New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Repeat dreams
Quinnipiac begins national title defense against Wisconsin
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Almost 51 weeks later, the defending NCAA men’s hockey champion is four difficult games away from repeating a feat that some of them remember.
In a Quinnipiac dressing room that’s about half returning players and half newcomers to the program, it’s not a completely shared experience like it might be for another team. But the championship run is still a topic of conversation.
“I think last year comes up in ways,” senior defenseman Ivari Rasanen said after practice at Amica Mutual Pavilion, the last skate before the NCAA regional begins Friday with a game against Wisconsin (5 p.m., ESPNews).
“Obviously we have a lot of players returning from last year’s team. We have experience. We have the knowledge of what it takes to go all the way. I think that plays a big part.”
Memories of the grind through four NCAA tournament games, memories of dousing coach Rand Pecknold in their Amalie Arena dressing room over an hour after the championship, memories of flying home to a rally on campus: about half of those players departed to one place or another, beginning early with goalie Yaniv Perets and continuing over the next few weeks. Others signed pro contracts over the summer.
Replacements came from all over, too. One of them came from the team Quinnipiac beat to reach the Frozen Four: Travis Treloar came from Ohio State, which lost to the Bobcats in the regional final in Bridgeport, grateful for a chance to join this program.
“With (Rasanen) and the other guys, I can really see their culture,” Treloar said, “see why they were so successful last year. I’m just trying to be a piece of the puzzle. I just want to build off that and help repeat.”
The road there begins with Wisconsin. Next up could be No. 1 Boston College.
Pecknold said the Badgers remind him in some ways of his own team.
He’s been familiar with first-year Badgers coach Mike Hastings for a long time, long before his Minnesota State team knocked the Bobcats out of the 2021 tournament in Colorado.
“I don’t think we play the exact same structure, a couple of different systems,” Pecknold said, “but we both attack the game of hockey similar ways. How we want our players to play, how we hold our kids accountable and how they play 200 feet, I think there are some similarities there.”
Both programs have a pedigree, though Wisconsin’s goes back a lot longer with five of its six national titles won before 1990, the last in 2006. Both are coming off disappointing ends to their conference tournament, Wisconsin in the Big Ten quarters, the Bobcats in the ECAC semis.
“Nothing much really changes,” Rasanen said. “We watched some video from last weekend, what we did well, what we didn’t.
“Nothing really changed, a pretty usual week for us.”
This is where Quinnipiac played on the way to its first Frozen Four, in 2013. At that point, the Bobcats had played just one NCAA tournament game and had been zonked 6-1 by Cornell in 2002. But 11 years later, they were the No. 1 seed.
“I remember being down 3-1 to Canisius in the opening game with 10 minutes to go,” Pecknold said. “They were battling. Their goalie was making saves. We found a way to score three quick goals and win the game.”
Matthew Peca’s hat trick in 3:12 set an tournament record the next day in a win over Union, and the Bobcats reached the national final before a loss to Yale.
“That’s our first Frozen Four,” Pecknold said. “That’s climbing the mountain for the first time.”
A fourth Frozen Four is two games away.