Quinnipiac headed into a matchup with the Long Island University Sharks for the fourth time in the last three years, with the Bobcats dominating the series up to that point with a 3-0-1 record and a 16-5 goal differential.
Coming into the game, the Bobcats held a stellar 11-4-1 record, finding themselves in first place in the ECAC, with a commanding lead over Clarkson and Cornell, the respective No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the standings.
On a much different note, LIU found themselves at 7-10-1 on the year, although they were coming off a strong win against the Yale Bulldogs.
Right out of the gate, the Bobcats came out energized, commanding the puck for the first three and half minutes, getting four shots off before LIU’s first. After five minutes of play, junior forward Jacob Quillan found fellow junior Collin Graf with enough space to have Quinnipiac open the game’s scoring. However, after an LIU challenge, it was called back due to an offsides.
A few minutes later, it appeared that the Bobcats were in a prime position to break through again, as Brandon Perrone, the LIU goaltender, dropped his stick while the Bobcats possessed the puck. As his stick floated away on the ice, he used his body to block two shots from graduate defenseman Jayden Lee and third from Davis Pennington.
After 11 minutes, Pennington snapped the scoreless drought, cutting through the defense and finding the back of the net. However, in yet another wicked twist of fate, the goal was called back for goaltender interference on the Bobcats.
During the post game press conference, Quinnipiac’s head coach Rand Pecknold would go on tosay that “I don’t think that in my 30 years, I’ve ever had two goals called back, ever.”
Albeit, the Bobcats did not let this unheard-of coincidence stop them from fighting. Right after LIU defensemen Peter Muzyka got called for interference after roughing up Sam Lipkin, Quillian finally, truly got the Bobcats up to a 1-0 lead on the power play.
With three minutes to play in the first, Cade Mason of LIU took an extremely deep shot that was tipped into the net by Nolan Welsh to tie the game. Then, right as the second period began play, LIU took a 2-1 lead at the hands of Isaiah Fox.
As tensions rose, Muzyka got into another scuffle, this time with Graf. Play temporarily stopped for the two teams to get into it, but after the teams were separated, Muzyka received a five minute major for hitting from behind. With the Bobcats now on a powerplay, Graf would get his revenge, scoring his ninth goal of the year to tie the game at two apiece.
Eleven minutes into the second, with the Bobcats outshooting the Sharks 22-10, LIU called a timeout. It worked out for them, as first-year Mason Marcellus went to catch an errant puck, instead hooking Fox, giving the Sharks their first power play of the period.
As the power play ran down, the Bobcat defense had only allowed one shot the entire time, and with a full five around the ice now, they bled the rest of the second and headed to the third, still tied at two.
The third began with the LIU offense looking a tad stagnant, getting outshot 6-2 by Quinnipiac. It was not long before Quinnipiac’s Zach Tupker tapped in a deep shot from Pennington to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead.
The Bobcats began their defensive grind, with their captain, Lee, playing stellar defense against both Welsh and Jordan DiCocco to give his teammates time to get down the ice.
Then, after Lee was tripped leading to a power play, both Lee and Marcellus ripped shots that needed a stellar save by Perrone to keep the LIU deficit at one.
With just under three minutes remaining, LIU pulled Perrone for a last ditch effort. With the Sharks now having a 6-on-4 advantage after a tripping call on Pennington, Quinnipiac’s goalie Matej Marinov got caught out of position with a seemingly wide open net for the Sharks to tie the game on. At the last moment, CJ McGee got in front of the puck to send it flying up into the netting, allowing the Bobcats to hold onto the lead.
With under 10 seconds left in the game, Graf stole the puck in Quinnipiac territory and sent it down toward the empty net. The game’s weaning moments were put to an abrupt halt as the puck hit the back of the net.
When asked if his intentions were to score or clear, Graf chuckled.
“Probably a little bit of both,” he said.
With a little more icing on the cake now, the Bobcats exited the ice with a 4-2 victory.
The reigning champs now have three weeks off, returning to action next on Dec. 30 against Holy Cross.
