Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Morey Hershgordon
The Cleary Cup had been awarded, raised, and then, dropped. Quinnipiac had earned the No. 1 seed for the ECAC Tournament. But, there was one regular season game left. One game that, to most, isn’t so regular.
Hundreds of fans lined up outside TD Bank Sports Center Saturday afternoon hours before the most anticipated game of the season. The famous Quinnipiac student Teletubbies were first in line. Fifty people behind was Quinnipiac’s President John Lahey’s cut out, held high, on a poster board.
But one Quinnipiac player, a veteran used to the hype surrounding Quinnipiac and Yale, had to document the pregame excitement.
“It’s pretty cool showing up to the rink at 4 o’clock and seeing the line out the door,” Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig said. “I was pulling up my snapchat to get a good picture of it”
Garteig wasn’t the only one who used Snapchat Saturday night, as the Quinnipiac faithful recorded, watched, and posted their favorite moments throughout the Bobcats commanding 4-1 win against No. 7 ranked Yale in front of a capacity crowd of 3,696.
“Our guys get fired up. I think Yale’s guys get fired up,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “I thought it was an awesome college hockey game. I thought it was a great game and we’re fortunate to get the win tonight.”
“Everybody wanted that win,” Tanner MacMaster said. “Even after the Cleary (Cup), when we clinched the Cleary last night. We knew that we had to come out tonight and it would be another big time atmosphere.”
Almost seven minutes after Yale tied the game at one midway through the second period, Thomas Aldworth tracked down a puck in the corner and went near side to drop it off for Bo Pieper who laced it in on Yale goalie Alex Lyon. MacMaster, positioned perfectly in front, tapped home the rebound through the five-hole to give Quinnipiac its second lead of the night, one it would not relinquish.
Most of that success was due to Garteig. The senior net minder recorded 26 saves keeping the hottest team in the country to just one goal.
“He was excellent. He was our best player tonight,” Pecknold said. “We had a couple breakdowns, and unfortunately every time it was (John Hayden) their top goal scorer. And Garteig made some big time saves.”
He faced a bevy of shots early on, denying the visitors time and time again. During the Bulldogs 8-game winning streak entering Saturday night, they had scored close to four goals per game over that stretch. Eleven saves, off the sticks of Joe Snively and Hayden, were against Yale’s two studs. Another solid performance keeps Garteig’s name high on many people’s Hobey Baker Award list. But that’s not what he’s worried about. He’s focused on the task at hand.
“The second half has been a struggle,” he said. “I just know I could play better. I don’t think over this stretch I’ve been playing very well. I think this weekend was really big for the team, but also for myself. To allow in just one goal against Yale, a good Yale team that was on a hot streak like that, I was just very excited to get the win.”
The team was too. However, Quinnipiac was amped a little too much in the beginning of the game.
“It’s an emotional game,” Pecknold said. “Our crowd’s awesome. I thought the crowd was fantastic tonight. We did take some bad penalties. Some emotional penalties. We need to keep working on that.”
Three of the Bobcats penalties came in the first period, with the latter two coming within 25 seconds of each other. Pecknold noticed a calmer, more poised team in the second and third periods to put the Bulldogs away.
“Right now we’re just happy with the win and we want to get to Monday, get our guys healthy. We’re excited to have the bye next weekend.”
Quinnipiac jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Scott Davidson cleaned up a rebound in front. Tommy Schutt found Chase Priskie at the top of the left offensive circle and after an original save by Lyon, and Davidson capitalized for his fifth goal of the season.
Davidson’s freshman teammate Luke Shiplo also scored. Shiplo’s wrister from the point pushed the Bobcats advantage to two goals with just 6:27 left in regulation. It was the Oakville, Ontario native’s second goal in as many nights. Pecknold had high praise post game.
“He’s great. He’s a high-end offensive defensemen. He’s really working on his game. Working on his defending. He was very good this weekend defensively.”
Quinnipiac’s win concluded a 16-1-5 conference record, the first time an ECAC team has had just one loss in conference since Rennselaer in 1984-85. The Bobcats perfect home ECAC record (7-0-4) was the first time that happened since it joined the ECAC in 2005-06.
Extras:
- Yale scored 1:26 into the game before the goal was waved off due to goalie interference.
- Quinnipiac junior forward Sam Anas’ 16-game consecutive point streak was snapped. Quinnipiac senior forward Travis St. Denis’ 8-game consecutive point streak was snapped.
- Quinnipiac improved to 20-0 when it scores at least four goals.
- The annual Hero’s Hat returns to Quinnipiac for the 12th time in 14 years.
