The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team enters the fifth annual Connecticut Ice Tournament with plenty of conference games left to play. For now, the Bobcats are in a position they’ve grown accustomed to in recent years: the top of the ECAC.
The preseason coaches poll voted Quinnipiac second in the ECAC behind Cornell University and projected the Bobcats to finish one spot ahead of the Big Red in the aforementioned USCHO preseason rankings. Yet it was hard for many to imagine the Bobcats to be in first place in the conference following a nightmarish start to their conference schedule. The program has been a national powerhouse the last few years, especially at home, they had not lost a conference game in regulation at M&T Bank Arena since Feb. 25, 2022 against Cornell. During the first weekend of ECAC play Dartmouth and Harvard swept Quinnipiac at home in Hamden. The weekend was full of staggering firsts for Rand Pecknold’s squad: they had not lost their conference opening game since Nov 3, 2017, against Cornell. They had not lost to Dartmouth since Nov. 3, 2018, and it was the Big Green’s first victory in Hamden since Mar. 6, 2010. Quinnipiac experienced its first home shutout since the Cornell game in 2022, as Harvard swept the Bobcats to open conference play for the first time since 2017.
“We got a great group of guys. We will buy in at some point but I’m hoping it’s not January, I’m hoping it’s November. It’s a battle right now,” Pecknold said after the loss.
Despite the slow start and significant roster turnover, Quinnipiac is pacing the conference. With 14 new players joining the team ahead of the season and another midway through the year, it took time for the Bobcats to find their footing. In the 11 ECAC Hockey matchups they’ve played since the loss to Harvard, the Bobcats have won nine of them, with the only two losses being a 3-2 overtime battle at Colgate and a shootout loss to Cornell at home that goes down as a tie for the standings. Nationally, the team currently sits at No. 16 in the latest USCHO Division I Men’s Poll and No. 14 in the Pairwise Rankings after being voted to finish eighth in the USCHO preseason rankings. Pecknold’s group has proved itself as a threat to make the NCAA tournament, shifting from an unfair preseason assumption to an accomplishment the team has earned.
Forward Jack Ricketts and captain Travis Treloar spearhead the goal-scoring department for the Quinnipiac offense (3.30 goals per game), accounting for more than 25% of the teams’ tallies. Recently named to the Hobey Baker Award watch list was Treloar who account for almost a third of the team’s powerplay goals. Sophomore forwards Mason Marcellus and Andon Cerbone have built upon impressive debut seasons with the Bobcats, leading the team in points with 23 and 22 respectively, with transfer Jeremy Wilmer right behind them at 21. A trio of first years, Aaron Schwartz, Tyler Borgula and Chris Pelosi, have contributed double-digit point totals as well.
The defense remains elite as well, conceding under 2.5 goals per game for a seventh consecutive season. Pecknold’s system has implemented five new defenders after losing mainstays to the professional leagues and graduation. They have also begun to gel, with transfers Aaron Bohlinger and Charlie Leddy ranking in the top five on the team in plus/minus and first-year Elliott Groenwold leading the team with 44 blocks. Quinnipiac goalies, first-year Dylan Silverstein and sophomore Matej Marinov were named to the 2025 Mike Richter Award watch list. The duo joins Western Michigan University’s Cameron Rowe and Hampton Slukynsky as the only tandem named to the watch list. Both Silverstein and Marinov have goals against averages below 2.5 and a save percentage above .900.
On special teams, Quinnipiac is once again a force while shorthanded, with a top 10 penalty-killing unit at 87.1%. That compliments the powerplay that ranks in the top three. What other team can claim to have both besides the Bobcats? Defending National Champion Denver University, who sit in at five in the latest USCHO poll. In fact, the only other team with both special teams units in the top 10 is WMU (and the Broncos are three in the USCHO poll).
The Bobcats may not be the dominant force they were two seasons ago when they marched through anyone in their way to hoisting the trophy in Tampa Bay, FL. They might not be as good as last year’s group which was an unlucky bounce against the top team in the nation away from back-to-back Frozen Four appearances for the first time in program history. But if there’s one thing teams can’t do, it’s overlooking a hungry group ready to prove themselves that may not have played their best hockey. And that’s just who Quinnipiac is.
“We don’t want to wait till next season,” Pecknold said following their 6-3 win over Colgate. “We will be good next year but we will get it done this year. We got plenty of talent right now. We just need to keep maturing, growing as a team and learning from our mistakes.”