Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Sierra Goodwill
The power play struggles are seemingly extinct for the No. 7/8 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team, which scored two goals with the man advantage in its 4-2 win over No. 10/10 Harvard Saturday night at High Point Solutions Arena.
Coming into this weekend, the Bobcats only converted on 12.7 percent of their power plays (8-for-63). Against Dartmouth and Harvard on Friday and Saturday, Quinnipiac had a 45.5 percent success rate (5-for-11).
Head coach Rand Pecknold thinks he has finally figured out his special team units.
“Earlier this year we had the square peg in a round hole,” Pecknold said. “I think we’re more organized, our retrievals have been better and our breakouts and entries have been really good.”
The first goal of the game, in fact, was on the power play. Quinnipiac freshman Brogan Rafferty scored just over a minute into the first period after Harvard goalie Merrick Madsen bobbled the puck into the net. No matter how it happened, Pecknold is just happy to see conversions with the extra skater.
“It’s been our trademark the past five years to be one of the better or best power plays in the country. You win a lot of hockey games with good special teams.”
The two teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1. Harvard came out in the second period similar to how Quinnipiac started the game, finding twine just 24 seconds in. But that would mark the end of the Crimson scoring.
Craig Martin got things rolling for the Bobcats again, tying the game 2-2 to grab back the momentum. Pecknold is pleased at Martin’s sophomore campaign so far.
“Martin was in-and-out of the lineup for us last year and I thought he was really good for us tonight,” Pecknold said. “He’s excellent, he’s up on the first line, and he’s on the penalty kill and the power play.”
Martin is excited to supply solid and meaningful minutes.
“Last year was a little tough with playing time, but its huge being able to contribute every night, you feel like you’re more a part of it,” the forward said.
Luke Shiplo picked up the game-winning goal less than five minutes later off a snipe from the high slot.
“I almost had a pretty bad dump there,” Shiplo said. “But I got it back and threw it down to (Andrew) Taverner, he made a great pass in the slot and I was able to put one in.”
Shiplo, a natural defenseman, has been listed on the lines as a forward the majority of the season. His goal Saturday night was his first of the season. Shiplo admitted it took some time to obtain an offensive mindest.
“At first it was a little difficult, I’ve never really played (offense) before. But, I like it so far and it’s fun.”
Tommy Schutt sent a puck down the ice with 24 seconds left in the game and tallied an empty netter to seal the deal for the Bobcats.
Even though Pecknold still sees a lot of room for improvement from his squad, he admits the weekend sweep was a big confidence booster for the team.
“It’s four points! So it’s great,” he said. “The guys are fired up in there, they’re very accountable and they know we didn’t have our best effort, but good teams find a way to win when they have a down night.”
Another thing to note is goaltender Chris Treuhl got the starting nod in both matchups this weekend. Truehl had 30 saves and killed nine penalties without allowing a single goal.
“I thought his battle mode was excellent tonight,” Pecknold said. “People talk about how your best penalty killer is your goalie and he’s been really good, he’s reading the plays well. He’s challenging when he needs to challenge and he’s handling his rebounds.”
Quinnipiac hits the road to New York next weekend to play Cornell on Friday, Nov. 18 and Colgate on Saturday, Nov. 19.
