The Quinnipiac Bobcats’ home opener was on Friday, against the Maine Black Bears. The top ten duel featured the USCHO seventh-ranked Maine Black Bears vs. the 10-seed Quinnipiac Bobcats—a special day, as the first 750 guests received a 50th-anniversary t-shirt.
The game opened with a costly Bobcats’ turnover that led to a breakaway. William Gerrior capitalized on Quinnipiac goalie Matej Marinov with a beautiful forehand-backhand as Maine took an early 1-0 lead just over two minutes in. The Maine defense was tested early, but its backcheck remained superior.
The first power play came as Maine’s Frank Djurasevic went off for tripping. The Maine defense responded as Quinnipiac did not convert. Poor effort and a sluggish final five minutes from Quinnipiac let the game slip away early, with two more Maine goals from Owen Fowler and Miguel Marques. After one, the Black Bears led 3-0.
Just 14 seconds into the second, Ethan Wyttenbach brought a spark as he buried the power-play goal. Maine would not go away as Thomas Freel would net another breakaway goal at 11:36. Markus Vidicheck responded for Quinnipiac with a top-left snipe 12 minutes into the second from a high-danger chance to keep it a two-goal game. Quinnipiac’s penalty kill remained one of the bright spots all night.
Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold preached “buy in,” and the Bobcats responded quickly, scoring early in the second period.
Entering the third, Quinnipiac contained Maine’s special team units to 0-3, including 0-2 in the second.
Early in the third, the Bobcats generated traffic in front of the net, but Maine goaltender Albin Boija stood tall with a multitude of big saves off the blocker side. Quinnipiac goalie Matej Marinov got spun around and made an acrobatic save to keep this a two-goal game with 14:17 left.
With 10 minutes to go in the game, Quinnipiac came up empty on the power play, as it continues to struggle this year, as the relentless Black Bears’ pressure at the blue line was evident throughout.
Quinnipiac’s first-year winger and reigning ECAC rookie of the week, Ethan Wyttenbach said, “last weekend in Arizona, we did not have the best start, but managed with that huge win vs Notre Dame. We are just continuing to build slowly by slowly. It has been a great year so far as we look to build throughout the rest of the season.”
A massive breakthrough came with 2:39 left, the M&T Bank Arena erupted – as Elliott Groenewold netted his first of the year as they finally slipped one past Boija. The play went under review, but it stood. Head Coach Rand Pecknold pulled the goalie right after for the man advantage.
The decision paid off as Quinnipiac tied it with 1:52 left—Jeremy Wilmer delivered again for the Bobcats. Five minutes of three-on-three overtime, and neither team got a shot until the final minute. With nine seconds left, Quinnipiac had its best chance of the night on a breakaway, but once again, Boija robbed Antonin Verreault as he tried to go for a forehand-backhand.
Though the game ended in a 4–4 tie, Quinnipiac took the shootout 1–0. Ethan Wyttenbach scored first, and Marinov had three huge saves in the shootout.
Pecknold also said, “It was a great college hockey game, and we will try to be better tomorrow.”
Both teams are set to face off again Saturday at 4 p.m.
