New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Bobcats give fans a show
No. 7 Quinnipiac tops No. 6 North Dakota
HAMDEN — Attendance was 3,498 in the stands Friday night at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena for Quinnipiac’s men’s hockey home opener, the first time fans were here in 19 months. They brought tons of energy to a top-10 matchup even as some of them were still filing in at the start.
The Bobcats had 22 more in uniform who brought energy all night, too. “Lining up for the opening faceoff, the announcement of the starting lineups, it’s awesome to see the support that this team has,” said Oliver Chau, the gradstudent transfer who scored twice in the No. 7 Bobcats’ 5-2 win over No. 6 North Dakota.
“That was one thing, back in the day, the beginning of my career in college, it was always awesome atmosphere.”
Quinnipiac (3-0-1) started the game with a 12-1 shots edge (on the scoreboard at least, since official totals for the period only came in 11-4), shook off a first goal from the Fighting Hawks (3-2) and played a tenacious 200-foot hockey game.
North Dakota had won the first four meetings between the programs, including the 2016 national final.
“It’s a big win for Quinnipiac,” coach Rand Pecknold said.
“North Dakota is a great, historic
program, tons of really high end players now and always. I think Brad Berry is one of the better coaches in the game. So we’re excited about the win. I thought our guys really battled.”
That level showed up in 15 blocked shots — freshman Bobcats goalie Yaniv Perets only got credit for 14 saves — and in a bunch of forced turnovers.
“That’s how we want to play. We want to hunt and be relentless,” Pecknold said. “I thought we did a really good job at it.”
Ethan De Jong forced one of those turnovers along the boards in the Quinnipiac zone and sent Chau and Brendan Less out on a rush. Chau finished the give-and-go to tie the game in the first.
That was the first point as a Bobcat for Chau, who won a national championship in the spring with UMass. He ended Friday’s game with three points.
“Oliver’s been great the first three games,” Pecknold said. “I know he didn’t have a point, but he’s been awesome, just a little snake-bit.
“I’ve been really happy with him I think he’s been outstanding, one of our better players, so points are gonna come in bunches from of players like that. I thought that whole line (with Wyatt Bongiovanni and De Jong) was real good tonight.”
Joey Cipollone and Jayden Lee (power play) scored in the second as the Bobcats took control, and Ty Smilanic (five-on-three) and Chau (empty-net) finished it off in the third around Jake Sanderson’s four-on-three goal for
North Dakota.
The teams will meet again here Saturday night at 7.
“It’s going to be big tonight just taking care of our bodies, making sure we recover,” defenseman Zach Metsa said, “and then just come back tomorrow with a mindset like yesterday was yesterday, but today we’ve just got to go back and do the same thing.”
Pecknold liked the confidence that the Bobcats had from the start, though North Dakota’s Matteo Costantini, a fifth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2020, stole a puck in the neutral zone and accelerated through the left circle to open the scoring.
“We’re outshooting them 12-2 and we’re losing 1-0,” Pecknold said, “but I thought we dug in pretty well and had a hard, gritty game.”