Quinnipiac end firsts half with sour taste in 4-1 loss to Princeton

The No. 7/8 Quinnipiac Bobcats ended the first half of season with a sour taste in their mouth after falling 4-1 loss to Princeton this afternoon at High Point Solutions Arena. Its the first time since the 2008-2009 season that the Bobcats have been swept in the season series by Princeton. It was an embarrassing weekend of play by Quinnipiac to get a swept by team that won a combined 15 games the past three seasons. Once again the Bobcats out shot their opponent and came away without any points. Its been the theme of the team the past few weeks to out shoot the opponent and lose.

Max Veronneau (photo by Nick Wosika/Along the Boards)

Princeton got on the board early in the first when Max Veronneau scored unassisted at the 3:20 mark of the first period. After Tim Clifton took a charging penalty on a big hit, the Tigers made it 2-0 on a power play goal by Ryan Kuffner from Josh Teves and Veronneau. Quinnipiac out shot the Tiger 13-11 in the opening frame.

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold made the switch in goaltenders in the second period going to freshman Andrew Shortridge in lieu of starter Chris Truehl. The Bobcats cut the Tigers lead in half 24 seconds into the period when Kevin Duane scored on a breakaway for his third goal in as many games. Landon Smith and Bo Pieper got the assists. Duane became the first Bobcat to score goals in three consecutive games since Scott Davidson did it in March of last season. Quinnipiac and Princeton traded one power play opportunity each for the period. The Bobcats out shot Princeton 15-9 in the second frame.

Kevin Duane, left (photo by Mickey Bedell/Bangor Daily News)

In the third, Princeton got their two goal lead back early in the period Max Becker put one past Shortridge. Jackson Cressey got the assist on the Becker goal. Quinnipiac had two power play opportunities in the middle of the period and could not capitalize. Max Veronneau sealed the win with an empty net goal with less than two minutes to play.

Quinnipiac now heads into the break on a down note having lost four of their last five games including three consecutive ECAC conference games. The offense has been invisible the last six games averaging 1.8 goals per game while the defense usually a strength of the Bobcats has been pathetic giving up 3.3 goals per game with many of these goals on lazy turnovers. You have to wonder if the loss of associate coach Reid Cashman who I believe was the de facto defensive coordinator is catching up to this team. Rand Pecknold and his staff now have 19 days to correct what has gone wrong in the last six games of the first half before they take on Boston College in the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh on December 29th.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow him on Twitter @jonathan_singer.