Quinnipiac falls 6-2 to Harvard

Quinnipiac vs. Harvard (copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

Quinnipiac couldn't build off its strong performance Tuesday night against Princeton as they fell 6-2 on Friday to Harvard on white out night at Frank Perrotti , Jr. Arena. Quinnipiac was looking to build some momentum as the first semester winds down and while they got off to a quick start they couldn't sustain it as the game progressed as it was the Ryan Donato show that took over for the Crimson tonight.

Just 3:51 into the game Matt Forchuk sent a great pass from the half wall where Nick Jermain tipped it past Michael Lackey for the goal. The Qunnipiac lead was short lived as just three minutes later Harvard's Wiley Sherman bombed a shot from the point past Andrew Shortridge to tie the game. Not even two and half minutes later Ryan Donato won a battle for the puck, made a quick move around John Furgele who got held up by the official and beat Shortridge right in front of the net. With less than three and half minutes to play in the first period, Harvard struck again with Lewis Zerter-Gossage sniping a shot throw traffic past Shortridge. 

The second period was fast with very few whistles along with no penalties yet to be called in the game. Harvard played a strong second frame despite not winning the shot total in the period. In the third both teams finally went to the penalty box for the games only two penalties early in the period. Quinnipiac would cut the lead to a goal when Odeen Tufto fed Tanner MacMaster racing into the offensive zone where he beat Lackey short side for the goal. 

Quinnipiac vs. Harvard (photo copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

The Bobcat momentum was gone in an instant when less than two minutes later it was Ryan Donato with a wrap around goal to give the Crimson a two goal edge again. Donato, a possible United States Olympian this winter took a major hit after scoring the goal. The Boston Bruins draft pick sealed the game with an empty net goal from deep in his own defensive zone. The Crimson added a garbage time five hole goal by Seb Lloyd. 

Quinnipiac once again made another goal-tender look great this time in Michael Lackey who had not seen game action since the 2015-2016 season. Despite Quinnipiac having 43 shots on the net, it is the lack of finishing ability this roster has that is preventing this offense from taking strides forward. Andrew Shortridge finished with 24 saves and wasn't at his best but he did not have a ton of help in front of him from his defense. 

The Bobcats will now try to salvage a split of the weekend when they welcome Dartmouth to Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena tomorrow night. The Big Green are coming off a blow out loss 9-2 to Princeton in New Jersey.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Scouting the Enemy: Harvard Crimson

As we head into the first few days of December, I am not sure any follower of ECAC Hockey or college hockey for that matter would have thought that when Quinnipiac and Harvard met on December 1st, that both programs which were picked 1-2 in the league would be sitting below .500. Well here we are and that is the case as the 2-5-1 Harvard Crimson travel to Quinnipiac to face the 6-7-1 Bobcats. Both teams have had rough starts to the season as they look to climb a bit in the standings before the first semester ends in the next few weeks. Quinnipiac is coming off a strong 6-2 win over Princeton Tuesday night after getting swept by UMass over the past weekend while Harvard is 0-4-1 in its last five games though all have been on the road. 

Harvard Key Players: Ryan Donato (F), Jack Badini (F), Lewis Zerter-Gossage (F), Nathan Krusko (F), Adam Fox (D), John Marino (D), Rielly Walsh (F), Merrick Madsen (G)

The surprise is how much Harvard has slipped offensively as they still have some good talent on the roster. However, they did lose their top three scorers in Tyler Moy (45 points), Alex Kerfoot (45 points) and Sean Malone (42 points) along with Luke Esposito (36 points) so a drop off was expected but not to this degree. As a team they are averaging 2.50 goals per game which ties them for 48th nationally down significantly from a year ago when they averaged 4.06 goals per game and were second nationally behind Penn State. Ryan Donato leads this team up front with 10 points while freshman Jack Badini has 5 points. Other key contributors are Lewis Zerter-Gossage (5 points) and Nathan Krusko (5 points) along with freshman Henry Bowlby (4 points). Harvard needs more from senior Jake Horton who is second on the team with 27 shots only behind Donato with 37. Harvard's lethal power play from a year ago which was almost 26% is down to just a shade over 17%. The loss of talent up front has been greater than probably many people thought it was going to be. The key for Quinnipiac needs to be shutting down Donato. They need to play physical with him and not give him the time and space that he needs to work with. He is by far their best offensive player and the one who makes the Crimson offense go so keying on him is a pretty good start if you want to beat Harvard.

Defensively Harvard is still pretty good as they give up 2.50 goals per game which is tied for 10th nationally. A year ago they gave up 2.14 goals per game so they are too are from where they were a season ago. The Crimson have impressive puck movers on the blue line most notably Adam Fox the reining ECAC rookie of the year who has 7 assists and his fellow sophomore John Marino who has 3 assists. They are getting good production from freshman Reilly Walsh who has a lot of talent and they get experienced play from Wiley Sherman and Jacob Olson two of the upperclassmen on the blue line. The Crimson are strong on the penalty kill at 88.6% which is 4th in the country nationally and Quinnipiac probably would be better scoring on five vs five against Harvard than on the power play. The Bobcats need to avoid strong transition passes by Fox and Marino which could lead to easy offense for the crimson and play a strong neutral zone game these strong defensive players.

Merrick Madsen played in every game this season and while he does have two shutouts, he has also struggled in losses to Yale and Minnesota and gave up four goals in a tie with Boston College. Madsen has been average for the Crimson this year with a .906 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average numbers that are not as good as his previous two seasons. For the Harvard to get back on the right track they are going to need Madsen to play like he did the past two seasons because his play has hurt them at times this year. Quinnipiac could be catching Madsen in a rough stretch which could be good for them.

This is an important game for Quinnipiac as they need to start to build some momentum along with some wins as they head into the first semester break within the next couple of weeks. Despite the Crimson's record they should still be treated as a formidable opponent with the talent they still have on this roster and I would look for a really hard fought game tomorrow night that could go either way.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Quinnipiac rebounds with strong 6-2 road win over Princeton

Quinnipiac at Princeton (photo by Paul Pacelli, WQUN)

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey team rebounded in a big way after its struggles this past weekend as they blasted Princeton 6-2 at Hobey Baker Rink on Tuesday night. Six different players scored for Quinnipiac as they improved to 6-7-1 (3-4 ECAC) on the season. With the victory the Bobcats now are in 5th place in the ECAC standings with 6 points, 3 points behind Colgate for a top 4 spot. They also had five different players with multi point games on the night. 

Quinnipiac started the scoring 5:02 into the opening frame when Tanner MacMaster took a turnover in the neutral zone, raced into the offensive zone and buried one from the slot past Ryan Ferland. Eleven and a half minutes later Logan Mick found a loose puck in front of the net and scored top shelf on Ferland. It was a strong period for Quinnipiac that saw them out shot Princeton 12-3. 

Princeton got on the board seven and half minutes into the second period on Max Veronneau's 6th goal of the season. Quinnipiac found themselves on the power play five minutes later and made the Tigers pay when Brogan Rafferty's slap shot was re-directed by Bo Pieper past Ferland. Six and a half minutes later Quinnipiac again found the back of the net when the two teams skated four aside as Chase Priskie found Alex Whelan sitting uncovered in front of the net where he snapped a quick shot past Ferland. Quinnipiac after two periods had 28 shots compared to only 8 for Princeton.

Quinnipiac had to fight off a Princeton push in the third period where they out shot the Bobcats 15-8 in the final frame. Nick Jermain sent a dagger through the Tigers with a wrap around goal for his first of the season with less than seven minutes left to play. Princeton quickly responded on a David Hallisey goal but it was a too little too late for the Tigers with Quinnipiac's Kevin McKernan sealing a happy bus trip home to Hamden with the empty net goal. 

It was possibly Quinnipiac's best effort of the season against a quality opponent. 13 different players picked up points while the Bobcats received multi point games from Odeen Tufto (2 assists), Brogan Rafferty (2 assists), Kevin McKernan (1 goal, 1 assist), Karlis Cukste (2 assists) and a strong game from Bo Pieper (1 goal, 1 assist) who also won 10 of 16 face-offs on the night. Andrew Shortridge made 21 saves for his 5th win of the season as its looking more and more like he should see the majority of the starts the rest of the way.

Quinnipiac now heads home for two crucial ECAC games against Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend as both teams have two games in hand on Quinnipiac are right behind them in the standings. 

In the Pipeline 11/27/2017

A week after sweeping a home slate and looking like the team was going to get back on track, Quinnipiac was swept in a home and home series with UMass Amherst sending the Bobcats to a 5-7-1 record and putting this season on the verge of sputtering out of control after 6 losses in their last 8 games. Quinnipiac has an early week game against Princeton followed by a weekend home slate against Harvard and Dartmouth. A lot of the future Bobcats played over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend so let's take a look at how some of them did.

Wyatt Bongiovanni (photo via MLive.com)

USHL commits

Wyatt Bongiovanni had two more points in Saturday's 3-2 win for Muskegon over Lincoln. He has a a goal and an assist with the goal coming way of the power play. It was a strong month of November for Bongiovaani with 5 goals and 5 assists. On the season he has 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) and is tied for third on the team in scoring.

Zach Metsa is on a hot streak. He has recorded a point in his 5th straight game with a pair of assists in two games over the weekend and now has points in 7 of his last 8 games for the Youngstown Phantoms. In 17 games played, Metsa has 9 points (1 goal, 8 assists).

William Fällström returned from a minor injury with the Fargo Force to record an assist this past week. In 17 games played the Stockholm, Sweden native has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists).

Domenick Fensore had an assist in two games played over the weekend as the U-17 US Developmental team played Sioux Falls and Omaha in USHL play. In 7 USHL games he has 1 assist.

Justin Robbins got his third start of the season for the Chicago Steel. He played in Friday's shootout loss to Lincoln. He gave up 4 goals in the game for the Steel. On the season the New Jersey native has an 0-1 record with a 6.00 goals against average and an .824 save percentage.

AJHL Commits

Matt Cassidy had one assist in three games played over the past week for the Brooks Bandits. In 20 games played, the New Jersey native has 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists).

Ethan de Jong (photo by James Doyle, Prince George Citizen)

BCHL Commits

Ethan de Jong of the Prince George Spruce Kings continues to rack up the points. He had another 4 this past weekend in two games played (2 goals, 2 assists). He is also riding a 5 game point streak along with points in 9 of his last 10 games played. On the season he has 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists) in 29 games played and is tied for 6th in the BCHL in scoring.

Michael Lombardi picked up his 7th goal of the season in Friday's 7-2 win for West Kelowna. The Rhode Island native now has 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists) in 27 games played.

Midget Commits

Jacob Quillan added three more assists this past week in three games played for the Steele Subaru Major Midgets. On the season Quillan now has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) in 21 games played.

Austin Spiridakis picked up another an assist this past weekend for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders AAA team. In 17 games played, Spiridakis has 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists).

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Scouting the Enemy: Princeton Tigers

Quinnipiac is officially in a slump. For the third time in the last four weeks they finished a weekend getting swept. They have lost 6 of 8 games in November to fall to 5-7-1 on the season. The Bobcats have a short turnaround with an early week game against a talented Princeton team on Tuesday night at Hobey Baker Rink in Princeton, New Jersey. A year ago it was the Tigers who dominated in Quinnipiac in a sweep that essentially helped keep the Bobcats out of the NCAA tournament. Right now Quinnipiac is just fighting to possibly save its season from taking a down turn.

Princeton Key Players: Max Veronneau (F), Ryan Kuffner (F), Jackson Cressey (F), Eric Robinson (F), David Hallisey (F), Josh Teves (D), Reid Yochim (D), Ryan Ferland (G)

Princeton has one of the better offense's that Quinnipiac will see this year in the ECAC. They are averaging 3.22 goals per game and have some impressive forwards that can consistently find the back of the net. Quinnipiac will need to be able to contain the top line of Ryan Kuffner (10 points), Alex Riche (6 points) and Max Veronneau (11 points) in order to slow down the Tigers strength on offense. They also get strong production from Jackson Cressey (8 points) and Eric Robinson (8 points) along with senior David Hallisey (7 points). Special teams for Princeton are a strength with their power play second strongest among ECAC teams at 21.88% (7-of-32). Quinnipiac has had some defensive lapses recently that it must get cleaned up or Princeton is the type of team that will make them pay with the talent they have up front.

Defensively Princeton is ranked tied for 31st at 2.89 goals per game but that number is high due to a couple of bad games against good ECAC teams (Cornell and Union). Princeton's senior defensive pair of Matt Nelson and Joe Grabowski are the most experienced defenseman for the Tigers but so far a combined minus six. Josh Teves (8 points) and Matthew Thom form the second pair and combined they are a plus five on the season so far. Reid Yochim and Derek Topatigh make up the third pair and they have provided some offense to the Tigers from the blue line with 9 points combined. As I said earlier, Princeton has good special teams and that includes their penalty kill which is 8th best in the country at 87.5% (28-of-32). Quinnipiac has been struggling on offense only mustering 4 goals this past weekend against a young but talented UMass squad.

After seeing Colton Phinney man the pipes for the past four seasons, the Bobcats will see a new face in goal with freshman Ryan Ferland expected to get the nod for the Tigers. The 6'0 175 pound Franklin, Massachusetts native is off to a solid start with a 2.84 goals against average and a .918 save percentage along with a 4-3-1 record. He struggled a bit against two of the better teams in the ECAC (Cornell and Union) but has given the Tigers some stability back there in goal.

I think Princeton is going to give Quinnipiac everything they can handle tomorrow night. With the season sputtering on the verge of getting out of control, Quinnipiac needs a character win to build something off of because if the losses continue to mount up, the frustration possibly could start to set in up on York Hill in the second half of the season.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Quinnipiac falls 6-3, gets swept by UMass

BobcatsHockeyBlog file photo

For the third time in the last four weeks Quinnipiac has ended a weekend getting swept as they fell 6-3 to UMass Amherst in at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts on the back leg of a home and home series. The Bobcats now have dropped 6 out of 8 games in November, tying a stretch when they lost 6 of 8 games last season.  It's not going to get any easier with a short turnaround for a Tuesday game on the road at Princeton followed by Harvard coming to Hamden next Friday.

While UMass got a hat trick from senior Niko Rufo, it was the young kids making sure that it was the Minutemen who got the last laugh on the weekend. UMass got the scoring started when Rufo took a feed from Cale Makar at the point and sent a wrist shot past Keith Petruzzelli. A little over a minute later Oliver Chau scoring on back handed five hole goal through Petruzzelli. Quinnipiac on the board when Logan Mick scored his first collegiate goal after redirecting Luke Shiplo's shot past UMass goaltender Ryan Wischow.

That was as close as Quinnipiac would come in this game as UMass scored 51 seconds into the second period by Mitchell Chaffee and then 12 minutes later Niko Rufo potted his second of the game. The Minutemen went into the second intermission up 4-1 despite being out shot 35-12. Oliver Chau sent an early dagger through Quinnipiac with a power play goal to make it 5-1, a score that essentially made it impossible for the Bobcats to mount a comeback.

Quinnipiac found a bit of life when Alex Whelan blew past the Minutemen's Jack Suter and rifled a shot high past Wischow. The Bobcats inched a bit closer when they scored immediately after Bo Pieper won a face-off back to Craig Martin who dished it over to Brandon Fortunato who blasted home his first goal and point as a Bobcat. Niko Rufo's empty net goal capped the scoring and the win for the Minutemen who improve to 7-6 on the season while Quinnipiac drops to 5-7-1.

It was a rough home coming for Keith Petruzzelli a resident of nearby Wilbraham, Massachusetts as he was tagged for 5 goals on 18 shots. The slumping Bobcats now head back into ECAC play on Tuesday when they travel to Princeton before returning home for Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Quinnipiac's offensive struggles return in 2-1 loss to UMass

Quinnipiac vs. UMass (copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

Just a week ago the Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey team scored 8 goals and won two games. It looked as if they might have turned a corner. Fast forward one week and the inconsistencies on offense have returned as Quinnipiac fell 2-1 to UMass Amherst in the first leg of a home and home series at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena on Friday night. This is the 5th time this season that Quinnipiac has failed to score more than one goal in a game. Four of those games were losses with the other being a tie against Boston College. One thing is certain is that the offensive issues of this team are very real.

The visitors from Amherst brought a slew of talented freshman into Hamden and they did not disappoint accounting for both goals and the lone assists on each goal. Mitchell Chaffee scored his 4th goal of the season 11:46 into the opening frame on a feed from leading point scorer Oliver Chau. Quinnipiac had its opportunities with 16 shots on goal in the opening frame. 

Quinnipiac vs. UMass (copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

The Bobcats got its lone goal 1:51 into the second period when some slick passing by Tanner MacMaster and Odeen Tufto set up John Furgele for his first goal as a Bobcat since transferring from the University of New Hampshire. However that lead was short lived when just over two minutes later San Jose second round draft pick Mario Ferraro sniped a tough angled shot that got by Quinnipiac goaltender Andrew Shortridge for the goal. Quinnipiac had some opportunities in the third period but could not capitalize. Kevin Duane was given 5 minute major for a contact to the head and a game misconduct on a hit that looked like a good hockey hit. The lone bright spots were Andrew Shortridge who made 23 saves and the Quinnipiac penalty kill which was a perfect 5 for 5 on the night. 

The home and home series wraps up tomorrow night in Amherst where Quinnipiac needs to avoid being swept for the third time in the past four weeks. With the losses piling up the Bobcats chances of getting an at-large bid down the road are starting to dwindle as the pairwise rankings are starting to matter along with the fact they are losing to teams below them in the rankings.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.