PRINCETON, NJ — It took 13 seconds for Quinnipiac to find its preliminary goal Friday night. Twenty-four hours later, it took over 36 minutes. In a juxtaposed home-and-home series for the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team, the Bobcats walked away twice victorious, first by seven goals, and Saturday by a more typical 3-1 final score.
The weekend’s matchup originally began as a showdown between the ECAC’s top two teams. But after Quinnipiac’s 9-2 thrashing of the Tigers Friday night, Princeton dropped to third in the conference standings behind Yale heading into the latter game.
Nonetheless, a nearly sold-out crowd dawning both blue-and-gold and black-and-orange merchandise packed into the rustic brick walls of the Hobey Baker Arena for an exciting night of NCAA hockey.
While the first period ended scoreless, the action was ever-so-apparent. When contrasted against their play from Friday night’s game in Hamden, Connecticut, the Tigers played a much cleaner brand of hockey — one in which they defended better and put more pressure on the Bobcats’ defensive units.
“(Princeton) did a really good job reloading and getting their guys prepared,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold. “They definitely made a couple of tweaks here and there.”
Ethan Pearson — Princeton’s junior netminder of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada — proved to be the period’s unequivocal most valuable player, steering away 14 shots on goal and erasing any offensive opportunities brewed by the Bobcats.
With Pearson and his cross-ice counterpart, senior goaltender Vinny Duplessis, each poised to keep scoring low, both teams were forced to dig deeper to find offensive success.
Two Bobcat penalties carried over to begin the second period, allowing Princeton clean ice, fresh legs and a 5-on-3 man advantage. To an unhappy home crowd, the Bobcats fourth-ranked nationally penalty kill swept up the mess and escaped unharmed.
Penalties littered the score sheet in the second period, as players on both sides filtered in and out of the box. In just 20 minutes of play, the two teams combined for six two-minute minors.
With the period winding down, junior forward and season-long resident of the Hobey Baker award watchlist Collin Graf skated into a pass from captain Jayden Lee, turning and firing a shot from the point past Pearson for the game’s first goal.
Being one of nine goal scorers on Friday, Graf refused to settle for just one again on Saturday. Nine seconds into the third period, the Bobcats ran their trademarked ‘Jet’ play — the same play that cemented their overtime winner in the team’s NCAA championship run last year.
With a 2-on-1 quickly unfolding in front of Pearson, junior forward Jacob Quillan dished the puck to Graf, who pivoted to his backhand to flip in his second goal of the night.
Just a few minutes later, Princeton’s Ian Murphy would get comfortable in the penalty bin following a two-minute minor for hitting from behind. Fortunately for him, he wouldn’t have to serve the entire two minutes. Unfortunately for Princeton, it meant Quinnipiac scored its third goal of the game, credited this time to junior forward Christophe Fillion.
Princeton would not be held off the board, however, before the final buzzer rang. With less than five minutes to play, officials served Quillan two minutes for tripping and graduate defenseman CJ McGee five minutes for grabbing the facemask of a Tiger. Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty pulled his goaltender for a desperation 6-on-3 comeback attempt.
Needing three goals in three minutes, the Tigers would get just one, a sizzling one-timer off the stick of Noah de la Durantaye, who powered the goal past a diving Duplessis.
Despite losing a potential shutout with just minutes to play, Duplessis received high praise from his head coach after a game off Friday night.
“I thought he was excellent,” Pecknold said. “It’s tough when you’ve got a shutout going and then you got that 6-on-3 and you have to try to defend (it)… but I thought he was our best player tonight.”
Another Bobcat who enjoyed a successful performance was sophomore forward Sam Lipkin, who sustained consistent offensive pressure all night, filling up the stat sheet with an assist on Graf’s second goal.
But the best part of his night? Playing in front of an entire section of friends and family members who traveled from his native Philadelphia to watch him play.
“It’s awesome… all my close friends came to watch me play tonight,” Lipkin said. “It’s really special for me, and I’ve had some success (at Hobey Baker Arena) before so that helps.”
While a typical trip to Quinnipiac’s home rink might take over three hours, it’s just a brief 30-40 minutes from Philadelphia to the nearby Princeton campus.
“I heard them when they announced the starting lineups, they went crazy for him, which was funny,” Graf joked postgame. “Obviously it’s nice when the family comes out. They can’t come a lot (so) it makes those days special.”
Sitting comfortably atop the ECAC with a record now of 8-0-1, the Bobcats will continue conference play next weekend, when they head northbound for New York to take on the Colgate Raiders first on Friday, Jan. 19 followed by the Cornell Big Red on Saturday, Jan. 20.
