Quinnipiac University will host an NCAA college hockey top-ten team this weekend when the No. 7 Bobcats host the No. 10 Cornell University Big Red on Friday, Nov. 17.
Cornell enters the weekend with a record of 4-1-1 after two close games last weekend. Dartmouth took them down to the wire as the Big Red earned a shootout win at home on Friday, Nov. 10 by a score of 3-2. The following evening, they dropped a close 3-2 game to Harvard University.
Cornell struggled during the weekend on the penalty kill which was uncharacteristic considering their 88% penalty kill efficiency so far this season. This struggle continued on Friday as Harvard’s Alex Gaffney netted two on the power play pushing them to that 3-2 victory.
The Bobcats are heading into this weekend’s 2-0-0 after hosting the Brown University Bears on Friday, Nov. 10 winning 5-1. After Brown, Quinnipiac followed the win by beating their rival, the Yale University Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 11 with a score of 5-2.
Quinnipiac was able to find their success in these games by playing clean hockey and keeping their opponents off the power play. Throughout the two games, the Quinnipiac only found themselves on the penalty kill a total of three times.
Quinnipiac was also helped by the return of Collin Graf who missed the last four games due to injury. Graf totaled six points in the two games. Graf tallied one goal and five assists which earned him the ECAC Forward of the Week.
For Cornell to take down the Quinnipiac, they must fix their recent issues on the penalty kill and do their best to slow down Graf.
Quinnipiac currently has three losses and Graf has played in two of them. Every game Graf has registered a point, the Bobcats have gone on to victory. Quinnipiac has an overall record of 7-3-1 on the season.
If the Bobcats are to continue winning, they must continue to play clean hockey as the Big Red are a strong team on the power play. Cornell must also do their best to keep Jacob Quillan, Graf and Sam Lipkin out of the penalty box. When on the ice, Cornell has to shut them down on the ice as well as those three have been crucial to the teams’ success so far this season.
Both men’s ice hockey games will have a start time of 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on theqbsn.com/listen. Live tweeting on ‘X’ will also be available via @QBSN.
