TAMPA, Fla. — Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold has a reputation for pulling his goalie early when down by a goal or two.
The strategy paid off for Pecknold and the Bobcats in the national championship game on Saturday, leading to the tying goal and forcing an overtime that lasted only 10 seconds as Quinnipiac defeated Minnesota 3-2 at Amalie Arena.
Down 2-1 in a third period that they were dominating, the Bobcats went to the power play with 4:52 left in regulation.
With a face off coming in the Minnesota zone and 3:28 left to play, Pecknold pulled goaltender Yaniv Perets for an extra attacker.
“I almost did it earlier,” said Pecknold. “As we all know, I like to pull the goalie. I just feel like you’re going to wait a little bit, go 6-on-5. Why not do it 6-on-4? Especially with an O-zone draw.”
Just after the penalty expired, the Bobcats were able to work the puck low and create traffic in front of Minnesota goaltender Justen Close. Quinnipiac sophomore Collin Graf fired a shot from a tight angle that went through Close’s pads for the tying goal.
“Graffer makes a great play,” said Pecknold. “If you watch that goal, we score that goal because Sam Lipkin is doing exactly what he’s told to do. He’s hiding off the back post. And the goalie knows that. And he cheats the pass. And Graffer beats him with the five-holer.”
Just like Pecknold drew it up.
“We’ve done it a lot, just (a) power play where we go off that back door,” he said. “Obviously, we got a little fortunate, too, but they executed it. We don’t practice it every day but we do practice our 6-on-4. You have to be prepared. And they found a way.”
The goal capped off a dominating third period for the Bobcats, who outshot the Golden Gophers 14-2 in the frame.
“We kind of knew we had them, to be honest,” said Quinnipiac forward Christophe Tellier, who scored the Bobcats’ first goal in the second period. “We kept working, and it worked out for us.”
“We wanted to execute our game plan, 6-on-4,” said forward Jacob Quillan, who scored the game-winner. “We practice it a lot every week. And the boys executed.”
“After that tying goal, we had all the momentum,” Quillan continued. “We were staying confident. And we were taking that momentum right into overtime.”
Quillan’s goal made it the shortest overtime in national championship game history.
