After splitting last weekend’s games with a loss to St. Lawrence and a bounce-back win over Clarkson, Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey earned a 6-2 win over the Union Garnet Chargers Friday night.
“I thought it was a good win, we had a good crowd tonight,” head coach Rand Pecknold said.
For starters, the Bobcats sent out graduate and senior defensemen Jayden Lee and Cooper Moore, both celebrating their respective birthdays, to hold down the defensive zone. They each contributed an assist in the winning effort – a nice birthday treat for the pair.
They were joined at the opening faceoff by senior forward Travis Treloar, sophomore forward Sam Lipkin as well as junior forward Colin Graf, who has become a surging Hobey Baker candidate throughout the season. Senior netminder Vinny Duplessis hugged the posts for the Bobcats.
Things looked slow and stale to start, as both teams traded icing and offsides calls for the first four minutes of the game.
Just under five minutes into the first period, Graf glided quickly over the blue line for a breakaway opportunity, staring down Union sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Chauvette. Chauvette was able to make the stop, but junior defenseman Cullen Ferguson was called for hooking on the Bobcat forward.
At 13:33, with just seven seconds remaining in the Quinnipiac powerplay, Moore found senior defenseman Iivari Rasanen for a swift one-timer goal to make it 1-0. Rasanen picked up his second goal of the season in the process, allowing the 2023 national champions to gain some quick momentum over the visitors.
With under five minutes to play in the period, Treloar shoved a cross-crease feed from Lipkin into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the campaign, turning it into a 2-0 game. On the play, Lipkin picked up his 19th assist, becoming the third player on Quinnipiac to have 30+ points this season.
Just 28 seconds later, first-year forward Andon Cerbone scored a third unanswered goal for the Bobcats. Lee and junior forward Jacob Quillan both picked up their 18th and 20th assists of the season, respectively.
The Bobcats rifled off 19 shots in the first period alone, compared to Union’s seven. Quinnipiac was able to keep up its offensive zone pressure all-throughout the game, but Union was able to strike back shortly after the start of the middle frame.
With Lee in the penalty box serving the latter half of a tripping penalty from the period prior, Union sophomore defenseman John Prokop scored a powerplay goal for the Garnet Chargers.
“It’s just a maturity thing,” Pecknold said of his team allowing powerplay opportunities. “Part of winning hockey games is not taking penalties. We’ve gotten better for a little while, but tonight there was a couple.”
Pecknold challenged the ruling on the ice, claiming that Prokop was offsides in his zone entry. The officials huddled around to review the goal, but upheld their call, making it a 3-1 game.
The Bobcats would respond rather quickly as just two minutes later, junior forward Christophe Fillion buried his ninth goal of the season. The assists would go to sophomore forward Alex Power and sophomore defenseman Jake Martin as the Bobcats extended the lead over their ECAC rival to 4-1.
“It was a great feeling, honestly,” Power said, enjoying his first collegiate multi-point game. I know we’re [probably] expected to beat these guys, but come playoff time, you can’t take any nights off.”
With five minutes remaining in the second, sophomore forward Nate Hanley put the puck into the back of the net, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Union captain and senior forward Ben Tupker, the twin brother of Quinnipiac’s graduate forward Zach Tupker, was credited with an assist on the goal.
The two teams entered the third period at even strength, but play immediately turned into a four-on-four situation. Quillan was sent to the box for a slashing penalty as Union senior forward Liam Roberton was called for a hold. Also on the play, Moore was assessed a ten minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Midway through the final period, the Bobcats wrapped up a three-on-two scenario with an impressive tic-tac-toe goal off the stick of sophomore defenseman Charles Alexis Legault, his seventh goal of the year. Fillion and Power both collected well-deserved assists on the play as the Bobcats extended their lead to three.
While Union scrambled to get something going in Quinnipiac’s zone, Duplessis continued to shut them down — even after the Garnet Chargers pulled their goalkeeper with four minutes remaining.
As a result, Quillan strolled into a breakaway with an empty net as he nonchalantly tapped the puck in for his 13th goal of the season, establishing a firm 6-2 lead.
After the goal, Duplessis traveled to the Bobcats’ bench. Pecknold called on junior goaltender Noah Altman to protect the net for the final three minutes. The remaining fans in M&T Bank Arena erupted when No. 31 made his way onto the ice.
This was Altman’s first appearance for Quinnipiac since the 2022-2023 season, when he came in to close out an 8-1 victory over Union on Dec. 10.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Altman said. “It’s a little funny when you get the reaction like that from the crowd, I love it don’t get me wrong. The guys are great about it.”
Altman was able to get the job done, as his teammates swarmed him following the final horn.
The Bobcats are back in action on Saturday as they welcome RPI to Hamden for a 7 p.m. matchup.
