The No. 15 Quinnipiac Bobcats began the CT Ice tournament Friday afternoon against the No. 13 UConn Huskies.
The team from Storrs entered with a 13-8-2 record, good enough for fourth place in Hockey East, and came in off a win and tie against the No. 6 Maine Black Bears.
The Bobcats looked to return to the CT Ice championship for the fifth straight year. Quinnipiac came in off a win against Colgate and a tie against Cornell.
The game started quickly through the first five minutes with two shots on goal from each team with no stoppage of play. Emotions ran high with a scrum in the Bobcats’ zone just over seven minutes in.
The Bobcats would go on the power play but were goalless with shots by graduate forward Travis Treloar and sophomore forward Mason Marcellus saved by Huskies junior goaltender Tyler Muszelik. A two-on-one chance with Marcellus and first-year forward Chris Pelosi was also unsuccessful.
UConn came close with under seven minutes to go on a quick turnover and shot by freshman forward Kaden Shahan. The Huskies would then go on a power play after a tripping by Marcellus.
Junior forward Victor Czerneckianair would follow him after a cross-check, leading to a 5-on-3 chance for UConn for about 50 seconds. The Bobcat penalty kill would stand tall, killing off both penalties while taking a few short-handed shots.
The goaltenders were on point this period with Quinnipiac’s first-year netminder Dylan Silverstein saving a one-on-one chance from junior forward Tabor Heaslip and Muszelik saving a shot by Czerneckianair.
The Bobcats began the second period on a powerplay which was quickly killed off by the Huskies.
UConn would strike first on a top-shelf wrister by junior forward Ryan Tattle to take a 1-0 lead. He was assisted by freshman forward Ethan Whitcomb and sophomore defenseman Viking Gustaffson Nyberg.
The Bobcats would tie the game at one later in the period on a tip-in by Treloar on senior defeneman Davis Pennington’s shot.
The game was Treloar’s 150th collegiate appearance.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Treloar said, “I’ve had some really good teammates and coaching staffs along the way. I really appreciate those guys helping me.”
“It’s great that he’s sitting next to me,” Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold said of Treloar. “He’s a great player, phenomenal on the power play and he’s worked on his faceoffs and defending… he’s an elite person and we’re fortunate to have him for a second year.”
Despite the two goals, the goaltenders continued to perform at a high level, stopping numerous chances from both teams.
In the third period, both teams got off to good starts offensively, but to no avail. Shots by graduate defenseman Cooper Moore and senior forward Jack Ricketts were both turned aside. The physicality continued in the form of numerous scrums and hits on both sides.
With just over eight minutes to go, Ricketts was sent to the penalty box on a tripping call. The ensuing UConn powerplay was killed off by strong zone defense by the Bobcats penalty kill unit.
Under three minutes Quinnipiac had a close chance at the net but was turned away by Muszelik with first-year forward Ryan Smith poking at the puck. With 17.7 seconds to go, UConn went on the powerplay after a tripping call on first-year forward Tyler Borgula.
UConn’s Tattle won the faceoff and the puck was thrown into the Bobcats’ zone. After a few passes around the zone, the puck was thrown in front and tapped in by Tattle with five-tenths of a second remaining on the clock.
The Quinnipiac challenge was unsuccessful and UConn won 2-1. Tattle was assisted by graduate forward Hudson Schandor and sophomore forward Joey Muldowney.
“We talked on the bench about a few ideas,” Tattle said, “I just faded off to the back post and [Hudson] threw it in front for me and I was lucky it got into the net.”
Muselik finished the game with 35 saves on 36 Quinnipiac shots on goal.
“I thought he was really square to the puck tonight,” said UConn Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh. “He made some big saves on grade-A chances, but we also did a great job boxing out in front of the next and not giving up second and third opportunities.”
This is Quinnipiac’s first time missing the championship game of CT Ice and will face the loser of Sacred Heart and Yale Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. UConn will face the winner and will attempt to win their first CT Ice in program history.
“We want to make the NCAA Tournament at the end of the day. It’s not a consolation game [tomorrow], it’s a play-in game for us,” Pecknold said, “It’s a good group, we’ll be ready to go.
