sacred Heart goaltender Justin Robbins at the 6:47 mark of the first period. TJ Friedmann and Marcus Chorney were awarded assists on the play.

“We did a good job getting on the forecheck… playing to our identity,” said Cipollone. “I came off the bench.. luckily the puck found me on my stick, and I was able to put it home.”

Not many changes were seen on the scoresheet until the third period, where the flood gates began to open for both squads. After the second period, the Bobcats held on to a 1-0 lead, partially thanks to the strong effort from Dylan St. Cyr, who stopped all 17 shots faced through the first 40 minutes.

The Pioneers didn’t make it easy on the No. 2 ranked Bobcats, as they found an offensive spark in the third period, tallying two goals in a 3:36 span to take the 2-1 lead. Neil Shea found twine as he walked himself into the slot and beat St. Cyr up high, right before Dakota Raabe was able to capitalize on an odd-man rush from a tough angle.

While the Bobcats pressured, they were not able to get any offense going until coach Rand Pecknold pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker, rather early, with 3:05 to play. The move paid off for the Bobcats, as Cipollone found himself open on the back door and was able to even the score for his second of the night. The goal came with just 1:19 to play, and Wyatt Bongiovanni and Ethan de jong added the helpers on the tally.

The rest of the story told itself, as Metsa was able to direct home a dribbling puck at the 3:51 mark in overtime, securing Quinnipiac’s spot in the championship game. Oliver Chau made the pass to Metsa, and Bongiovanni picked up his second assist of the night on the play.

When asked about what made Quinnipiac the better team tonight, Metsa said “resilience.”

“We stuck with it,” said Metsa. “Even when they scored that second goal, on the bench we were chatting, ‘We still got this. We just have to play our game.’”

As the Bobcats entered the game 19-2-3, dominating most of their competition, they haven’t had to face much adversity this season. This was a game where the Bobcats had to respond to adversity, and Coach Pecknold recognized that.

“We kept talking about how our culture needed to come through tonight,” said Pecknold. “We got a nice group of guys- they compete, they’re commited, and eventually it (our culture) came through for us, and we found a way.”

Since the Bobcats found a way, they will take on the UCONN Huskies in the championship game Sun, Jan. 30 at 4:30 p.m. from Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.