Quinnipiac hosted the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks on Tuesday night at the M&T Bank Arena.
The game was a rematch of the Oct. 10 game that featured Alaska upsetting Quinnipiac in the IceBreaker Tournament.
The team wore alternate white camo jerseys for a salute-to-service game.
Early in the first, the fast pace of play was evident, as Quinnipiac forced Alaska into its defensive zone for the first six minutes. Quinnipiac threatened early with multiple grade-A chances.
With 9:21 left in the first, Quinnipiac earned its first special teams opportunity of the game after a holding penalty on Alaska’s Chase Dafoe. Alaska stood firm on its penalty kill, as it didn’t allow Quinnipiac to set up. Right after the odd-man advantage, a massive hit to goaltender Lassi Lehti caused an interference penalty that was assessed to Quinnipiac’s Tyler Borgula.
Then with 48 seconds remaining on Alaska’s man advantage, Quinnipiac threatened with a short-handed opportunity and forced an Alaska penalty to Davis Borozinski. Quinnipiac delivers with 3:48 remaining in the first. The first shot went past the goalie and off the crossbar as Chris Pelosi buried the rebound for his fifth of the season.
After one, Quinnipiac dominated the time of possession and had a field day of opportunistic chances. The Bobcats led with shots on goal 17-3.
The second period featured back-and-forth play as the game settled down. Quinnipiac’s defense left no room for the Nanooks’ attack to operate outside with four minutes remaining, as Alaska got a sustained attack led by William Lawson-Body that forced Quinnipiac goalie Matej Marinov to be without his stick for the majority of the possessions. Both goalies, Matej Marinov and Lassi Lehti, played well as they looked for more offensive support.
Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said, “We’re a poorly coached team right now. I’ve got to do a better job, I’ve got to find a way to get them to buy in better.”
Quinnipiac dominated through 40 minutes, but the scoreboard would suggest otherwise, as they led 1-0. After 40 minutes of play, Quinnipiac still led with shots on goal 29-6.
Quinnipiac earned a power play just under two minutes into the third period after a holding call on Alaska’s Adam Cardona. The Bobcats could not convert on their best chance, as Elliott Groenewold hit the post, while Lehti put on a dominant performance.
Just over five minutes in, the Bobcats missed high on a wide-open breakaway chance. After back-and-forth hockey, the Nanooks tied the game during a four-on-four after a filthy forehand-backhand from Misha Danylov went to the top shelf past the glove side of Matej Marinov.
Marinov gave up a gut-wrenching second goal as the Nanooks took the lead with 7:29 remaining. The call was then overturned for goaltender interference as the stick was knocked out of Marinov’s hand.
Quinnipiac had a chance to take a late lead as they went on the power play with 6:02 remaining. They would capitalize three seconds into the power play, as freshman Ethan Wyttenbach ripped it past Lehti.
The Bobcats took a faceoff violation penalty to give Alaska a five-on-four advantage with 3:30 remaining. Lehti was pulled at 1:56, and Peyton Platter got a rebound goal to tie the game at two. The Bobcats would fail to score in the remaining time and the game would go to overtime.
After five minutes of overtime, the score remained tied at two, with Quinnipiac outshooting the Nanooks 41-13 in the game. The Nanooks would win the shootout 3-2 and the game would go down as a tie.
“There’s not many times I walk away from a game embarrassed… like I’m embarrassed,” said Pecknold
The Bobcats were the more aggressive, more skilled, and more physical team, and it was enough for a win. Quinnipiac moved to 5-2-2. The team starts ECAC play on Friday at Yale, in the Battle of Whitney Avenue at 7 p.m.
