Analysis of the season ending injury to Brandon Fortunato

Brandon Fortunato was in the midst of his best collegiate season prior to his injury

When word came down and we reported that Brandon Fortunato would be out for the season with a leg injury, which we confirmed was a broken fibula it was a shocking development for a team that was in the midst of a rebound season and was pushing closer to a return to the NCAA tournament. The injury occurred in practice the week of the Yale game. While you never want to see injuries in a game you definitely don't want to see them in practice. However you also do not want practice any differently than how you would play in games as you win games based on how you practice the week leading up to them.

With deep NCAA tournament aspirations in the Quinnipiac locker room, this injury stings especially at this point in the season. The Bobcats are not only losing a point per game player, they are losing someone that is a leader and a veteran who has Frozen Four experience. That is extremely valuable come March when the games get even bigger. There is no trades in college hockey to replace a player of Fortunato's caliber. I will say that bringing in Cam Boudreau for the second half of the season looks even smarter now by the Quinnipiac coaching staff. While they cannot fully replace Fortunato, especially with what he brings to the power play along with his puck moving ability, they might be able to recreate him in the aggregate in some of those areas with some of the younger players currently on the roster. You might remember the movie "Moneyball" and the scene where Brad Pitt playing the character of Billy Beane is in a meeting with other front office personnel and says that they cannot replace Giambi's 38 home runs and 120 runs batted in but they might be able to recreate him in the aggregate with other players that could get on base like Giambi did. This is what Quinnipiac needs to try to achieve now with the regular season winding down.

Could Zach Metsa be a power play option for Quinnipiac?

Two big area that will most likely be affected are on the power play and the transition game when the teams skate five on five. Fortunato has excellent skating ability to bring pucks out of the defensive zone quickly from blue line to blue line either with a quick pass or skating it out himself. Against teams that bring a strong fore-check this could be a problem if Quinnipiac struggles to get pucks out of their zone due to the loss of Fortunato.

Moving to the power you have a top unit that usually features three defenceman on it at times with Fortunato and Rafferty as the point men with Priskie in his wheel house at the side of the net looking to one time shots past the goaltender. Keeping Priskie in that spot in lieu of moving into Fortunato's spot on the point is a must in my opinion as he many of the goals he has scored by way of the power play come in that spot by ripping a one timer past the opposing goaltender. They could move freshman Peter Diliberatore up from the second power play unit but I think that would weaken the second unit to a degree as the freshman has scored five of his 11 assists on the power play. He is more valuable with that unit in order to make Quinnipiac have two effective power play lines.

Of the 28 points that Fortunato had this season, half of them came by way of the man advantage on 2 goals and 12 assists. That will not be easy to replace but they might have a couple young players that could replace a portion of that down the stretch if given the opportunity. One of is those players is freshman Zach Metsa. This season he has seen action in 22 of the 28 games and has two goals. But its what he has done in the past two season in junior hockey on the power play that has me intrigued as someone that could give them some production on the power play.

Metsa was a power play specialist in his two seasons of junior hockey first with the Merritt Centennials in the BCHL in the 2016-2017 season followed by a season with Youngstown & Central Illinois in the USHL this past year. With Merritt almost half his 27 points on the season came way of the power play on a goal and 12 assists on the man advantage. He added one power play assist out of five in the postseason for the Centennials. Even when moving to the much tougher USHL which has stacks many of the rosters for Division I programs, Metsa amassed more than half of his points by way of the man advantage when he had 2 goals and 11 assists of his 24 point season on 4 goals and 20 assists. Playing with veteran players like Priskie, Tufto and Rafferty on the first power play unit should he get that chance could ease the transition.

Another player they could look take a look at back there is Cam Boudreau who has some power play experience from his time with the Junior Bruins in the NCDC. While the league is on the the same par as that of the USHL or even BCHL, Boudreau is still a talented young player that can move the puck. His power play numbers in juniors do not match what Metsa did but they probably don't tell the whole story either. You need to factor in the players he is playing with as well along with the competition in the NCDC isn't the greatest compared to the leagues that Metsa was playing in. In 71 regular season games, Boudreau only had two goals and an assist on the power play.

Could the coaching staff add another younger forward to the power play mix in a Michael Lombardi or Desi Burgart who both have shown nice potential as freshman with eight points each respectively. The key for this coaching staff is to try to find the right mix to replace Fortunato for possibly upwards of 15 plus games that Quinnipiac may play the rest of the way. No one said this was going to be easy and you never want to see any player get injured,  but you hope that this team will come together even further and push harder for one of their teammates who cannot be out there with them as they head down the stretch.


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Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 4-1 loss to Brown

It was a tough night in Hamden as Quinnipiac fell 4-1 to Brown

A night after beating up on its Whitney Avenue rival,  Quinnipiac had a letdown performance as they were beaten 4-1 by the Brown Bears who swept their weekend slate of games against Quinnipiac and Princeton. It was a surprise letdown after the strong effort a night ago against Yale when the Bobcats were relentless on the ice and took it to their opponent. Here are my thoughts and observations after the Brown game.

- A night after Quinnipiac's best effort of the season when they played a complete 60 minute game, the Bobcats struggled against Brown in their first loss in almost a month. It was very surprising that the energy level was not the same as it was the night before against when they played a rival. The team started slow in the first period and from the get go you could tell it was not going to be as easy as the Yale game was. Quinnipiac is going to need to have better back to back efforts especially when playoff time comes around. I would think Rand Pecknold and the coaching staff will have a tough week of practice after this one tonight. 

- Quinnipiac had 48 shots on goal but a strong effort from backup goaltender Luke Kania was the difference. Kania saw the puck well and made some key saves especially in the third period. This was Kania's best effort of the season against one of the best teams in the country. Sometimes you need to tip your cap to the opposing goaltender and tonight was one of those nights.

- Brown was really strong on the fore-check tonight and it really was a difference for them in their win over Quinnipiac. The forecheck led to a turnover in the Quinnipiac defensive zone which led to the third goal for the Bears. Brown was relentless against Quinnipiac tonight forcing turnovers and making it tough for Quinnipiac to bring the puck into the offensive zone at times. They also had good puck possession on the night that led to their scoring opportunities. Credit to the Bears for controlling the pace of this game and taking Quinnipiac off their game tonight.

- One of the themes in three of Quinnipiac's worst losses this season against Dartmouth, Union and now Brown, has been their lack of starting fast in each of them. All three games saw Quinnipiac fail to score in the first period, and in two of those games (Dartmouth and Brown) they failed to score in the first two periods. For Quinnipiac to be successful in my opinion they need those first period goals to put pressure on the opposing team instead of having to chase those teams for goals later in the game. 

- The Brown defense is highly improved from a season ago even though they lack star power on the back end. They did a great job against Quinnipiac with 19 blocked shots and making sure they limited second chance opportunities and clearing pucks out of the zone effectively. They have a strong work ethic and it seems Brendan Whittet is getting the most out of this team who are now .500 on the season after five consecutive losing seasons. 

- The first three minutes of the third period saw four goals. Brown took control of the game with two goals in the first minute and five seconds of the period before Brogan Rafferty scored on the power play a minute later. Just when it looked like Quinnipiac might get back into the game, Brown scored a minute later to push the lead back to three goals. The goal by Jack Gessert seemed to take the air out of the building even with a little under 16 minutes to play in the game. 

Brown won against Quinnipiac for the first time in ten games

- Chase Priskie and Wyatt Bongiovanni combined for 20 shots on net against Brown which was almost half of the teams shots on the night. While Priskie assisted on the Rafferty power play goal both him and Bongiovanni were a combined minus two on the night. Its tough to see two of the teams best players not find the back of the net when they put that many shots on goal.

- You have to wonder how much air was taken out from the team after news of the season ending injury to senior Brandon Fortunato which was first reported by the blog Saturday morning. A broken fibula ends the collegiate career to a player that was playing some of his best hockey of the season and of his career. Fortunato who finished the season with 28 points would have likely hit the 40 point plateau had he not gotten hurt. His ability to move pucks out of the zone and his power play ability will clearly be missed along with his veteran presence on the back end. He is only one of five players on the Quinnipiac roster with NCAA tournament experience having been to the Frozen Four with Boston University back in the 2015 season. 

- How smart does the Quinnipiac coaching staff look now for bringing in Cam Boudreau for the second half of the season? The freshman is going to be thrust into a larger role along with fellow freshman Zach Metsa and Peter Diliberatore with the latter already seeing top four minutes. All three will be relied upon to pick up the slack for their injured teammate along with versatile senior Luke Shiplo. 

- Andrew Shortridge gave up four goals on 29 shots but I think the defense in front him didn't do a good enough job of clearing pucks out of the zone in this game. This was the first game all season in which Shortridge allowed more than three goals in a game which shows just how good he has been.

- With the loss, Quinnipiac now is three points behind Cornell for first place in the ECAC standings. Currently in second place with 21 points, the Bobcats are going to need some help if they want to win the Cleary Cup as regular season champions but that probably requires no more slip ups the rest of the way as well. It probably will be tough to catch the Big Red who have only lost one game since December 1st.

- It's on to the capital region of New York for Quinnipiac as they head to Union on Friday followed by RPI on Saturday night. Quinnipiac is winless in six games against Union dating back to the 2015-2016 season when they beat the Dutchmen 5-0 in Hamden. The Bobcats haven't won at Union since November of 2014 when they won 4-3 over the then defending national champions.

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Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 4-0 shutout of Yale

Quinnipiac dominated its Whitney Avenue rival 4-0

Quinnipiac took apart its Whitney Avenue rival in dominant fashion winning 4-0. The Bobcats took control of this game early with a goal in the first period but completely dominating puck possession and shots on goal. They finished the game outshooting Yale 50-23 en route to keeping the Heroes Hat in Hamden for another season which is the 7th in a row. Quinnipiac goes for the weekend sweep tomorrow when they host Brown. Here are my thoughts and observations after the Yale game.

- What an incredible effort from Quinnipiac. They dominated this game from start to finish. They controlled puck possession, played with a strong pace and peppered Corbin Kaczperski with shots all night. The team never let up and easily could have scored more than four goals on the night. Quinnipiac continues to show they are for real and are showing the ability to play deep into March and possibly April.

- While Quinnipiac was excellent in this game, I thought Yale was awful. They played with no pace and got totally outplayed all night long. They were lucky Kaczperski played well or this game could have been worse. I was not impressed by the Bulldogs and they look vastly overrated. As was in the playoffs last year if you shut down Joe Snively, the rest of the team folds.

- The dominance by Quinnipiac over Yale is just astounding at this point. They are 15-2-4 against the Bulldogs since 2011. However I'd reverse that record in a heartbeat if Quinnipiac could have that loss in Pittsburgh back in 2013 to a National Championship win.

- Quinnipiac was without senior defenseman Brandon Fortunato who got hurt in practice. A source told me he lost an edge on his skates and went into the boards. The time frame of the injury is unknown at this time but his loss is huge as he has been one of Quinnipiac's best players this season on the back end and is a weapon on the power play. Some players are going to have to step up with Fortunato out notably Luke Shiplo, Zach Metsa and Cam Boudreau. Tonight Shiplo stepped up with a goal.

The Heroes Hat will remain in Hamden for another season

- Of the 12 points on the night for Quinnipiac, 5 of them came from freshman with William Fallstrom and Michael Lombardi scoring their 6th and 5th goals respectively. Fellow freshman Desi Burgart, Peter Diliberatore and Ethan de Jong added assists. This has been a very special freshman class and one that should continue to keep Quinnipiac in the mix the few years.

- Nick Jermain played his best game of the season with a goal and an assist effort. His goal in the first got Quinnipiac on the board while he assisted on Michael Lombardi's goal in the third period. Getting Nick Jermain hot could be a big boost to the Bobcats offense down the stretch as he is a player with good offensive skills.

- TJ Friedmann was back in his familiar number 19 on Friday after wearing Joe O'Connor and Matt Cassidy's uniforms the past two games.

- Andrew Shortridge picked up his fourth shutout of the season in the victory while lowering his goals against and save percentage to 1.14 and .955 respectively. He clearly has been the best goaltender in the ECAC this season and possibly the country. He made 23 saves tonight and played flawlessly. He never gave Yale a chance and limited the amount of rebounds.

- Quinnipiac is in second place in the ECAC standings all by themselves after the win over Yale but could have ended the night in first place had Clarkson beat Cornell. Instead the Golden Knights laid an egg and got blown out at Lynah Rink 5-0 against the Big Red. While Quinnipiac holds the tiebreaker over Cornell due to a win and a tie they still trail by a point in the standings.

- Quinnipiac now faces a Brown team that is inching closer to the .500 mark at 9-10-3. They went to Princeton and beat a struggling Tigers team 4-2 at Hobey Baker Rink. With the Yale game in the rearview mirror, Quinnipiac needs to make sure it sweeps this weekend slate of games and keep pace with Cornell at the top of the ECAC standings.

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Weekend Preview: Yale/Brown

Quinnipiac returns home for a key weekend series against Yale & Brown

Yale Head Coach: Keith Allain (13th season) 231-151-42

2018-2019 Yale record: 11-7-3 (9-4-1 ECAC)

All-time vs. Yale : Quinnipiac leads series 20-7-5

Yale Key Players: Joe Snively (F), Robbie DeMontis (F), Justin Pearson (F), Kevin O'Neill (F), Curtis Hall (F), Phil Kemp (D), Jack St. Ivany (D), Sam Tucker (G), Corbin Kaczperski (G)

A week after an impressive sweep in North Country, Quinnipiac returns home with its Whitney Avenue rival waiting in the wings. While Quinnipiac treats this as a rivalry game I am not sure the same can be said on the Yale side. Frankly I think the Bobcats rivalry with Cornell is more real because the hatred is real between the two teams and they have faced off in multiple playoff series. After a 7-2-2 start, the Bulldogs have cooled off going just 4-5-1 since December 11th. This under .500 stretch has pushed them to 22nd in the pairwise rankings and needing a strong finish to jump up into the top 16.

Yale is 28th in the country in goals scored at 2.95 per game but take Joe Snively out of the equation and this is a totally different Yale team. Snively who has 27 points on 13 goals and 14 assists accounts for 20% of the Yale goals this season. He is the key in order to shutting down the Bulldog offense. If you can prevent him from getting on the score sheet there is a good you are going to win the game as the Bulldogs offense outside of him struggles to generate much offense. A lot was expected of Bruins 4th round pick Curtis Hall but he's amounted just 5 points this year. Three players outside of Snively have 14 points apiece in junior Robbie DeMontis, sophomore Kevin O'Neil and freshman Justin Pearson. Even more was expected out of the Smith twins and they have combined for just 16 points. If there is an area where Yale has been good, it is the power play as they are scoring on 20% of their chances this year which is good for 20th in the country. The key for Quinnipiac must be to shut Snively down.

On defense Yale is about in the middle of the pack at 2.71 goals allowed per game which is 27th in the country. They have some nice talent back there in players like Phil Kemp, Jack St. Ivany and Chandler Lindstrand but the expectation was the defense would have been a bit better as Graham Lillibridge has probably played below expectations. On the penalty kill the Bulldogs are average at 81.4% which is good for 28th in the country.

Keith Allain continues to split his goaltenders. Sam Tucker and Corbin Kaczperski have basically split the season in net. While Kaczperski was clearly the better goaltender last season when they platooned, this year it is Tucker with the better overall numbers at a 2.30 goals against average and a .920 save percentage while Kaczperski  has a 2.70 goals against and a .897 save percentage.

With the two teams tied in the ECAC standings, the winner of this game could find itself in first place in the conference at the end of the night depending on other results from around the conference.


Brown Head Coach: Brendan Whittet (10th year) 92-178-42

2018-2019 Brown record: 8-10-3 (5-6-3 ECAC)

All-time vs. Brown: Quinnipiac leads 23-7-6

Brown Key Players: Tommy Marchin (F), Tristan Crozier (F), Alex Brink (F), Joachim Weberg (F), Justin Jallen (F), Zach Giuttari (D), Max Gottlieb (D), Gavin Nieto (G)

Quinnipiac has eight straight wins against Brown dating back to the 2015-2016 season and a ten game unbeaten streak against them dating back to the 2014-2015 season. The last Quinnipiac loss against Brown came almost five years ago on February 15, 2014 when they lost a 4-2 game at Meehan Auditorium. The Bobcats have dominated this series including playoff series wins in 2017, 2012, 2011 and 2008 to boot.

Brown has an offense that has struggled at times to find the back of the net. Averaging just 2.57 goals per game, that ties them for 42nd in the country in that category. They lack high end talent that can score goals in bunches. Tommy Marchin is the leading scorer at 13 points while freshman Tristan Crozier has given them 11 points on 4 goals and 7 assists. Fellow freshman Justin Jallen has five goals while sophomore Joachim Weberg has five as well. The Bears are the worst team in the country on the power play converting at just a shade of 9% (6-of-66) so they are not a major threat in that category but its always wise not give teams the man advantage.

Defensively Brown is a middle of the pack team giving up 2.86 goals per game which is 34th in the country. Zach Giuttari has been really good on the back end for Brown with 11 points, 4 game winning goals and is a plus 10 this season. Senior Max Gottlieb has 9 points and is a plus one. On the penalty kill Brown is 26th in the country at 82.6%. Brown will need a strong effort out of its defense as Quinnipiac possesses a lot of fire power on offense and many ways they can beat you.

Gavin Nieto has gotten the majority of the starts for Brown and has stabilized the position going 7-5-1 with a 2.45 goals against average and a .912 save percentage with one shutout. He has won three of his last four starts and has six wins since the start of December. The California native has gotten better in each season for the Bears and he will need to play well for Brown to have a chance against a good Quinnipiac team.

Quinnipiac has the better talent and overall the better team. Give Brown credit for playing almost .500 hockey with the lack of elite talent they have on the roster. The Bobcats need to keep hot and beat a lesser team in Brown as they strive to winning the Cleary Cup.

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Two Bobcats take home ECAC weekly honors

Odeen Tufto has 35 points this season

After a weekend that saw Quinnipiac take four ECAC points in North Country, two players were honored as ECAC player and rookie of the week respectively as announced in a press release by the league office. For the second time this season Odeen Tufto has been named the ECAC player of the week after a two goal, four assist performance in helping Quinnipiac to a pair of wins this weekend. Both of Tufto's goals came by way of the power play. At 35 points on 13 goals and 22 assists he is closing in on back to back 40 point seasons in his first two collegiate campaigns.

Wyatt Bongiovanni is third on Quinnipiac with 10 goals

Quinnipiac freshman Wyatt Bongiovanni was also honored for the second time this season as the rookie of the week. His two goal, one assist game against St. Lawrence earned him the honors once again as he was previously the rookie of the week for the week of November 19th. Bongiovanni has 16 points this season on 10 goals and 6 assists. His 10 goals this season put him third on the team for goals scored behind Chase Priskie and Odeen Tufto. 

Congrats to both players on your ECAC weekly award honors. 

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Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 7-2 win over St. Lawrence

Odeen Tufto had a four point game as he heads to another 40 point season

Quinnipiac swept its first North Country road trip since the 2012-2013 season after a 7-2 win over St. Lawrence on Saturday night just one night after downing #10 Clarkson 4-2. We all know that Quinnipiac ended that season with a Frozen Four trip to Pittsburgh before losing to Yale in the National Championship game. This team has goals of reaching Buffalo down the road in April but it must continue to take care of business in the ECAC schedule down the stretch along with securing home ice in the playoffs and a possible Cleary Cup for the regular season champion. Here are my thoughts and observations after the St. Lawrence game.

- A night after a quality 4-2 win over Clarkson, Quinnipiac took care of business like they were suppose to do against an awful St. Lawrence team winning 7-2 at Appleton Arena. It was clearly a stat padding game in my opinion but taking home four key ECAC points this weekend was huge. Mark this years North Country trip which is always tough a huge success.

- Even though Quinnipiac won convincingly Saturday night they still dropped in the pairwise rankings from the three to four. That is due to the fact that St. Lawrence is the second worst team in the country. Quinnipiac still has two remaining games against bottom feeders in RPI and this St. Lawrence team again which won't help in the pairwise rankings.

- St. Lawrence is one of the worst teams I have seen in awhile dating back to those Princeton teams from a few seasons ago. I think St. Lawrence is going to regret the hiring of Mark Morris. While he was a big name hire I am not sure he was the right hire. He was out of the college game for 14 years and a lot has changed in terms of how players are recruited along with the student/athlete needs as well. In three short years he destroyed the program that Greg Carvel built into one that is currently one of the worst programs in the country. St. Lawrence is on pace to set a program high for losses in a season which was just set a year ago.

- St. Lawrence is such an undisciplined team as they took nine minor penalties that led to eight power plays for Quinnipiac. The final penalty was at the buzzer. Quinnipiac made the Saints pay with three power play goals including their first two of the game.

- Quinnipiac got big nights from some of its best players. Odeen Tufto had four points on a goal and three assists as he continues to close in on back to back 40 point seasons. Chase Priskie continued to add points to his Hobey Baker candidacy as he now has 33 points and leads Quinnipiac goals with 14. Brandon Fortunato had three more assists as he now has points in his last seven games. Ethan de Jong had two goals to hit the 20 point plateau as a freshman while Wyatt Bongiovanni added two goals and an assist as he now has 10 goals this season for the Bobcats.

- TJ Friedmann once again had to use another players jersey this time he wore Matt Cassidy's jersey. This is bizarre and not something I have ever seen before.

- Andrew Shortridge made his 7th straight start for Quinnipiac and made some nice saves in this game to finish with 14 on the night. With the game in hand in the third period, Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold put Keith Petruzzelli in for his first action since the 5-4 overtime loss to Colgate. It was good to keep Keith fresh and get some time in between the pipes especially with the game well in hand.

- Quinnipiac got a nice gift last night after beating St. Lawrence when RPI tied Cornell. The Bobcats picked up a point on the league leading Big Red in their quest for the Cleary Cup.

- Eight ECAC games remain on the schedule with four at home and four on the road including a tough road game at Union who has been a thorn in Quinnipiac's side the past few years along with Clarkson again and two with Yale. They also have two with Brown and single games against RPI and St. Lawrence remaining. Just looking at the schedule this team should have at least 25 wins entering the ECAC tournament.

- Speaking of Yale, its officially that week again as these two teams will go head to head Friday night in Hamden. The student tickets sold out in 10 seconds as they know these games are always circled on the teams calendar. The Hero's Hat will be presented to the winner of the game on Friday night.


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Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 4-2 road win over #10 Clarkson

Craig Martin finished with a goal and an assist in Quinnipiac's big 4-2 win over Clarkson

Quinnipiac entered Cheel Arena to face a Clarkson team that not only was ranked 10th in the country but a team that had only lost one home game all season to Yale. The Bobcats left Cheel on Friday night 4-2 winners in one of the best wins of the season for these young Quinnipiac Bobcats. Quinnipiac got two first period goals from Odeen Tufto and Michael Lombardi before Clarkson scored in the second and third periods to tie the score but freshman TJ Friedmann scored his first collegiate goal late while Craig Martin added an empty netter to seal the win. Here are my thoughts and observations from last nights game.

- Not only was this game huge in terms of ECAC points it was a boost to Quinnipiac's pairwise ranking as well. Coupled with Minnesota-Duluth's loss to Colorado College, Quinnipiac ended the night in the third spot in the pairwise rankings which will determine the seeds for the NCAA tournament. Its safe to say this win over another team in the top 16 in the pairwise was huge especially with it being on the road. The win also moved Quinnipiac into a tie with Yale for 3rd in the ECAC standings just two points behind Cornell for the top spot.

- Clarkson is a really good team. They made Quinnipiac work for everything they got. The Golden Knights brought speed and energy in this game and this was probably the toughest team Quinnipiac has faced outside of UMass this year. Clarkson will be a tough out in the ECAC playoffs, mark my words.

- I said it after the Holy Cross game that I don't expect Odeen Tufto's scoreless streak to continue. Well that streak ended at three games. Tufto scored the first goal by way of the power play and also assisted on the Craig Martin empty net goal. Tufto is a big time player and players like him are hard to keep off the scoreboard for a long stretch of time.

- What a time for TJ Friedmann to score his first collegiate goal. Just as this game looked to be heading to overtime, the freshman found the back of the net with 2:29 left in the game to give the Bobcats the lead. It just shows you the depth of this roster even with the youth that there are so many guys that can contribute on a nightly basis which helps make this deep dangerous come March.

- Speaking of Friedmann. I am not sure why he was wearing #28 last night which is Joe O'Connor's uniform. Did they forget to pack Friedmann's jersey by accident?

- Andrew Shortridge made 25 saves and showed that consistency in between the pipes that has made him the go to guy down the stretch for Quinnipiac. His poise in net has been fantastic and he has come up with some clutch saves including one on a breakaway last night.

- I love what Craig Martin brings to this team. Last night he assisted on the game winning goal and had the empty net goal to seal the win. Outside of a five game scoring rut earlier in the year, he has been a consistent scorer for this team after having a bit of down season in his junior year. He is four points away from his career high in points (27) set as a sophomore but more importantly he is a plus 11 and has played with a lot of discipline this season and toughness.

- Luke Shiplo returned from injury suffered in the Colgate game on Long Island and found himself in the lineup at forward. He has shown so much versatility going from defense to offense and vice versa. Not many players in the game can do that and Quinnipiac has a few of these guys that are selfless in nature and are willing to put the team ahead of their individual goals. Shiplo is one of these players and while he likely won't have big stat numbers he plays a great role for this team that is needed due to his incredible versatility.

- I thought Peter Diliberatore had a strong game on the blue line. He made an incredible block shot on a rush into the defensive zone by Clarkson that could have turned into a potential scoring opportunity. He also assisted on Friedmann's game winner. Since returning from winter break he has six points his in his eight games.

- Quinnipiac cannot lose focus after this huge road win over Clarkson. While the opponent is a large step down with St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac needs to stay the course and take care of business at Appleton Arena tonight and come away with two ECAC points. Anything less would be a disappointment especially after last nights huge win. Four points this weekend now becomes a must if this team wants to win the Cleary Cup as regular season champions.


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