Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Victoria Rutigliano
There was an unfamiliar chill in the TD Bank Sports Center Saturday night, but rather than it coming from the temperature of the ice, this draft came from the swinging open and closed of the penalty box doors.
There were 26 penalties equaling out to 64 penalty minutes in this exhibition contest between Quinnipiac and McGill. McGill’s Jerome Verrier got ejected from the game in the second period for an elbow to the head, there were nine different instances of hitting after the whistle, and the Redmen gave the Bobcats eight power play opportunities.
“Unfortunately all the stuff after the whistle was disappointing. I wish that had been under control a little better. We don’t need that,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “But it’s life, it’s part of hockey, it happens once in a while and sometime it happens in these exhibition games.
Even with the slew of penalties throughout the game, the Bobcats were able to grind out a 2-1 victory and start their season off on a winning streak.
While it seemed like after every whistle there was a scrum between the teams in red and white, Quinnipiac captain Connor Clifton said his team’s main focus was to try and stick to their game.
“I mean we want to stay out of it. We want the power plays, we don’t want to be on the PK all night like the were and unfortunately our power play didn’t come through big tonight but it’s a start.”
While Quinnipiac didn’t have as many opportunities as Clifton had hoped for on the man advantage, the Bobcats were able to get the difference maker on a power play opportunity in the third period with Landon Smith sliding the puck into a wide open net off a pass from Kevin Duane.
While Smith got the recognition for the game-winning goal, dishing in an easy shot past McGill’s goalie Louis-Philip Guindon, he said he really wasn’t the reason the goal happened.
“Tanner MacMaster made a really nice play to Kevin Duane and then Kevin Duane made a really nice pass to me back to me,” Smith said. “I really didn’t do much. Credit goes to both of those guys. It’s really not my goal, it’s theirs.”
Eager legs took to the ice in the first period and it showed with constant pushing and shoving from each team after majority of the whistles.
KJ Tiefenwerth opened the scoring for the Bobcats with six minutes remaining in the first period after deflecting a shot by Connor Clifton.
McGill was able to tie the game within the first minute of the second period, with the Redmen’s Guillaume Gauthier slapping a one-timer past Quinnipiac goalie Sean Lawrence off a pass from Jerome Verrier.
From there, it was back to physical, scrappy hockey.
If the first period was a 20-minute scrum, the second period was an all-out brawl. After almost every whistle red and white jersey’s combined in a shoving match. McGill’s Verrier was tossed from the game for elbowing and there were a slew of coincidental minors dished out to both teams.
The third period proved to be much of the same story.
Quinnipiac’s Landon Smith was able to capitalize on all the penalties McGill was getting by netting a power play goal five minutes into the period and help the Bobcats finish the game with a win.
While there was physicality in this game from both sides, Pecknold said his team’s character was a strong point of the night.
“Again, It wasn’t pretty but it’s October 1st so I thought we found a way to win a hockey game,” he said. I think character-wise, it’s a great culture and I think our captains did a really good job of leading us today. They did a good job of preparing for the game and playing well for us.”
While it wasn’t the prettiest of games from either side, Connor Clifton still said his team was able and ready tonight.
“I think all preseason we’ve been working for this moment tonight. You know our first game,” Clifton said. “All the work we’ve put in it’s been building up to this and we’re ready for it.”
