Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Kyle Levasseur
The 2015-2016 season for the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team, was possibly the best season in program history. Ranked first overall in the country for nine weeks (USCHO.com), Quinnipiac brought an ECAC regular season and postseason championship (the first in team history) back to Hamden.
The Bobcats also won the East region of the NCAA tournament, securing a spot in the Frozen Four. After defeating Boston College 3-2, Quinnipiac returned to the national championship for the second time ever, to face North Dakota. After losing to interstate rival Yale just three years before, Quinnipiac would again be sorely disappointed with a 5-1 loss.
Despite having the winningest team in Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey history just a year ago, head coach Rand Pecknold looks to improve and win the first national championship in program history. And Pecknold seems to be the man for the job. Entering his 23rd season at the helm, Pecknold just won the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year, and signed a contract extension through 2021.
However, Pecknold is losing plenty of talent from last year’s squad.
On the offensive side, Quinnipiac’s top two scorers from last season are no longer on the team. Leading scorer Sam Anas (24 G, 26 A, 50 Pts) signed an NHL contract as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Wild. Travis St. Denis (22 G, 27 A, 49 Pts) signed a one-year contract with the New York Islander’s top affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Both Anas and St. Denis, along with Tim Clifton, were tied for second in the country in power play goals with 10.
As for defense, the Bobcats are losing their top defenseman from last year, Devon Toews. In his junior year, Toews led all Quinnipiac defenseman in points (7 G, 23 A, 30 Pts). In 2014 Toews was drafted by the New York Islanders, whom he signed with this offseason. Drafted in the fourth round, Toews is the highest draft pick to ever come out of Quinnipiac.
In the crease the Bobcats will miss the winningest goalie in Quinnipiac history, Michael Garteig. Second in the nation in shutouts with eight, Garteig had a very impressive senior campaign and signed with the Vancouver Canucks as an undrafted free agent. Garteig also led the country in minutes played with 2580:17.
As for this year’s starting goalie, Pecknold will have to decide between Sean Lawrence, who has played in seven games at Quinnipiac and owns a 2.78 GAA, or Chris Truehl who transferred from Air Force and had to sit out last year.
So while the Bobcats are losing their top two forwards, top defenseman, and their goalie, they also will no longer have Associate Head Coach Reid Cashman. Over the offseason, Cashman became an Assistant Head Coach with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Taking his place is former Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey captain Joe Dumais, who led Quinnipiac in 2006. Since then, Dumais coached at Union for five years, and the previous three at UConn.
As for this year’s captains, seniors Derek Smith and Connor Clifton will be sporting the letter ‘C’ on their jerseys. The honor of assistant captain has been given to Tommy Schutt and Tim Clifton.
Both captains are defenseman who like to play a physical game. Smith (3 G, 13 A, 16 Pts) was among the ECAC’s highest in blocked shots with 76. As for off the ice, Smith had the highest GPA of anyone on last year’s squad. Arizona Coyotes prospect, Connor Clifton (7 G, 20 A, 27 Pts), is known for his hard hitting, but was able to round out his game last season and contribute offensively. Connor was named Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC tournament, and improved from his sophomore year in which he scored no goals and had five assists.
With all the adversity that this year’s team faces, for the first time ever, Quinnipiac was picked first in the ECAC coaches preseason poll. They are also picked second overall in the nation (USCHO.com) behind North Dakota.
Quinnipiac starts its season against McGill University on October 1 at 7 p.m., at High Point Solutions Arena.
