The No. 9/10 Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the No. 12/13 Boston University Terriers by a final score of 6-2 on Saturday, Nov. 15 in Hamden.
This top 15 matchup saw six different goal scorers for the Bobcats and marked a multi-point game for six different skaters.
“I mean that’s our strength, right?” said head coach Rand Pecknold. “We’re deep and we are good across the board. We thought of everything well and it was just an overall good effort.”
The first period saw the Bobcats take a three goal lead over the Terriers with junior forward Mason Marcellus opening up the scoring for Quinnipiac in the first three minutes of play from a Chris Pelosi pass at the blue line.
That wouldn’t be the only contribution from Marcellus for the period as he later sent one across the ice to captain Victor Czerneckianair who beat Boston’s goaltender Mikhail Yegorov to extend the lead to two.
The final five minutes of play of the first saw the third line of first-years each pick up their first point of the night as Antonin Verrault sent a puck cross ice to Ethan Wyttenbach who set up Nate Tivey for his first collegiate goal.
“The first-years are so skilled it’s unbelievable,” said junior forward Mason Marcellus. “Even just guarding them at practice is challenging but they’re just getting started. We should just keep seeing them progress and progress so they will be even more exciting moving on.”
Heading into the second period the ice saw a decently quiet first ten minutes of play. But after the media timeout the Terriers came out strong and looked to cut the lead for the Bobcats. Boston’s Jack Harvey picked up a short-handed goal after slotting it just past Matej Marinov off an assist from Cole Hutson.
However, the powerplay has been a strong suit for Quinnipiac this season, as just 45 seconds after Harvey’s goal, forward Antonin Verrault picked up his first goal of the game to put the Bobcats back ahead by three.
69 seconds after that it would become 5-1 Quinnipiac with another powerplay goal from Ethan Wyttenbach assisted by Will Gilson and Verrault.
While the Terriers were able to find the back of the net once more off a shot from Nick Roukounakis, those would remain the two goals of the game for Boston University.
The third period collapse is something of major concern for Quinnipiac that came to light within the last week of play, however, that was not the case for this match. While they worked to maintain their dominant lead, they also saw a goal from Markus Vidicek with the assist going to Marcellus and to Jeremy Wilmer to finalize this game with a score of 6-2.
This game was not just a dominant win to add to the sheet though, it was a statement.
“Those [NHL] logos besides their name makes them think they are better than us and have a better mentality,” said Marcellus. “But in the end, it’s a team game and we showed out there that we can play better.”
The matchup also marked the first time senior Jeremy Wilmer would face-off against his former squad since transferring to Quinnipiac last season. Though he did not find the back of the net, Wilmer put up two points through two assists that helped push the Bobcats to victory.
“He’s the smartest player on our team” said Marcellus. “Its not even close. The plays he makes are unbelievable. Being able to finally play with him is definitely special and I’m super excited for it to keep going.”
The Bobcats registered 49 shots on goal during the contest, the highest amount they’ve hit on net all season. Getting the pucks on net and continuing to buy-in throughout the entirety of the game is what allowed them to push to get the win on Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Hamden.
“Obviously we had a good night…we played a good game.” said first-year forward Antonin Verreault. “We played the Bobcats way.”
The Bobcats will be back in action for an ECAC matchup against the Clarkson Golden Knights on Friday, Nov. 21 at M&T Bank Arena.
