There is usually very little solace to be taken from a loss, but this was a game that will sit decently with me. At the very least, it’s not the 4-0 Providence loss of last year that broke so many hearts.
The first period was not the nightmare like that of the ECAC Semifinals against Harvard, where there were sloppy plays and miscommunications abound. Instead the skating was back and forth, with evenly match physical presence. University of North Dakota’s 1-0 lead came on the power play, when Michael Garteig could not see through the well established screen in front of him.
The second saw UND pot two more, both completely flukey goals. The first a puck that snuck in behind the blueline, catching everyone off guard, and an odd break shorthanded that, on first look for me, I was convinced was a save.
In the third, Quinnipiac seemed to struggled against the four line roll of North Dakota. The goaltending of Zane McIntyre was solid, though in some aspects he went relatively unchallenged.
Even with the late goal by Landon Smith, it would not be anywhere near enough to jumpstart this team. By the end stretch, the physical and mental play seemed to finally wear them down. They were simply exhausted.
This season, the team surprised me. They really, really surprised me. It was an underclassmen heavy group that was very small, with certain scoring only from Matthew Peca and Sam Anas.
When the Bobcats came out on the losing end of a tough, almost all Hockey East out of conference season, it seemed almost everyone but the players themselves hit the panic button.
The biggest problem for Quinnipiac this season was inconsistency (as much as Rand Pecknold would argue that it was youth and inexperience). Lines weren’t usually the same, the defense would go from stellar one game to bad turnovers the next, and the depth of scoring wasn’t there.
But not all hope is lost. Yes, they lose Danny Federico and Matthew Peca (who in my mind, will dress for Tampa Bay down the stretch) but not all is lost with those two. There is a lot of promise in this freshman class– between the strong presence of Tanner MacMaster and the prowess around the net that Landon Smith has, they have a strong core to build off of.
While the members of the 2013 national championship run dwindle, there is a new culture of winning that departed players have helped to instill in this organization. For Quinnipiac next year, expect better competition in teams like Boston University, and expect this years freshmen to really shine.
