Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Victoria Rutigliano
Heading into a game against one of the best teams in the nation, its no secret teams step up their physical play in order to match No. 5 Quinnipiac’s strength. For Rensselaer on Friday night, however, this attempt at physicality led to penalty after detrimental penalty, leading to a 4-1 loss on Quinnipiac’s ice.
On 10 instances the Engineers slammed the puck to the penalty box doors, handing the Bobcats numerous chances on the power play and digging their own grave in the final period of the game.
Three power play goals in the third period catapulted Quinnipiac (10-4-2, 6-1-1 ECAC) past Rensselaer (3-13-1, 1-6-0 ECAC) one week after the Bobcats were stunned in a 5-1 loss to Vermont in Belfast, Ireland. The Bobcats had an extra pep in their step with something to prove after falling on an international stage.
Aiding his team with three assists in the game, Landon smith said this added spark to Quinnipiac’s skates and was something the Bobcats had worked on all week.
“We were really dialed in,” Smith said. “You know, obviously what happened against Vermont, it was tough but we showed up this week in practices and we really battled hard and all the boys were going and we had a really good week.”
Dialed in was one way to describe Quinnipiac’s offensive presence.
The Bobcats combined for 104 shot attempts throughout the game, including 51 on net compared to 15 from the Engineers. Half of these shots came in the third period, when the Bobcats saw the 5-on-4 man advantage almost as much as they did even play.
The Bobcats started the game off in the lead, with Tanner MacMaster scoring on a two-on-one opportunity in his first game back from a five-game hiatus due to injury.
While MacMaster was all over the ice to start his first game back, his presence wouldn’t last long as he went hobbling off the ice in the third period after getting hit.
He didn’t come back to the game.
Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said this physicality by Rensselaer in the game was questionable.
“I was a little frustrated with some of the play tonight,” Pecknold said. “I think we got three players injured from some questionable play but, you know, it is what it is. Hopefully those guys will be alright for tomorrow.”
It wouldn’t be until the third period where the Engineers would find the equalizer, with Jared Wilson scoring off the faceoff to get his team back in the game.
But five penalties in the third period would sink Rensselaer’s hopeful ship, with Quinnipiac scoring three power play goals in less than five minutes to jump out to a 4-1 lead.
The Engineers wouldn’t recover from this.
The Bobcats combined for 23 of their total 51 shots on the man-advantage, but didn’t get one past Rensselaer goaltender Cam Hackett until the final frame. This change was something the Bobcats talked about during the second intermission, according to Pecknold.
“Well we made some adjustments, we thought RPI was doing a really good job at taking certain things away so we adapted and adjusted,” Pecknold said. “We really executed. We executed on the rush, we executed in the zone, we got some good looks and the puck finally found the net for us.”
Three Quinnipiac players found the back of the net in the third, including a game winning goal from Quinnipiac’s top-scorer Tim Clifton.
Clifton’s tenth goal of the season wasn’t a surprising one according to Pecknold.
“He’s been our best player all year,” Pecknold said. “And he was good tonight. It wasn’t even his best game he’s played for us but there’s no question he’s a dominant player in our league and one of the more dominant players in college hockey this year.”
Quinnipiac will take on another ECAC competitor Saturday night, hosting No. 18 Union at 7 p.m.
