TAMPA, Fla. — The Quinnipiac Bobcats will play for a national championship and you can take that to the bank.
Well, the bank shot, that is.
Not once, but twice, in Thursday’s national semifinal Quinnipiac players fired shots from behind the net, banking them off the skate of Michigan netminder Erik Portillo for goals. That included the game-winning goal by Sam Lipkin that broke a 2-2 tie 1:24 into the third period as the Bobcats scored the contest’s final three goals in a 5-2 victory over Michigan.
Quinnipiac will face Minnesota in the national championship game on Saturday.
Creating havoc in front of the net was a major focus going into the game, said Lipkin, who finished the night with a goal and an assist and four total shots.
“That was on the pre-scout that [Portillo’s] big and aggressive and a really good goalie,” Lipkin said. “It was about just getting pucks to the net to create traffic. We got two goals off it and they were pretty good goals.”
A major cog for the success of the Bobcats on Thursday was their ability to slow down a high-flying Michigan offense. The 1-3-1 forecheck that Rand Pecknold’s Quinnipiac team is most noted for, a system that slows teams down through the neutral zone and tries to create turnovers and transitions, was stellar.
But, as Quinnipiac noted, it’s been working all year.
“We do it every game,” Pecknold said of his forecheck. “We play fast, we play north, that’s how we want to operate, whether it’s Michigan, Harvard or anybody we play. I thought it was on full display tonight. I thought we did a great job. We capitalized. We didn’t score on some of those chances — we had a lot of 2-on-1s and 2-on-0s and breakaways. That’s how we want to play, catch teams.”
Much like Thursday’s opening semifinal between Minnesota and Boston University, there was plenty of offense in the game’s opening period.
Quinnipiac struck first on its first bank shot, this one by Jacob Quillan off Portillo just 5:18 into the game. Just 91 seconds later, Michigan’s Seamus Casey answered, skating around the outside of the Bobcats’ defense, burying a goal past Yaniv Perets.
Quillan, however, scored his second of the evening on a breakaway, firing the puck five hole at 11:21 for a 2-1 Bobcats edge through one.
In the middle frame, Quinnipiac had multiple opportunities to extend the lead, only to have Portillo stand strong. And at 10:51 of the period, the Wolverines drew even.
Luke Hughes many a nifty dangle at the center point, tossed a backhand pass to his right and Adam Fantilli blasted his 30th goal of the season past Perets.
But the final frame belonged to the Bobcats. After Lipkin’s bank shot gave them the lead, Zach Metsa fired what looked like a harmless short from the right half wall that appeared to go off a Michigan defender’s stick and over the shoulder of Portillo with 7 minutes remaining. Ethan de Jong added an empty netter with 1:45 remaining.
Quinnipiac is a perfect 3-0 in national semifinals, having reached the national title game in 2013 and 2016. The Bobcats are looking for their first national championship, having lost to Yale and North Dakota in their previous two finals.
For Michigan, it’s a second consecutive disappointing ending in the penultimate game after falling 3-2 in overtime a year ago to Denver.
“A tough game,” said Michigan coach Brandon Naurato. “But I’m extremely proud of our guys and everything they’ve done this year and Michigan will be a better program because of the type of people we had this year.”
