The No. 5 Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the Colgate Raiders 5-2 in the final regular season game at M&T Bank Arena of the season. Quinnipiac honored the six graduating seniors as three of them finished with a point in the victory.
“It’s a really good senior class,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold following the win. “Small [group], but good and effective.”
After a crucial conference loss the night prior to Cornell, Quinnipiac came out ready to rebound against Colgate.
“We were a little ticked off about how we played last night,” said Pecknold. “The boys responded well and it was good to win here on senior night.”
Dominance in the offensive zone headlined the first period of play as the Bobcats outshot the Raiders 18-5. The ECAC’s top powerplay unit capitalized on the man advantage with senior defenseman Will Gilson potting a one timer off the feed from first-year forward Antonin Verreault.
The second frame opened with fireworks as three goals were scored in the first five minutes. Quinnipiac’s first line saw freshmen Markus Vidicek and Ethan Wyttenbach each scoring and assisting one another. Colgate’s sophomore winger Max Nagel got the Raiders on the board.
Momentum stayed on Quinnipiac’s side as senior winger Anthony Cipollone sunk one to extend the Bobcats lead to 4-1. Senior captain Victor Czerneckianair notched the 30th assist of his career on the play. The bittersweet day had Czerneckianair reminiscing on his four years at Quinnipiac.
“It was awesome,” said Czerneckianair. “I think it’s really surreal, it comes so fast [and] I feel like it goes faster every year.”
A senior spotlight found Pecknold mentioning Cipollone’s elevated play over the past couple months as a key factor for the Bobcats winning habits.
“Cipollone has been unbelievable since Christmas,” said Pecknold. “He’s really elevated our team [with] his energy level and giving us that one extra push we can count on. I thought he was great tonight.”
Just 28 seconds into the third period, Colgate cut the deficit in half as sophomore defenseman Michael Neimeier trickled one past Quinnipiac goaltender Matej Marinov.
Physicality in the final period escalated as three Colgate players and two Quinnipiac players found seats in the penalty box following a brawl behind the Colgate net, with Mason Marcellus being given a game misconduct. Aaron Schwartz eased the tensions with an empty net goal to give Quinnipiac the 5-2 victory.
Hobey Baker nominee and first-year winger Ethan Wyttenbach added another three points in the contest, bringing his nation-leading total points to 54. Pecknold credits Wyttenbach’s growing maturity to his success.
“He’s targeted, people are going to hit him [and] run at him,” said Pecknold. “Colgate did some of that [and] I thought he handled it well tonight.”
The Bobcats hit the road next weekend to wrap up their regular season. The quest for a sixth consecutive Cleary Cup starts in Hanover, New Hampshire as Quinnipiac takes on No. 10 Dartmouth Friday night at 7 p.m.
