The Quinnipiac Bobcats were keyed by their power play en route to defeating conference foe Dartmouth Big Green, 6-2, on Saturday night.
The first man advantage goal came from Tim Clifton, who tipped a shot in front of Dartmouth (2-4-0, 2-4-0 ECAC) goaltender Charles Grant with 30 seconds left in the first period.
“Penalties got us in big trouble, obviously the major hurt us a lot; I thought we worked really hard all night but we obviously burnt a bunch of guys out killing penalties,” said Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet. “You can’t put that team on the power play. Obviously they’re the number one team in the country. There’s not a question about it.”
Both goals came on a five-minute power play after forward Brett Patterson was given a major and game misconduct for a hit from behind. As was the case against Harvard, the penalty came at the end of the second period, carrying the player deficit into the third.
Seven minutes into the second, and a couple minutes after a Corey Kalk goal put the Big Green down 3-2, it looked like Dartmouth had scored to tie it at three. The review showed the puck hit the crossbar and bounced back into play.
Gaudet saw the opportunity as a result of the strong work on the puck his team put forward.
“I thought we worked hard; a couple of things were self-inflicted. It’s not from a lack of effort; the guys were playing good hockey.”
Quinnipiac also came out with a strong forecheck and presence from the fourth line of Soren Jonzzon, Clifton, and Scott Davidson. The opening goal, Davidson’s second in his collegiate career was a direct result of the cycle.
Jonzzon brought the puck into the zone and was checked off by a defender in the corner. He pushed the puck over to Clifton behind the net, who sent it straight to Davidson, who was all alone in front and got his quick shot between Grant’s pads.
To Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, the strength all four lines have in the offensive zone is one of the key aspects to their success in the young season.
“We don’t really have a fourth line. I can’t tell you what our fourth line was. We have our first line and we’ve got three more lines. They’re all playing well and contributing, and that’s a part of our success.”
Joining alongside the strong forecheck is a physical presence from a team that only boasts four players at 6-foot-1 or taller.
“I think the physicality, for the most part, favors us; we aren’t a huge team, but we like to play aggressive and in-your-face game, where we can take away time and space,” said Jonzzon. “Between the physicality and us being able to play with speed and play it paced, we’re able to have a pretty good go at the other team.”
Pecknold echoes the idea that physicality is a big facet of the Bobcats’ game, even as an undersized group.
“I think we’re a better team when we’re more physical; we’re better about faceoffs, other things transpire when we’re physical,” said Rand Pecknold. “Again, we weren’t perfect … but we were able to get our game to work.”
With the victory, Quinnipiac set a new program record for the longest winning streak to open a season, and is currently the best starting record for the team since joining Division I in the 1998 season.
