Weekend in Review: Quinnipiac vs Princeton

Quinnipiac sweeps Princeton for the second consecutive year

The second half of the season is officially underway and for Quinnipiac they got off to a great start with a sweep of the weekend series against the Princeton Tigers winning 3-1 and 4-3 in a home and home slate that began at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday followed by the last home game in Hamden this decade on Sunday. It is the second consecutive year that Quinnipiac has swept Princeton. Here are my thoughts from the weekend games.

- How big were these four points for Quinnipiac? They moved from 10th to 5th in the ECAC standings in just a weekend and now have once again positioned themselves for a first round bye and home ice. Had the Bobcats got swept or even split it might have been a bit tougher to gain home ice but now its back in play for the Bobcats.

- It was a tale of two games for Quinnipiac who got off to a hot start in the first leg of the weekend series jumping on Princeton with two goals in the first period before getting a late power play goal from Wyatt Bongiovanni to win 3-1. Sunday night, the Bobcats fell down 2-0 and 3-2 before rallying and winning 4-3 with a late goal by Bongiovanni again. The sophomore leads Quinnipiac with 8 goals this season.

- Congratulations to junior Odeen Tufto who reached 100 points as a junior with his second assist of the night on Sunday. Tufto had a four point weekend with a goal and three assists after ending the first half of the season with four straight scoreless games. They are going to need more games like we saw over the weekend from Tufto down stretch if Quinnipiac wants to go deep into March.

- It was a big weekend for the Quinnipiac sophomores who had ten points and five of the seven goals. If the Bobcats are going to have a second half resurgence then its going to have to be the sophomore class that carries them. Wyatt Bongiovanni and Zach Metsa had three point weekends while Peter Diliberatore had a goal and assist.

- The Quinnipiac defense is starting to gain steam offensively. Four goals this weekend including two from Zach Metsa, one from Peter Diliberatore and the first collegiate goal from freshman Jayden Lee. They were also solid in their own end as well which will be key in the second half of the season.

- Don't look now but junior goaltender Keith Petruzzelli has continued his strong play from the end of the first half of the season. He was stellar on Saturday night with a 34 save effort and while he only had 23 saves on Saturday, he made some spectacular saves to keep Quinnipiac in the game. In 17 games this season he is 9-6-1 with a 2.26 goals against and a .914 save percentage. He continues to get better each week and has solidified the goal-tending position for the Bobcats especially after the early season struggles. I would expect Rand Pecknold to ride Petruzzelli all the way to March now.

- Quinnipiac played a very disciplined game this weekend not being penalized on Saturday and only having two minor penalties. If this team can play this way down the stretch it should bold well for them. Stay out of the box and just do your job and good things will happen.

- We saw the first game action this season for defensemen Marcus Chorney as Logan Britt did not play this weekend. Its unknown if this was due to injury or something else but Quinnipiac already lost two defensemen in Cam Boudreau and Wyatt Head who both departed back to the junior ranks after not playing in the first semester. Depth is now a concern back there with the losses so I wonder if getting game action for Chorney will help in case of other injury situations.

- Quinnipiac has two more big home games against Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend before a North Country trip. Harvard crushed Quinnipiac 7-2 in early November while the Bobcats skated to a 2-2 tie with Dartmouth. With Harvard tied for second in the league and Dartmouth tied with Quinnipiac for 5th currently, these are four huge points up for grabs this weekend that could determine where Quinnipiac finishes. Outside of a non-conference game against Holy Cross and the Connecticut Ice tournament, its all ECAC games from here on out.

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Weekend Preview: Princeton Tigers

Captain Karlis Cukste and Quinnipiac open the second half of the season this weekend

Princeton Head Coach: Ron Fogarty (6th season)

2019-2020 Princeton record: 2-8-3 (0-4-2 ECAC)

All-time vs. Princeton: Quinnipiac leads series 17-12-1

Princeton Key Players: Jackson Cressey (F), Corey Andonovski (F), Christian O'Neill (F), Lima Grande (F), Spencer Kersten (F), Derek Topatigh (D), Matthew Thom (D)  Ryan Ferland (G)

Quinnipiac is set to open the second half of the season this weekend with a home and home with the Princeton Tigers. It has been a tough start to the season for Ron Fogarty's team struggling to a 2-8-3 record in the first half of the season. The Tigers got cleaned out after last season losing four of their top five scorers which accounted for 127 of the 229 points for Princeton. Gone are Ryan Kuffner, Max Veronneau, Alex Riche and Josh Teves and it has been a struggle to replace that production so far for Princeton. A team that failed to live up to expectations last year has really fallen off this season with the lack of high end talent up front and inconsistent play on the back end.

When you lose the likes of Kuffner, Veronneau and Riche up front, its expected that goals will be hard to come by. So far that has been the case for Princeton who have averaged 1.92 goals per game this season. Senior Jackson Cressey (11 points) and sophomore Corey Andonovski (11 points) have led the way for the Tigers this season but they aren't getting a lot of help from the younger players who need to step up for Princeton in order to replace the talent that was lost. The Tigers power play which used to be a huge strength has fallen off to 15.5% this season.

Princeton's defense this season is giving up 3.15 goals per game. The Tigers just have not much consistency on the blue line as they have been moving different players in and out of the line up. Captain Derek Topatigh has probably been Princeton's best defensemen on this young season. Having Reid Yochim limited to just five games has hurt as well. He has really taken a step back from his strong freshman season when he had 14 points. Since his strong freshman year he has only two assists in his last 36 games played. Princeton however has excelled on the penalty kill at 84.8% this season so that is an area where they can look to have an edge on Quinnipiac.

Goal-tending has been an issue for the Tigers as Ryan Ferland has really struggled this season with a 1-5-2 record and a 3.12 goals against average in eight games. This has opened the door for both sophomore Jeremie Forget and freshman Aidan Porter getting some playing time. Forget has actually been the Tigers best goaltender going 1-1 in four games with a 1.98 goal against average. The lack of consistent goal-tending is one of the reasons why Princeton has struggled so far this season.

After sweeping the Tigers last season, Quinnipiac comes into this series in a must win position and need to sweep Princeton again. They are 10th in the ECAC standings and need to add ECAC points in order to potentially avoid going on the road in the first round.

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Defensemen Nick Bochen commits to Quinnipiac

Nick Bochen (photo by Prince George Spruce Kings, BCHL)

Quinnipiac picked up a new commit just eight days before Christmas with the news that 2001 born defensemen Nick Bochen has committed to the program for the 2020-2021 according to Jeff Cox. Bochen is a former University of Michigan commit who has played the past two seasons for the Prince George Spruce Kings in the BCHL.

Prince George Spruce Kings (BCHL) '01 RD Nick Bochen has committed to Quinnipiac for 2020-21. Former Michigan commit has 2-11--13 in 22 GP this season.

— Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports) December 17, 2019

Bochen, native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is a 5'9, 175 pound right shot defensemen who has a 2-11-13 line in 22 games with Prince George this season. Both of his goals have come via the power play. As a 17 year old last year in 58 games played put up a 8-30-38 stat line with another six points in the playoffs.

A move for a defensemen for next season was expected with the departures of Cam Boudreau and Wyatt Head back to the junior ranks. Bochen will be expected to be a contributor day one as Quinnipiac has to replace Karlis Cukste next fall and possibly Peter Diliberatore should he depart early for a pro contract.

Links


Elite Prospects Player Page
BCHL Player Page

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Weekend in Review: Quinnipiac vs. Massachusetts

Quinnipiac split a weekend series with #10 UMass

The first half of the season officially came to an end on Saturday as Quinnipiac ended the first half on a high note with a 2-1 win over UMass Amherst snapping the 16 game unbeaten streak of the Minutemen at the Mullins Center in the process. The team finished the first half 7-7-1 after a weekend split against UMass and there are areas where the team should be encouraged with. Here are my thoughts and observations from the weekend series.

- Quinnipiac played hard on Friday despite losing 3-0 and had some bad breaks in the game which UMass was able to capitalize on. The two teams played a period and a half of scoreless before the Minutemen broke through on a redirected goal by Keith Petruzzelli. UMass next scored via a power play on an undisciplined play by Joe O'Connor who took an unnecessary slashing penalty. UMass captain Mitchell Chaffee sealed the victory with a short handed empty net goal.

- Despite the loss of Cale Makar among others, UMass still has a really solid team this year that should challenge for another NCAA tournament berth. They play hard and didn't quit Saturday despite trailing by two goals. While they probably won't reach the same heights as last season, they are still building something special under Greg Carvel in Amherst for a program that should be really good for years to come. 

- The ECAC officials were awful in this game letting this game become chippy to the point of being borderline out of control. The non-call to the head of Quinnipiac's William Fallstrom was flat out embarrassing as Fallstrom never returned to the game and missed the following nights game. These are plays that need to be called correctly. That should have been a five minute power play for Quinnipiac and the result of this was the O'Connor slashing penalty leading to the second goal for UMass.

- Despite losing this game, Keith Petruzzelli stood out with some really spectacular play and he carried that into the following night when he helped win a big game on the road when the Bobcats were desperate. He stopped 52 shots on the weekend as both his goals against average and save percentage continue to trend in the right direction. The hope is that the break won't stop the momentum the junior has right now as he has really been a strong presence in between the pipes.

- The defense has really turned the corner in my mind. They went into the season talented but very inexperienced but the play by the blue line over the weekend was very solid especially on Saturday night. They are retrieving pucks and moving them out of the zone quickly. While there is an occasional turnover here and there, the way they have played the last six games should be a plus for the second half of the season.

- Quinnipiac's offensive struggles were on display again this past weekend as they just scored two goals the entire weekend. The offense was suppose to be one of the teams strengths but they are really hurting the team right now. While they have a lot of young players, the sophomores who were freshman a season ago haven't built off what they did last season. They need more from the players up front if they want to make a second half run and be a dangerous team in conference play.

- The power play is still having issues and Quinnipiac needs to use the break in order to figure a way to get that corrected as they can't continue to be in the 12% range on the man advantage. They have been slow moving the puck and not getting quality shots off. Good to great power plays excel at moving the puck quickly and not having a lot of indecision with the puck which is what is happening now with Quinnipiac.

- One area Quinnipiac has excelled with is winning face-offs. The face-off win percentage is at 54.4% which ties them for 5th in the country with Alaska. They need to is use that to their advantage to create puck possession in the offensive zone which will lead to more quality scoring chances.

- Next on tap for Quinnipiac is a home and home with the Princeton Tigers on December 28th and 29th. These next three weeks will hopefully get the Bobcats in a better place mentally and physically so they can attack in the second half come the end of Decemeber.

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Weekend Preview: Massachusetts Minutemen

Ethan de Jong and Quinnipiac have a home and home series with Massachusetts

UMass Head Coach: Greg Carvel (4th season)

2019-2020 UMass record: 8-3-1 (4-3-1 Hockey East)

All-time vs. UMass: Quinnipiac leads series 8-5-2

UMass Key Players: Mitchell Chaffee (F), John Leonard (F), Bobby Trivigno (F), Oliver Chau (F), Reed Lebster (F), Zac Jones (D), Colin Felix (D) Marc Del Gaizo (D), Matt Murray (G), Filip Lindberg (G)

No team had a bigger turnaround in the 2018-2019 season than Massachusetts. A season after winning just 17 games, the Minutemen improved by 14 wins to set a program record with 31. They also made the first ever Frozen Four in program history but fell short of the National Championship when Minnesota Duluth beat them in the title game to repeat as champions. Cale Makar has departed after a 49 point season which culminated in the Hobey Baker Award. They also lost Mario Ferraro early to the pros while key forward Jacob Pritchard and Brett Boeing graduated. Massachusetts still returns a ton of talent to a team that is likely to reach the NCAA tournament again.

Losing Jacob Pritchard was big for Massachusetts but they returned a lot of talent up front. Mitchell Chaffee already has 10 goals in 12 games played this season including three power play goals. John Leonard is also off to another good start with seven goals while Oliver Chau who had a down season last year already has eight points. Massachusetts is getting some good freshman production from Reed Lebster and Cal Kiefiuk who each have seven points. The Minutemen power play has struggled this season much like Quinnipiac's and that will happen when you lose players like Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro. They are right behind Quinnipiac in power play percentage at just a shade over 13%.

While a defensive drop was expected a bit with the losses of Makar and Ferraro, it has not been that much as the Minutemen are tied for 10th in the country in goals allowed at 2.08. Freshman Zac Jones is the teams second leading scorer with 11 points while sophomores Ty Farmer, Colin Felix and freshman Matthew Kessel provide solid depth. They have been solid defensively and this has been without their best returning defensemen in the lineup, Marc Del Gaizo who has played only two games this season. When he gets back to full health, this defense should be even better. The penalty kill is an area when Massachusetts has excelled this season at 88.7% which is 8th best in the country. Expect the Minutemen to make it hard on a Quinnipiac offense that has been struggling to score goals this season fight and claw for every inch of the ice this weekend.

The Minutemen have probably the best goalie tandem in the country between Matt Murray and Filip Lindberg. They are pretty even statistically so its essentially a coin flip who Greg Carvel will go with. Matt Murray has the better goals against at 1.84 compared to 1.97 for Lindberg but its the save percentage where Lindberg has Murray beat at .915 compared to .902. The save percentage numbers are down for the two of them but when you lose players like Makar and Ferraro that should be expected.

These are two different teams than the ones that split a series last year and while Massachusetts may not be as good as last year, they still look like they are an NCAA team while Quinnipiac has shown inconsistent play from week to week and hasn't looked like a team that will be playing in late March. At this point in the season with how the Bobcats have played and who they have lost to, these could be considered must win games if this team wants any chance at an at-large tournament berth. Otherwise the only path might be to win the league tournament in Lake Placid.

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Q&A with Quinnipiac commit Ty Smilanic

Ty Smilanic signing his national letter of intent with Quinnipiac (photo by USNTDP)

Quinnipiac received the biggest commitment in program history on November 20th when one of the top uncommitted 2002 U.S. born players in Ty Smilanic made his college decision official by choosing Quinnipiac over teams such as North Dakota along with a few other unknown programs. Smilanic is by far the best player ever to commit to Quinnipiac and could be the first player drafted in the first round of the NHL draft to ever come to Hamden when the draft commences in June of 2020. Smilanic is currently finishing his last year of junior hockey with prestigious United States National Team Development Program which is a collection of the best American born players in the U-18 and U-17 age brackets. Thank you to Ty for taking time out of his schedule to do this Q&A so Bobcat Nation can get to know the newest member of the 2020-2021 roster.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: First off congratulations on signing your national letter of intent with Quinnipiac.  What are your emotions like after making your college decision?

Ty Smilanic: I'm pretty happy to have the whole situation just behind me and couldn’t be more happy with my decision right now. I am just soaking up all the emotions right now.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: How did this whole process come about? I must say this came out of left field and was one of the most shocking, yet satisfying commitments in Quinnipiac history.

Ty Smilanic: I took a visit to the campus and just fell in love with the school, the coaching staff, and just all the players. They made me feel like home and made me feel appreciated.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: Your the first grade A prospect that Quinnipiac ever landed in the programs Division I history. Was there anything specific that the coaching staff told you that made you say that Quinnipiac will be my future college destination?

Ty Smilanic: It wasn’t necessarily anything they said, but I could tell that they cared about me as a person and as a player. I felt that with how much they cared, this was the best place for me to develop on and off the ice.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: Quinnipiac has recently put some good players in the NHL such as Devon Toews with the New York Islanders and Connor Clifton with the Boston Bruins but none as highly touted as you. In my opinion, I feel that the Quinnipiac coaching staff is a staff that could get the most out of you as a player during your time at Quinnipiac in helping you prepare for the professional level. Is that something you would agree with as they have taken lesser talent and hidden gems and really developed it into NHL players?

Ty Smilanic: Hundred percent. I couldn’t agree more myself. The way they have been developing players in recent years is astonishing and I can’t wait to be a part of that myself. With a coaching staff that cares as much as they do and a hockey player that loves the game as much as I do, that’s a recipe for a lot of good things to come.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: This is a program that has been to two Frozen Fours and five NCAA tournaments since 2013 but has yet to land a potential first round pick until you committed. Do you feel that you as a player committing to Quinnipiac will open that door where other United States National Team Development Program players who are potential high to mid round picks will look to consider Quinnipiac in future years?

Ty Smilanic:  I didn’t really commit to Quinnipiac to open doors for the future, that wasn’t really my motivation. My motivation was to play with the players that I got to meet and to get coached by the coaches I met. However, if me coming here does open doors in the future for more players to follow my path, hopefully that just means good things for this program.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: Your playing for Seth Appert who formally coached RPI in the ECAC. What is he like as a coach and it seems like he has really developed some kids in the past few years with many first round picks especially last year?

Ty Smilanic: He is actually a big reason for me opening my eyes to Quinnipiac. In these two years he’s developed me to become more of a complete player and I am very thankful to have a coach like that. I see a lot of similarities between coach Appert and coach Pecknold.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: Your scouting report is this. Powerful stride with separational speed, puts defenders on their heels and can launch the puck on goal. Skilled and strong and responsible defensively. On paper that is a pretty strong scouting report of you but are their any areas of your game that you feel that need to be improved upon before reaching Hamden?

Ty Smilanic: I want to be a complete 200-foot player that can be trusted in any situation of the game. So I need to work on my defensive zone play so that is probably the biggest thing for sure.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: Is their a player in today’s game that you try to model your game after and if so why?

Ty Smilanic: Being from Colorado, I love watching Nathan MacKinnon. I love how he plays the game with so much speed and plays every shift with so much competitiveness. He is for sure the player I try to model my game after.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: To this point in your life, who has been your biggest influence to get you to this point of playing college hockey and on the brink of being a high NHL draft pick?

Ty Smilanic: Without a doubt I have to give that one to my parents. They were the ones that drove me to the rink every day and were at every single game growing up. I wouldn’t be anywhere that I am today without them.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: What’s it like having scouts from 31 NHL teams consistently watching you and at this point in the season have you had a ton of contact with them?

Ty Smilanic: Yes I have talk to a good amount of NHL teams. It is nerve-racking but I’ve learned as time is going on that I just need to play my game and the rest will figure itself out. I love having the pressure on me as it makes me play at a higher level.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: What should the Quinnipiac community expect from Ty Smilanic on and off the ice?

Ty Smilanic: I'm just a really smiley kid that loves to play the game of hockey and loves to play the game really fast. I am also willing to do whatever it takes to get Quinnipiac the first National Championship in program history.

BobcatsHockeyBlog: What does Ty Smilanic like to do when he is not playing hockey?

Ty Smilanic: I love spending time with my family. Whether that’s going to a sporting event together or just spending a night on the couch watching television. They have built me to the person I am today and continue to this day keep making me a better person.

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Weekend in Review: Cornell/Colgate

Rand Pecknold's team was swept on the weekend in upstate New York (file photo)

It was a lost weekend for the Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey as they got swept in upstate New York against Cornell and Colgate by scores of 2-1 and 3-1 respectively. After a home sweep last weekend, the hope was for Quinnipiac to at least get a split of the weekend series before the final two games of the first half of the season this weekend against Massachusetts. Here are my thoughts of the weekend that was for Quinnipiac hockey.

- Despite the loss Friday night, I thought Quinnipiac played its best game of the season. They went toe to toe with the number two team in their building and came up short by a single goal. Quinnipiac competed hard and never gave up against a more talented Big Red team that has a team that can reach the Frozen Four in Detroit this year. The officiating in this game wasn't good and William Fallstrom should have been assessed a two minute penalty not a five minute major on his hit late in the third period. Even though they lost, this game will help Quinnipiac in the long run as they look to become a better team in the second half of the season.

- Saturday night was another story. A game that Quinnipiac really needed to have they lost it. They got behind against Colgate, though tied it on the power play yet let in two third period goals including an empty net one to finish the weekend with zero ECAC points. That isn't a great Colgate team they played either but they had more jump in their step than Quinnipiac did.

- Captain Nick Jermain tied his career high with five goals with a goal in the Cornell game. That number should be eclipsed by a bunch by the time the season ends barring good health. Jermain reminds me of former Quinnipiac captain Cory Hibbeler as they both good leaders who were similar sized players that didn't score a ton as they did the little things in order to win.

- I've criticized the inconsistent play of Keith Petruzzelli at times but he was by far the best player this weekend for Quinnipiac. He kept the Bobcats in the game against Cornell with 20 saves with a few highlight ones and Saturday he was strong again with 22 saves including more highlight ones. This is four really solid games in a row for Petruzzelli who looks like he is becoming more comfortable each time out on the ice.

- Petruzzelli was more than good enough for the Bobcats to win this weekend but the offense for Quinnipiac which was expected to be a strength is failing this team. Two goals on the weekend just isn't going to cut it and one of them came on the man advantage. Friday I can excuse the one goal against a stout Cornell team with the best goaltender in the league. But Saturday one goal against a Colgate team that is sub .500 is inexcusable. The offense looked like it had heavy feet and they weren't playing well together. They had 34 shots on goal but not a ton of grade A chances. They may have to shuffle the lineup to see if things can get going because the month of November has not been kind to Quinnipiac as an offense as they have only scored three goals in a game twice this month.

- The power play is still having massive issues. They went zero for five on Friday night before going one for four on Saturday against Colgate. There is a lot of indecision on the power play along with slow passes and not a lot of shots. This gives the opponents easier opportunities to clear the puck and less time in the offensive zone. 

- The defense on this team is starting to come around. They are blocking shots as the defenders blocked 13 shots on the weekend. They are starting to move the puck out of the zone along with playing smart in their own end. Expect this defense to continue to get better as the season progresses as they have talent back on the blue line though it is inexperienced.

- Its the final two games of the first half, Quinnipiac will have a big challenge when they face the 2019 National Runner-Up in Massachusetts. Despite losing Cale Makar to the NHL, the Minutemen still return a strong team that is experienced and knows how to win games. They also have two really good goaltenders they can turn to and are well coached by Greg Carvel. This will be a big challenge for Quinnipiac and with the way the Bobcats are playing right now especially on offense, I think getting a split would be good accomplishment and a good way to end the first half of the season.

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