The No. 4 Quinnipiac University Bobcats are set to travel to Durham, New Hampshire to take on the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in a weekend series of NCAA men’s hockey both Friday and Saturday night.
This is a much-anticipated matchup for both sides, on account of how good each of these teams is and the fact that this is their first matchup against each other in their respective program histories. Both the Bobcats and the Wildcats are coming off wins from this past weekend.
The Wildcats recently faced off against the No. 1 ranked Boston University Terriers this past weekend, and the outcome came as a surprise to many people with the Wildcats dominating the Terriers in three straight periods. The final score of this game was 6-4 after the first period being tied at a score of 3-3.
In this game, sophomore Morgan Winters led the Wildcats in goals, putting up two goals in the second period, one of those goals being a short-handed goal. First-year Ryan Conmy led the team in assists with all three assists coming in their three first period goals. Sophomore Cy LeClerc, senior Luke Reid and junior Liam Devlin also contributed one goal each in the first period. Sophomore Kristaps Skrastins secured the win for the Wildcats with his third period goal to make the final score 6-4.
Three key players to watch on the ice for the Wildcats are Devlin, LeClerc and junior Colton Huard. Devlin led the team last season in points, recording 24 points on 12 goals and 12 assists. He has already recorded two points in his first game this season with one goal and one assist.
LeClerc was right behind Devlin in points last season with 20 points. These points came from 13 goals and seven assists on the season. He is currently tied with Devlin in points this season with two points coming from 1 goal and 1 assist against the Terriers. Huard had the third-most points last season with 19 points. Three goals and 16 assists contributed to his total.
The Wildcats’ goalie, sophomore Tyler Muszelik, made 20 saves on 24 shots against Boston University. Last season, he made 242 saves, only allowing 31 goals in 12 games.
Quinnipiac is currently 2-1 on the season after sweeping the weekend and coming back from a loss at home two weeks ago against Boston College. The Bobcats defeated the American International College Yellow Jackets both home and away.
Last Friday, the Bobcats traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts to take on the Yellow Jackets for the first time that weekend. Quinnipiac went down 1-0 going into the third period, but the Bobcats answered with a goal to tie the game and both teams went on to each score another goal, which led to overtime. In overtime, junior Jacob Quillan scored the game-winning goal to seal the game.
They faced each other once again on Saturday, but this game looked much different from the game played the night before. Six different Bobcats scored goals, contributing to a 8-0 shutout against the Yellow Jackets.
Junior Collin Graf led the Bobcats with five points in the game, scoring two goals and contributing three assists. Sophomore Sam Lipkin was right behind him with four points, which came from two goals and two assists. Quillan and junior Davis Pennington contributed three assists each.
Three key players to watch on this Bobcats team the line of Graf, Lipkin and Quillan. Graf dominated in his sophomore season, recording a whopping 59 points on his season where he scored 21 goals and contributed 38 assists. In his first season with the Bobcats, Lipkin registered 43 points with 14 goals and 29 assists.
Quillan had 38 points last season and was one of the key factors in their national championship victory, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. This season, fans have already witnessed how valuable he is in overtime because he had that game-winning goal against AIC last Saturday in overtime.
It is unknown which goalie will play against the Wildcats, since the Bobcats have already played two different goaltenders so far thus season, but both have shown their dominance in the net. Senior Vinny Duplessis has played in two games for the Bobcats, only allowing four goals on 41 shots.
First year Matej Marinov made his debut for the Bobcats last Saturday and did not disappoint. He did not allow any goals, good for a 100% save rate on the season. What’s a better way to start your collegiate career?
Both the Friday and Saturday games have a puck-drop time of 7 p.m. and will be available for streaming. ESPN+ will stream the game both days, with the Saturday also available to watch on NESN.
