Thoughts and Observations from Quinnipiac's midweek sweep of Holy Cross

Desi Burgart leads Quinnipiac with four goals this season

The Quinnipiac Bobcats bounced back from a disappointing weekend against Bowling Green to sweep Holy Cross in a home and home series. The Bobcats won 6-1 on Tuesday in Hamden and followed that up with a 3-0 road win on Wednesday prior to Christmas. Quinnipiac did what they had to do in these games which was essentially not lose them and they did that. Here are my thoughts and observations from the Holy Cross games. 

- Quinnipiac had a pair of good solid efforts against a much weaker opponent. They took care of business with ease on Tuesday with five players having multi point games. The Bobcats were in control from the start and never let Holy Cross even sniff a chance at getting back into the game. When Quinnipiac plays like that they are a dangerous team. Wednesday night was a game Quinnipiac also controlled but the score was much tighter. They got goals in each period while Keith Petruzzelli was on his game once again to pick up his first shutout of the season. 

- Two Bobcats look like they are taking that next step as players. Guus van Nes and Desi Burgart are off to greats starts this season for Quinnipiac. van Nes is tied for third on the team in scoring with a goal and five assists while Burgart leads the team in goals with four.  If those two can continue the hot start it will be big for the depth of this team during the season.

- One player who is struggling offensively right now is Skyler Brind'Amour. The sophomore forward has just one assist this season and is scoreless in his last five games. After a 13 point freshman year, Brind'Amour was expected to take even a further leap this season but right now is struggling to find the scoring sheet. Hopefully its only temporary but its something to watch.

- While I think this is a very talented Quinnipiac team I am not sure we will really know how good they are with the lack of quality non-conference opponents and only three other ECAC teams playing this season. We know Clarkson has in the past been a good team but they have struggled out of the gate with a 4-3 record and losses to RIT, Niagara and Colgate. I really wish other ECAC teams had not bailed on the season especially the Ivy League teams. 

- Freshman Christophe Fillion picked up his first collegiate point against Holy Cross on Tuesday. Fillion is a plus five in just three games played. Not bad from someone who started this season in junior hockey in the USHL and was expected to come in next season. 

- Keith Petruzzelli's stellar play rewarded him with his first shutout of the season in Wednesday's win over Holy Cross. The senior has a 1.56 goals against average and a .939 save percentage in his final season so far. He has gotten better in each of this four seasons in Hamden and is the backbone of this team. His play will dictate how far the Bobcats can go this season.

- I cannot stress how important this upcoming weekend series against American International College will be. This is the Bobcats final two non-conference games and they come against the team that is #3 currently in the pairwise rankings. Granted that is unlikely to continue but the Bobcats really need these two wins to boost their pairwise ranking as they head into the four team ECAC season. AIC is a very good defensive team as they have allowed just five goals this season in five games played all wins. The Yellow Jackets are coming off back to back 20 plus win seasons along with two Atlantic Hockey regular season titles. They are well coached by Eric Lang who is one of the top coaches in the Northeast. Quinnipiac will have their hands full with this team this weekend.

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