Weekend in Review: Cornell/Colgate

Quinnipiac shutout the #1 team in the country in Cornell 5-0

It was a payback weekend for Quinnipiac who avenged a pair of losses in upstate New York back in November when they lost to Cornell and Colgate. Friday saw Quinnipiac put an absolute beat-down on the #1 team in the country in the Cornell Big Red shutting them out 5-0 behind a 22 save performance by Keith Petruzzelli and they followed it up by gutting out a 2-1 win over Colgate the following night. Here are my thoughts of the weekend sweep.

- The win over #1 Cornell was massive for Quinnipiac's pairwise ranking. The win soared the Bobcats from 19th to 14th and while their is still plenty of work to do this is a big win considering they will get a quality win bonus for it. With eight regular season games remaining, the schedule clearly favors the Bobcats who have one really challenging game the rest of the way on February 14th when they host Clarkson. Every other game on the schedule is winnable and I clearly expect them to win. This team clearly has the ability and the favorable schedule to run the table the rest of the way. If they do that they will be in a great position for the NCAA tournament.

- Quinnipiac did a great job surviving an early flurry of chances from Cornell. Give credit to Keith Petruzzelli who made nine saves that opening period to keep the game scoreless early on. The game could have been different had Cornell drew first blood. His play gave Quinnipiac the opportunity to keep the game scoreless until captain Nick Jermain and defencemen Zach Metsa scored 52 seconds apart to take command of the game. Petruzzelli finished a strong weekend with 52 saves in two games allowing just the lone goal on Saturday against Colgate.

- The Bobcats offense was on fire Friday against Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda. I never thought that would happen as Galajda has been the best goaltender in the league this season and one of the best in all of the country. He has a tremendous track record of success against Quinnipiac and was a big factor of why they won the earlier match at Lynah Rink. Give Quinnipiac a lot credit for continuing to pepper Galajda in periods one and two and until he was relieved in goal by Austin McGrath.

- I think we have all heard the term "Save the best for last". In this case captain Nick Jermain certainly represents that term. He had another strong weekend with a three point game against Cornell including two goals. Jermain's 10 goals this season are not only second on the team but a career high for him. His 15 points also eclipsed the 14 he had in his sophomore season, his only other full season of health. With 8 games to play he should easily hit the 20 point plateau and possibly even get to 25.

- While Quinnipiac has only one player averaging a point per game (Odeen Tufto) they are getting contributions from a lot of different players during this second half turnaround. Guys like Zach Metsa, Peter Diliberatore, Ethan Leyh, William Fallstrom, Skyler Brind'Amour, Ethan de Jong and Wyatt Bongionvanni have really helped carry this team during a 10-2 stretch dating back to the end of the first half win at UMass.

Quinnipiac beat Colgate 2-1 on Saturday

- I had a good feeling the Colgate game wasn't going to be easy and boy was I right. While Colgate lacks high end skill and talent, they have a ton of will and have clearly played above their skill ability. Head coach Don Vaughan is getting more out of his team than I ever thought he would this year and has put them for a home ice series in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. Colgate should be competitive down the stretch and can help Quinnipiac by possibly stealing a game against Cornell next weekend.

- I never thought this was possible back in November but Quinnipiac still has a decent chance to win the Cleary Cup but will need some help to do it. First off the Bobcats will need to win out which is entirely possible given the schedule they have remaining. The most challenging game is Clarkson which is at home while RPI is their most challenging road game. Every other game is against Yale (2), Brown (2), St. Lawrence and Union. The help that Quinnipiac will need is for Clarkson to beat Cornell on February 29th along with Cornell also possibly losing another game outside of Clarkson for an outright title.

- Quinnipiac now heads out on the road for a short road trip down the road against Yale on Friday night before heading to Providence against Brown on Saturday. The Bobcats have had a ton of success against Yale and have won their last three games at Ingalls Rink which includes two playoff games. While you can't overlook Yale, Saturday night you have to think Quinnipiac will look to have revenge on their minds against a Brown team that swept Quinnipiac at the People's United Bank Center in the ECAC Quarterfinal series last year.

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Weekend Preview: Cornell/Colgate

Alex Whelan and the Quinnipiac Bobcats have their most important game this weekend

Cornell Head Coach: Mike Schaefer (25th Season)

2019-2020 Cornell record: 14-1-4 (9-1-2 ECAC)

All-time vs. Cornell: Cornell leads 23-17-4

Cornell Key Players: Morgan Barron (F), Cam Donaldson (F), Ben Berard (F), Michael Regush (F), Brendan Locke (F), Yanni Kaldis (D), Sam Malinski (D), Alex Green (D), Matthew Galajda (G)

The biggest game of the season for Quinnipiac takes place when they host the #1 team in the country in Cornell. Sitting at 19th in the pairwise rankings, this is essentially a must win game for any at-large chances for Quinnipiac. A win would be a huge for the Bobcats giving them the quality win they need to try to get back into the top 16. Cornell is off to one of its best starts in years and has just a lone road loss to Dartmouth this season. The Big Red are unbeaten in their last eight games going 4-0-4 over that time span. They are pretty much a lock at this point for the NCAA tournament.

The Big Red have a strong offense at 3.37 goals per game which places them 10th in the country. Junior forward Morgan Barron is having a strong season averaging 1.11 points per game. Brenden Locke and Cam Donaldson have 17 and 16 points respectively while defencemen Yanni Kaldis has 16 points from the blue line. Sophomore Michael Regush is second in the team with 8 goals. At 25.3%, Cornell has a top 10 power play and can strike at any time. Staying out of the penalty box is a must for Quinnipiac.

The Big Red have the #1 defense in the country and for good reason. They have loads of talent on the back in with Yanni Kaldis, Alex Green along with freshman Sam Malinski and Travis Mitchell. Cornell is giving up 1.47 goals per game which is one of four teams in all of Division I giving up less than two goals per game. They are extremely tough to score on. One area of weakness for Cornell is the penalty kill where they are just 79% for the season. Despite a weak penalty kill, Cornell is disciplined and doesn't take many penalties. 

Matthew Galajda is in top form this season and is well on his way to winning the ECAC goaltender of the year. Playing in every game this season Galajda has a 1.46 goals against average and .940 save percentage which places him in second in both categories. He also has two shutouts to boot. He has a strong track record of success against Quinnipiac with a 5-1 record in six starts. Goals surely will be a tough chore for the Bobcats against him.

Colgate Head Coach: Don Vaughan (27th Season)

2019-2020 Colgate record: 8-10-6 (6-3-3 ECAC)

All-time vs. Colgate : Quinnipiac leads 23-17-2

Colgate Key Players: Bobby McMann (F), Colton Young (F), Ben Sharf (F), Jared Cockrell (F), Paul McAvoy (F), Nick Austin (D), Trevor Cosgrove (D), Mitch Benson (G)

Colgate is having a very solid season under long time head coach Don Vaughan after multiple losings seasons. While they are still under .500 for the season, the Raiders are a respectable 6-3-3 in ECAC play this season and can play with anyone in the conference on any given weekend. Just ask Quinnipiac who got beat 3-1 by Colgate back in November. While lacking high end talent, the Raiders have played hard this season with solid wins against Lowell, Harvard, Quinnipiac and a tie with Providence. Don't overlook this Raiders team.

Offensively it has been a struggle for Colgate as they are averaging 2.12 goals per game this season. Senior Bobby McMann is the leading scorer with 14 points while senior Ben Sharf has given the Raiders unexpected production with 13 points. Freshman Colton Young (12 points) has been a nice find for Colgate but they just lack high end talent up front to score at will against teams. The Raiders also have by far the worst power play in the country at a measly 4.5%. 

The Raiders defense has been the key to a solid season for them. Giving up just 2.50 goals per game, they have been able to win games by limiting the opposing team on the scoreboard. For Colgate to win this game, it will have to be on the back end limiting Quinnipiac chances in the the offensive zone. Nick Austin, Trevor Cosgrove and Jacob Panetta have been consistent on the blue line this season and will need to be this weekend as well. The Raiders also must avoid the penalty box as their penalty kill is just 77.3% for the season. 

Colgate has seen a goaltender rotation between sophomores Mitch Benson and Andrew Farrier with both playing well this season. Colgate's record is better with Farrier in between the pipes and he has started the last four games going 1-1-2 in the stretch. His 2.18 goals against and .925 save percentage lead the team as well. Benson has a 2.38 goals against and a .918 save percentage on the season. When these two teams met back in November, it was Farrier who got the win with a 33 save effort.

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Finnish defenceman Iivari Räsänen commits to Quinnipiac

Iivari Räsänen playing for Finland

The Quinnipiac Bobcats picked up a a commitment for a Finnish born defenceman yesterday when 2001 born Iivari Räsänen made the decision to play for the Bobcats. Räsänen is the younger brother of Boston College forward Aapeli Räsänen, an Edmonton Oilers draft pick. The younger Räsänen is currently in his first season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL.

Proud and honored to announce my commitment to play Division 1 hockey at Quinnipiac University. I want to thank my family, friends, coaches and everyone else who has supported me along the way. #GoBobcats pic.twitter.com/lE3cvlzGVd

— Iivari Räsänen (@iivarirasanen) January 30, 2020

The left shot 6'1, 205 pound Räsänen is having a solid season with the Lumberjacks with 13 points (1 goal, 12 assists) in 32 games played and is a plus 9. Prior to his time with Muskegon, Räsänen played back in Finland for Tappara U20 the past two seasons plus five games this season before coming over to North America. ISS Hockey said Räsänen is two-way defenceman with a good first pass that likes to jump into the rush and plays with poise and confidence with strong hockey IQ. Finnish Jr. Hockey had this scouting report below.

Iivari Räsänen has committed to Quinnipiac University. The former Tappara U20 standout playing his 1st season with USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks. A stable, smart defenseman who can shut down opposing forwards and chip in offensively. Two reports in profile: https://t.co/iGVyTXiDLL pic.twitter.com/z7BmG7BRjH

— Finnish Jr Hockey (@FINjrhockey) January 30, 2020

Räsänen also has extensive Finland national team experience playing for the Finland U-17 and U-18 teams the past three years. While he went undrafted in 2019 in his first draft year, Räsänen is a player who could certainly see his name called in the 2020 draft especially if he continues his strong play for Muskegon. When he will enroll with Quinnipiac is not yet known but its either going to be for the 2020-2021 or the year after that. Overall this looks like a very solid pickup for Quinnipiac who should develop nicely under Rand Pecknold and the assistant coaches.

Links
Elite Prospects Player Page
USHL Player Page 

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Weekend in Review: UConn/Sacred Heart @ Connecticut Ice Festival

Quinnipiac vs. UConn on Saturday afternoon

It was a celebration weekend of hockey in the state of Connecticut with the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival taking place in Bridgeport with college and youth hockey games over the three day weekend. For Quinnipiac the weekend started out well with a 3-2 win over the Connecticut Huskies but the Bobcats couldn't win the tournament as they fell 4-1 to Sacred Heart in the championship game. Here are my thoughts from the weekend tournament.

- Before we talk about the games I just want to say how great this event was for the four teams in Connecticut. After many years of discussion this tournament came to fruition and was good for the programs and the fans. Lets hope this tournament is around for the long haul.

- While Quinnipiac won Saturday's game against UConn, its loss to Sacred Heart was hurtful in the pairwise rankings. Had the Bobcats won the tournament they would currently be 13th in the rankings but now sit at 19th. At this point Quinnipiac will need to definitely win games against Cornell and Clarkson to have any at-large chance and they really can't afford to drop any more games against teams below them.

- I loved seeing Quinnipiac captain Nick Jermain's second period goal become the game winner. It must have felt good for the Connecticut native to put his mark on this tournament. Jermain finished with a two point weekend as he assisted on the lone Quinnipiac goal by Karlis Cukste on Sunday against Sacred Heart.

- Quinnipiac really had to scrap it out against a solid UConn team that has some pretty high end talent on their roster. The Bobcats stayed poised and pretty disciplined in this game and did just enough to get by Connecticut despite a late push by the Huskies. I'm really surprised that UConn isn't better with some of the talent they have but they really lack depth on their roster.

- I liked the fact that Wyatt Bongiovanni got a two minute instead of a five minute major for a cross check to the chin of the UConn player. There was no intent to injure there and thought the UConn player sold the hit worse than it actually was. Good for the officials sticking with just two minutes in that situation.

- The third and fourth goals of the season for Karlis Cukste put him one shy of his career high of five goals in his freshman. Cukste is also on pace to break his scoring mark of 20 points he had a season ago with at least 12 more game left in the regular season and ECAC tournament. 

- Quinnipiac came out strong in the championship game against Sacred Heart getting a seeing eye goal by Karlis Cukste and controlling the play through the period. On the heels of a very good first period came one of the worst periods of the season. Quinnipiac was terrible in the second period with giveaways and sloppy play. Give Sacred Heart a lot of credit as they were the more aggressive team. Ryan Steele tied the game just 5:19 into the second period but the Pioneers gained controlled with two goals in a minute six time frame to turn this game into their favor. They continued to play relentless and it paid off with the tournament championship.

- For those that may not have liked seeing Sacred Heart celebrate like they won a National Championship, deal with it. They earned it this weekend with their play on the ice. Lets hope Quinnipiac remembers this and uses it as fuel the rest of way so they can be the ones celebrating the next time.

- One last Sacred Heart tidbit. It was great to see them announce over the weekend that they will be constructing a new 4000 seat on campus rink scheduled to open in 2022 with construction set to get underway this summer. This is a program that has come a long way from the days at the Milford Ice Pavilion and its great for head coach C.J. Marottolo as he continues to build the Pioneers into a strong program.

- With 10 games left in the regulars season, Quinnipiac now has their biggest game of the season against #1 Cornell in Hamden this Friday. If the Bobcats have any chance at an at-large berth they will need to win this game as it would be a big boost to their pairwise ranking.

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Weekend Preview: UConn Huskies @ Connecticut Ice

Quinnipiac plays in the first ever Connecticut Ice Tournament this weekend

UConn Head Coach: David Berard (6th season)

2019-2020 UConn record: 6-11-5 (5-10-3 Atlantic Hockey)

All-time vs. UConn: Quinnipiac leads series 19-11-2

UConn Key Players: Vladislav Firstov (F), Ruslan Iskhakov (F), Jachym Kondelik (F), Benjamin Freeman (F), Carter Turnbull (F), Wyatt Newpower (D), Yan Kuznetsov (D) Carter Berger (D), Tomas Vomacka (G)

UConn has been an up and down team under 7th year coach Mike Cavanaugh. The Huskies have just one winning season during his time in Storrs and that was in his first season. Despite getting some talented players they have yet to put it all together. Part of it is the fact they don't have a home rink on campus which is hurting them now. Cavanaugh is a good recruiter but I am not so sure if he's a great in game coach because the results have not shown with the talent that he has.

Up front the Huskies have a bunch of talent in Russians Vladislav Firstov (16 points) and Ruslan Iskhakov (15 points). Both are NHL second round picks. Senior Benjamin Freeman lead the team with 11 assists. Sophomores Jachym Kondelik and Carter Turnbull have 14 and 12 points respectively. With the amount of talent they have up front this is an offense that should be scoring more than 2.78 goals per game which is 30th in the country. The Huskies also have a brutal power play at 15.4% which is 47th in the country.

The defense of the Huskies has been a train wreck this season and part of that is due to having a ton of youth back there. UConn is giving up 3.30 goals per game which is 51st in the country. Its surprising considering the talent they have back there in 4th round pick Carter Berger and Yan Kuznetsov a top prospect for the 2020 draft. But with six of the eight defensemen on the roster underclassmen struggles were likely expected. UConn also boosts one of the worst penalty kill units in the country at 74.7% which is 56th nationally.

UConn was hoping that goaltender Tomas Vomacka would improve upon his impressive freshman season in which he had a 2.32 goals against and a .922 save percentage. But that has been far from the case this year as Vomacka has really struggled for the Huskies. The 2017 5th round pick of the Nashville Predators has a 3.37 goals against average which is more than a goal than he let up last season. Its his save percentage that is very considering at .893 down. UConn was expecting him to cover up for a young defense and he really has been the opposite of that. The talent of Vomacka is there, he just needs to show it on a consistent basis

Based on where Quinnipiac is in the pairwise rankings at the moment, 17th, its imperative that not only do they beat UConn, they win the Connecticut Ice Tournament as they can ill afford mediocre to bad losses at this point in the season.

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Weekend Preview: Holy Cross

Karlis Cukste play a lone game against Holy Cross on Friday

Holy Cross Head Coach: David Berard (6th season)

2019-2020 Holy Cross record: 6-11-5 (5-10-3 Atlantic Hockey)

All-time vs. Holy Cross: Quinnipiac leads series 25-5-4

Holy Cross Key Players: Neil Robinson (F), Logan Ferguson (F), Conner Jean (F), Anthony Vincent (F), Alex Peterson (F), Dalton Skelly (D), Matt Slick (D) Mike Higgins (D), Matt Radomsky (G)

Holy Cross has been a weird team to figure out this season. While they have a losing record they have beaten Providence and Sacred Heart twice along with a tie against Northeastern. Sixth year coach David Berard has one winning season since replacing Paul Pearl at the helm of the Crusaders back in the 2014-2015 season. Barring a big second half turnaround, its likely Holy Cross will have their fourth straight losing season.

The Holy Cross offense this season has been less than average at 2.55 goals per games which is 37th in the country. Senior Neil Robinson and junior Logan Ferguson lead the way with 16 points. Sophomore Conner Jean leads the team with 10 goals including three on the power play. Its an offense that lacks high end talent but they have started off the month of January on fire offensively with 19 goals in their last four games which includes three wins and a tie. The Crusaders power play isn't every good at just 16% which is 43rd nationally. The biggest question is which Holy Cross offense shows up this weekend against Quinnipiac.

Defensively it has been a struggle for Holy Cross as they have given up 3.18 goals per game which is 45th nationally. They have a decent penalty kill at 81.5% which is 29th nationally. Much like they lack high end talent up front, the same can be said for on the blue line as well. Senior Dalton Skelly has 10 points but is a minus 9. Young defensemen in Matt Slick and Mike Higgins each have six point and are a plus 3 each.

Holy Cross has had goal-tending issues this season playing all three of their goalies on the roster which has contributed to the teams record. Freshman Matt Radomsky has been the best of the bunch with an .895 save percentage and a 2.90 goals against average. He has played 19 games this season for the Crusaders and is expected to be in between the pipes for Holy Cross against Quinnipiac. If Holy Cross is going to have a chance to win, Radomsky is going to need to play his best hockey much like he did against Providence and Sacred Heart in wins.

This is a game Quinnipiac must have and have convincingly. They are superior across the board in talent and they need to make sure they don't play down to their competition which happened last weekend in a win against St. Lawrence.

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Weekend in Review: St. Lawrence/Clarkson

Alex Whelan had a two goal weekend as the Bobcats split a North Country road trip

It was an up and down weekend for Quinnipiac which split its trip up in North Country with a win over St. Lawrence on Friday followed by a loss to 7th ranked Clarkson on Saturday which ended the Bobcats six game winning streak dating back to the last game of the first half of the season against UMass. Quinnipiac now has two weeks off from conference play with a non-conference game next weekend on the road at Holy Cross followed by the Connecticut Ice tournament the following weekend. Here are my thoughts and observations from the weekend split in North Country.

- I didn't like the way Quinnipiac played down to its competition on Friday against St. Lawrence in a 3-2 win. That is a terrible Saints team under first year coach Brett Brekke who is still looking to turn his roster over into his players within the next few seasons. The Bobcats had to claw and scratch their way to an unimpressive victory against one of the least talented teams in all of the Division I hockey and that shouldn't be the case.

- Senior Alex Whelan had two power play goals on the weekend and has begun to heat up since his return from injury. He had his six game point streak snapped against Clarkson however, but he is starting to make his presence felt in the Bobcats lineup offensively that was clearly missed earlier in the season.

- Speaking of the Bobcats power play, it was 50% against St. Lawrence going 2 of 4 but they struggled against Clarkson going 0 for 4 Saturday night. That is to be expected as the Golden Knights have one of the best penalty kills in the country at 92% moving them to second in that category nationally. They are almost impossible to score upon when they are short handed which bodes very well in the long run for Casey Jones team.

-  One player that is starting to come into his own is sophomore defensemen Zach Metsa. The Wisconsin native has almost tripled his offensive production from a season ago and he has done it in nine less games. With 11 points (3 goals, 8 assists) in 21 games played, Metsa is someone who is clearly on pace to eclipse 20 points from the blue line which would be a welcome sight for the underclassmen who will likely be one of the leaders back there next season.

- I liked the effort that Quinnipiac had at times against Clarkson but they just made too many mistakes in the defensive end against the Golden Knights that it cost them. Four unanswered goals led to the 5-2 win for Clarkson including two in twenty-three seconds by Jack Jacome, one of Clarkson's best offensive players. It was too much for the Bobcats to overcome with especially how well the Golden Knights play in their own defensive zone along with senior goaltender Frank Marotte who has been lights out for them this season.

- It was the first four goal game that Keith Petruzzelli has allowed in two months since he allowed four goals back on November 2nd in a loss to Arizona State. I think his defense let him down a bit in this game with turnovers in the defensive zone leading to goals. Combine that with the fact that Clarkson is a very good team and on the road in their building this was going to be a tough game no matter what. Quinnipiac still needs to clean some things up defensively as they clearly could have kept themselves in the game if not for some defensive breakdowns.

- The magnitude of the loss is huge for Quinnipiac. A win against Clarkson would have been enormous for their pairwise implications down the road but now they sit at 18th in the pairwise when a win would have likely got them in the top 13. They still have games against Cornell and Clarkson at home which will help in the pairwise should they win but the path to a possible at-large berth is still going to be tough without any big wins down the stretch. They also cannot lose to any bad teams as well.

- Quinnipiac won't head back into ECAC play until January 31st. They currently sit in third place in the ECAC standings but have played at least 2-3 more games than at least three of the teams behind them. They could easily fall to the middle of the pack without playing a conference game depending on what other teams do around them. For Quinnipiac its about just winning these next three non-conference games in order to hold their pairwise position firmly as losses would dip them into the 20's.

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