Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Victoria Rutigliano
TAMPA, Fla. – One game. After 6 months, 32 victories, and more than 2,500 minutes on the ice, there’s just 60 minutes that separates Quinnipiac from its first NCAA championship in program history.
In late September, before the Bobcats even had a secured lineup, senior captain Soren Jonzzon sat down with Sports Paws to talk about his team’s goals. Goals, he said, that were easy to say.
“In the end we’re here to win a championship.”
Now half a year later, this feat is right on the Bobcats’ doorstep.
“Right now we have to stay in the moment. We have one game left against a phenomenal team,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We’ve had 42 games here. We’ve had a plan. And we need to do it again one more time.”
After defeating Boston College 3-2 in Thursday night’s semifinal, Quinnipiac’s final test is North Dakota on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Amalie Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
The teams have met three times in program history with the Fighting Hawks winning each one.
The most recent, a first round contest in the 2015 NCAA tournament, laid the Bobcats season to rest. Quinnipiac’s top goal-scorer, Sam Anas, was far from 100 percent as it was dominated 4-1.
This year, Quinnipiac is out for revenge.
“Any time a team ends your season its always a great opportunity to do the same to them. We’re definitely hoping obviously for a different outcome,” Jonzzon said. “We’re excited for the chance to take it to them.”
The Bobcats have had 15 different players score in the postseason. Travis St. Denis is riding a six-game point streak and owns the most points in the playoffs (four goals, six assists), after a power-play assist that tied defenseman Connor Clifton (one goal, nine assists).
The Fighting Hawks also have a few key players under their wings. When Drake Caggiula scores, which happened in the opening two goals Thursday night against Denver, the team owns an 18-0-0 record. Caggiula is riding a 12-game point streak dating back to Feb. 20.
Brock Boesner, Caggiula’s linemate, has the most points of any of the Frozen Four competitors. A first round draft pick for the Vancouver Canucks, the forward comes into the final game with 26 goals and 28 assists for 54 points.
While this line is a powerhouse for North Dakota, Rand Pecknold said he wants his team to maintain its playing style against the Fighting Hawks top goal-scorers.
“We will adapt and adjust and we’ll probably use two lines to match up against them because we also want to stay in our flow,” he said. “We respect that line and we want to defend it well and we’ll certainly have our number one matchup against it but we wont do it all the time.”
The matchup for these teams is eerily similar.
Scoring the first goal of the game has been a strength for both teams all season, especially Thursday night. The Bobcats’ first goal has come 31 times in the first period, an NCAA best. The Fighting Hawks are right behind them at 29.
The national championship competitors have a combined record of 65-9-11, with the wins being the most between two programs in the title game since Michigan and Colorado College played in 1996.
However, only one of these winning teams will come out on top.
The two teams will step out on the ice looking to win the most coveted championship in the league on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Amalie Arena.
