Weekend Preview: St. Lawrence/Clarkson

Quinnipiac heads to North Country for an important ECAC weekend

St. Lawrence Head Coach: Brett Brekke (1st year)

2019-2020 St. Lawrence record: 3-15-3 (1-8-0 ECAC)

All-time vs. St. Lawrence: Series tied 15-15-5

St. Lawrence Key Players: Zach Risteau (F), Keenan Suthers (F), Jordan Steinmetz (F), Aleksi Peltonen (F), Jake Stevens (D), Bo Hanson (D),  Emil Zetterquist (G)

Its a new era of St. Lawrence hockey as the Saints have moved on from the disastrous three year tenure of Mark Morris whose last two years saw the worst two seasons in the programs history. Enter new coach Brett Brekke who was previously an assistant coach at rival Clarkson. Prior to that Brekke had stints at Miami (OH) and Cornell. He has brought new life to the program even if the results on the ice are not there yet which is to be expected. Brekke is in the midst of probably having to turn over the roster after this season and bring in players that he wants in lieu of the players that Morris recruited. Making matters worse is that St. Lawrence has yet to play a game at Appleton Arena due to on going renovations that have delayed the opening of the renovated rink. This weekends game will be played at Roos House on the campus of SUNY-Canton.

For St. Lawrence it has been another offensive struggle as they have scored just 1.90 goals per game. Sophomore Zach Risteau has been the Saints best player averaging a point per game this season. After him, the Saints are limited with a lack of talent but they have some nice young pieces in freshman Jordan Steinmetz (10 points) and Aleksi Peltonen (7 points) who should get better over the years. Very similar to limiting Drew O'Connor of Dartmouth, Quinnipiac must do the same thing with Risteau in keeping him off the scoreboard. The Saints power power play has struggled at 14.9% this season. 

The Saints defense is the fourth worst in all of college hockey at 3.57 goals per games and overall is the worst in the ECAC. Their best blue liner is Bo Hanson who doubles as the teams second leading scorer with 10 points. St. Lawrence has rotated all eight defensemen this season but has yet to find consistency. They have a penalty kill at 78.6% this season which could be a problem with a resurgence in the Bobcats power play.

Its been a goaltender rotation for St. Lawrence who have started three different goaltenders this season for extensive action. Both Emil Zetterquist and Daniel Mannella have been the two best as both have a .911 save percentage. Mannella has the only shutout for St. Lawrence this season and split playing time last weekend with Francis Boisvert the other goaltender for the Saints.

Clarkson Head Coach: Casey Jones (9th season)

2019-2020 Clarkson record: 13-4-2 (7-2-0 ECAC)

All-time vs. Clarkson: Quinnipiac leads series 16-12-3

Clarkson Key Players: Haralds Egle (F), Jack Jacome (F), Devin Brosseau (F), Josh Dunne (F), Greg Moro (D), Connor McCarthy (D), Frank Marotte (G)

For Clarkson, it has been another good start to the season for 9th year coach Casey Jones team. Coming into this weekend they are 13-4-2 and in second place in the ECAC. However they are only 13th in the pairwise which is a dangerous spot to be in come tournament time. Clarkson is coming off a split of last weekend against RPI and Union having been upset at home by the Engineers 3-1.

Clarkson hasn't been as good offensively as they have in the past but they still have key seniors Devin Brosseau (23 points) and Haralds Egle (21 points) leading the way. This season they are only averaging 2.89 goals per game. Sophomore Josh Dunne has picked up where he left off a season ago and is poised to have even a better offensive season. Jack Jacome (9 points) is also a dangerous offensive player. The power play for the Golden Knights has been very good at 23.4% with Dunne, Egle and defensemen Connor McCarthy combining for 14 power play goals.

While the offense may have slipped a bit, the defense has not. The Golden Knights boast the 4th best defense in the country at 1.79 goals allowed per game and their penalty kill is also outstanding at 91.2% which is 4th best in the country as well. Four upperclassmen lead the way in Connor McCarthy, Shane Kuzmeski, Greg Moro and Jordan Schneider. This is a defense first team with the way they have played on the blue line and in goal this season.

Robert Morris transfer Frank Marotte has more than plenty filled the shoes of the departed Jake Kielly. He has a 1.67 goals against average and a .940 save percentage which is good for 4th in the country in both categories. He has started every game for the Golden Knights this season and has two shutouts as well. The Bobcats have faced Marotte once before in the finals of the Three Rivers Classic when Marotte had 43 saves in a 5-2 Robert Morris win in the tournament finals.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Weekend in Review: Harvard & Dartmouth

Quinnpiac got revenge against Harvard for an earlier defeat

Quinnipiac had by far its best weekend of the year this past weekend when they crushed Harvard and Dartmouth by a combined score of 11-2. The wins couple with last weeks sweep of Princeton moved the Bobcats from 10th in the ECAC to tied for third with Harvard and put them in position to move up even further. Here are my thoughts on this past weekends slate of games.

- It was a complete sixty minute effort for the Bobcats both nights as they got revenge on Harvard from a 7-2 defeat back in November with a blowout win of their own. Quinnipiac scored the first goal before the Crimson tied it but scored five unanswered goals in the second and third period. Granted Harvard did not have Jack Drury in this game as he was with the US World Junior team but that wouldn't have made a difference. Quinnipiac played fast and aggressive offensively and was strong on the back end. The next night against Dartmouth was much more of the same except the teams were scoreless through one period. Quinnipiac scored four unanswered goals before a late garbage time goal that Quinnipiac immediately responded to with a goal of their own. The Bobcats were relentless this weekend, hunting pucks, winning battles and scoring goals. That is the formula for winning games.

- This was back to back games where Quinnipiac dominated on the face off dot and against Dartmouth it led to goals by Wyatt Bongiovanni and Ethan Leyh. Winning face offs is key to lead to greater puck possession and frankly quick goals when the defense can't get in position to make a play.

- It was a huge weekend for some of the Bobcats best skill players. Odeen Tufto had a six point weekend (1 goal, 5 assists) while Wyatt Bongiovanni had a four point weekend (3 goals, 1 assist). It was a huge weekend for Ethan de Jong who looks to have broken out with a five point weekend (2 goals, 3 assists). Ethan Leyh (3 points), Peter Diliberatore (3 points), Skyler Brind'Amour (2 points) and Karlis Cukste (2 points) all had mulit point weekends. They will need these type of efforts from the young skill players down the stretch.

- The Quinnipiac power play had his best weekend of the year going 4 of 7 with two goals from Ethan de Jong, one from Wyatt Bongiovanni and one from Nick Jermain. Maybe this is the start of an improved power play which would be ideal for Quinnipiac to have down the stretch. Special teams have always been a staple of good Quinnipiac teams and maybe this young team is starting to go down that path as a good Bobcats team.

- It was another strong weekend for Keith Petruzzelli who is turning in the best season of the his time at Quinnipiac. He has won five straight games and in four of them has yielded just a single goal in each. Petruzzelli is now a strength for the Bobcats and that is not something we could have said early in the season. His goals against average of 2.13 is very good but his save percentage of .918 continues to improve as well. You have to give a lot of credit to Petruzzelli as something has clicked for him.

Quinnipiac beat Dartmouth 5-1 on Saturday night

- For a defense that had a ton of inexperience early in the season, they are growing up fast. To hold good offensive teams such as Harvard and Dartmouth to just a goal each is outstanding. Karlis Cukste has been a very good leader back there but young players like Jayden Lee, Logan Britt and CJ McGee are growing before our eyes and lets not forget that sophomores Peter Diliberatore and Zach Metsa are putting together fine seasons as well. The young Bobcats on defense should only get better as the season heads down the stretch for these last three months. They may not be as explosive offensively as past Bobcat teams from the blue line but they are more than capable of chipping offensively at times.

- You have to give props to Rand Pecknold and the coaching staff. The players are buying in and the team is getting results. After a tough November month when the team went 3-6-1, it looks like the month off was good for these young Bobcats as they looked like they have hit the reset button. It seems like the time off was good for them as they could practice on many different things with no games to worry about. This is what makes Rand one of the best coaches in the country as he can take a team as young as this one and have it competing for a potential NCAA spot.

- Don't look now but this five game winning streak and four straight ECAC wins has moved Quinnipiac from 10th to tied for third with Harvard as I said earlier but now this team has moved up to 16th in the pairwise rankings. That is not an ideal spot to be in as the cut line is usually between 13-15 depending on conference tournament upsets. But the Bobcats are positioned to make a second half run and they still have games against Clarkson twice and Cornell which would go a long way in the pairwise should they win those.

- On tap is a trip to North Country which is always difficult. They will face St. Lawrence on Friday followed by Clarkson on Saturday. One note is that Quinnipiac won't have have to face St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena as the construction is still on going so the game will be played at Roos House on the campus of SUNY-Canton. The game against Clarkson will have major impact on the top of the ECAC standings along with the pairwise rankings.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

Weekend Preview: Harvard/Dartmouth

Sophomore Zach Metsa is coming off a breakout game on Sunday against Princeton

Harvard Head Coach: Ted Donato (16th Season)

2019-2020 Harvard record: 7-4-1 (6-2-0 ECAC)

All-time vs. Harvard: Crimson leads series 16-14-5

Harvard Key Players: Casey Dornbach (F), Jack Badini (F), Jack Drury (F), John Farinacci (F), Nick Abruzzese (F), Henry Bowlby (F), Reilly Walsh (D), Jack Rathbone (D), Henry Thrun (D), Mitchell Gibson (G)

A team that got off to a 6-0 start has slumped in the last month to a 1-4-1 record in its last six games. The losses came against the likes of Boston College, Boston University, Cornell and Colgate and a win and a tie out west against Arizona State. Its possible that Quinnipiac is catching the Crimson at the right time in the midst of a bit of a struggle but Harvard has the talent to easily break out of that slump quickly.

The Harvard offense in its four game losing streak slumped to just two goals per game. This past weekend against Arizona State was more like the Crimson offense as they scored four goals each game. The top six for the Crimson is explosive with Jack Badini, Nick Abruzzese, John Farinacci, Jack Drury and Casey Dornbach all having strong years. Austin Wong has finally returned from injury boosting the offense up front and Henry Bowlby continues to give secondary scoring. The Crimson still boost a top ten power play at 23.8% despite not being as strong as it was a season ago.

The top four on the back end for Harvard have been very good with Reilly Walsh, Jack Rathbone, Henry Thrun and Ryan Siedem combining for 36 points and a plus 25. The bottom pairing has been interchangeable with four different players taking those spots but its really about the top four for the Crimson which might be the best in the ECAC and one of the best in the country. While this six game stretch was tough on them they played well in the first of two games against Arizona State last weekend. The struggles on defense in those four losses moved Harvard down to 19th in total defense, one spot ahead of Quinnipiac. The Crimson penalty kill is 9th in the country at just a shade under 87.2%

Michell Gibson has seen the majority of the games this season over Cameron Gornet including starting the last four games. The freshman has outplayed Gornet with a 2.28 goals against and a .931 save percentage versus 2.81 and .924 for Gornet. Their is a lot of upside with Gibson being a 4th round draft pick in 2018 by the Washington Capitals. Gibson held Quinnipiac to just two goals in the teams last meeting a 7-2 win by Harvard.

Dartmouth Head Coach: Bob Gaudet (23rd Season)

2019-2020 Dartmouth record: 6-4-2 (4-2-1 ECAC)

All-time vs. Dartmouth: Quinnipiac leads 20-10-3

Dartmouth Key Players: Will Graber (F), Drew O'Connor (F), Quin Foreman (F), Matt Baker (F), Jeffrey Lossurdo (F), Tanner Palocsik (D), Brendan Demler (D), Joey Matthews (D), Adrian Clark (G)

With a solid first half of the season, the Dartmouth Big Green have positioned themselves nicely for a potential first round bye and home ice in the ECAC playoffs and a chance at its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1980. They are currently #22 in the pairwise rankings with games against good ECAC teams still on the table to make up ground.

Dartmouth is one of the better scoring teams in the country at 3.17 goals per game which places them in the top 15. Sophomore Drew O'Connor has been dominant for the Big Green with 15 points in 12 games including three of his seven goals on the power play. He also leads the team in shots with 52. Quinnipiac's focus needs to be on Drew O'Connor. If they can shut him down you make it very difficult for Dartmouth to win games.  Quin Foreman, Jeffrey Losurdo and Matt Baker have combined for 28 points so far this season. The Big Green have a strong power play just a shade under 23.7% so its important for Quinnipiac to stay disciplined and out of the penalty box. 

Defensively, the Big Green have given up 3.17 goals which is in the bottom third in the country. However the defense has played well at times most notably in a huge win against Cornell. The consistency has just not been there for them as one game they can look really good and the next really bad. Freshman Tanner Palocsik has been one of their best defensemen with a plus two and eight assists this season. The penalty kill for Dartmouth has been below 80% this season and is an area Quinnipiac could exploit.

Goaltender Adrian Clark has played well with a 6-3-2 record and a .911 save percentage this season. His goals against average is just 2.76 but take out three bad games against New Hampshire, Colgate and Northeastern and he has been really good this season. He made 27 saves in a tie against Quinnipiac earlier this season. His signature win came against previously undefeated Cornell when he saved 39 of 40 shots in a 2-1 win over the Big Red.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

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.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

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.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

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

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.

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.

You can follow the BobcatsHockeyBlog on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.