By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Publishing Editor
The Heroes Hat game, by the right of rivalries, holds high expectations for unusual plays, freak-show goals and dramatic of soap opera proportions. Even though scoring was limited to the confines of the second frame and ended in a 2-2 deadlock between the Quinnipiac Bobcats (17-11-6, 9-8-5 ECAC) and the Yale Bulldogs, (13-13-3, 10-10-2 ECAC) the game lived up to the hype in the form of an overtime thriller, backed by the electric crowd that filed in 90-minutes before the puck dropped.
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| courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com |
Junior Loren Barron sought out an equalizer just less than nine minutes later on a power play goal assisted by Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) and Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario).
Barron’s eighth goal of the season, however, did not give the Bobcats the lead for long. Root would net another breakaway goal halfway through the period with help from Clinto Bourbonais. This score came on a shorthanded venture after junior Antoine Laganiere was ejected due to a game misconduct. The ejection resulted in a five-minute major penalty, but it did not stop the Bulldogs from capitalizing.
Before the advantage ended, the line of Kellen and Connor Jones and Peca dug in yet again. Kellen ripped a pass from the far side to a wide open Connor on the right side of the crease. Connor wristed the puck by Yale’s Nick Maricic for his ninth goal of the year and second in as many days.
In spite of the intensity and a Yale goal that crossed the line just seconds after the game’s final buzzer rang, neither team could force the other to break outside of the middle stanza.
“It certainly wasn’t a perfect game, but I thought we played well tonight,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We had a lot of energy in the third.”
The extra pep found in the third is credited in part to the Bobcat fans that filled the stands.
“It’s definitely fun to play in front of,” Connor Jones said. “You get that extra energy from the crowd.”
The spirit of the crowd, however, cannot take credit for Connor and Kellen accounting for four of the six goals Quinnipiac scored this weekend against Brown and Yale.
“It’s a lot to ask of two sophomores, but they carry a lot of the load of the team,” Peca said. “They’re heavily relied on in a lot of situations.”
While Peca gave praise to Connor and Kellen Jones, he himself managed to factor in on all six scores on the weekend.
Personal accolades aside, with the tie, the Bobcats secured the fifth seed in ECAC Hockey. Because both Colgate and Clarkson lost, Quinnipiac could have jumped to fourth with a win, but rather than take the chance and pull the goalie in the final moments of regulation, Pecknold kept his lines as they were.
“I did put a lot of thought into it, but as much as we wanted the bye, I don’t think it’s fair to our fans if we give up an empty-net goal at the end,” Pecknold said of his decision.
Even though Quinnipiac can say it did not surrender its tie for a loss in the name of full offensive press, it still failed to satisfy.
“I feel like we should have won it,” Connor Jones said. “I think everybody feels like we should have won it. It’s nice to get a point, but what we wanted was a victory.”
As the Heroes Hat is now in an objective of the past, the Bobcats can refocus to take on Brown at home in a best-of-three set starting March 2.
“We’re excited and we’re not going to dwell on the fact that we didn’t get a top four spot or anything like that,” Peca said. “We’re just going to prepare like we did every other weekend.”
With the recent game against Brown ending in a 4-1 Quinnipiac victory, the Bobcats, according to Peca, have a certain level of confidence against its opponent. This is something Quinnipiac hopes can generate enough power to push it through to the next round of the playoffs.
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