Amidst an otherwise frozen campus at Quinnipiac University, the men’s hockey team was ablaze Friday night. The Bobcats defeated Saint Lawrence by a score of 6-1, led by Mason Marcellus with two goals and a career-high four points.
Marcellus, a sophomore forward, got the Bobcats off to a fast start as he put the team’s second shot of the game in the back of the net, also notching a pair of assists to Chris Pelosi and then Aaron Schwartz. This was all before the first period was even halfway done.
Marcellus said the last time he was as efficient that early in the game “was probably when I was around eight”, adding “I don’t remember the last time I did that, that was pretty cool,” with a smile.
The rest of the first period blipped away, save for a pair of reviews. The first was an unsuccessful challenge by Quinnipiac on an alleged covering-the-puck call, and the second took what would have been the first Saint goal off the board. The non-goal by Reilly Connors was erased after an offside was confirmed.
The fiery hot start for the Bobcats was much expected, as heading into the two sides were a perfect mirror of each other regarding the ECAC standings. Quinnipiac was narrowly in first place, just one point ahead of Colgate. Conversely, Saint Lawrence was narrowly in last place, just one point behind Yale.
The second period was notably calmer than its predecessor. It was over halfway through before senior forward Jack Ricketts flung the puck to first-year linemate Tyler Borgula. Borgula’s first shot attempt was deflected right back to him, but then immediately reshot and snuck the puck past Saint goaltender Dominic Basse to make it 4-0 Bobcats.
This made it four consecutive games with four goals for them.
By the end of the second, Quinnipiac was out shooting Saint Lawrence 51-16.
In a shrewd sense of deja vu, it was just one minute into the third period when Marcellus added his second goal of the night. It was the Ontario native’s seventh goal of the season.
Minutes later, the Bobcats earned a power play when the Saints’ Will Arquiett was called on a slashed penalty. They did not score during the advantage, but just seven seconds after Arquiett left the penalty box, Jeremy Wilmer of the Bobcats tipped it through Basse’s legs for another Bobcats goal.
Playing with a massive lead, the Hamden faithful broke out into chants beckoning for senior goaltender, and assistant captain, Noah Altman to enter the game. The restless Bobcat crowd was persistent, as this was the first home game during the semester since a December 7th win over Union.
However, the goalie in the net, sophomore Matej Marinov, had a shutout going. To silence the chants, Marinov had a phenomenal one-on-one save against Cayden Casey to keep his scoreless game alive.
In the moments following, penalties from both sides resulted in a four-on-four situation. Without a Saint in sight, Elliott Groenewold passed to Victor Czerneckianair who potted the puck in the back of the net. The Saints finally caught a break, and a challenge overturned the goal.
After the game, Bobcat coach Rand Pecknold commented on the abundance of reviews. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where we’ve had that many penalties before”. Luckily, with the dominant Bobcat win he can laugh the oddity away.
In the final two minutes of the game, it was Arquiett who ruined Marinov’s perfect night. Before he could even turn to see the puck in the back of the net, Noah Altman’s skates were on the ice. In his three years as a Bobcat, Altman now has 16 minutes on the ice. The Bobcat fans roared as their chants were finally successful.
The Saints were not even able to get a shot off on Altman, who still has not surrendered a goal in his college career.
Quinnipiac returns to the ice tomorrow night, as they take on the Clarkson Golden Knights at 7:00 p.m.
