Quinnipiac shakes up lineup, comes away with tie

Last weekend’s season-opener was a victory, but the performance wasn’t up to snuff. Still, Rand Pecknold gave his team the benefit of the doubt by essentially sending the same lineup out for game two on Friday night.

Things only got worse. Pecknold was bothered by his team’s “lack of effort” as much as the three-goal loss. The team bus was still idling at UMass Lowell when the Quinnipiac coach decided on major changes for Saturday. Two starting forwards were scratched. An extra defenseman would dress. And for the first time in 43 games there would be a new goaltender.

“We were bad (Friday),” Pecknold said. “We pulled (three) kids, but we could have pulled five or six.”

The shakeup produced a noticeable spark. Freshman Sean Lawrence (19 saves) was sound in his first collegiate appearance. Quinnipiac, ranked 13th in the nation, was the better team for large chunks of Saturday’s rematch with No. 9 UMass Lowell. But the end re-

FROMPAGE 1 sult, thanks to an extra attacker goal with 78 seconds left, was a disappointing 3-3 tie before a sellout crowd of 3,525 at High Point Solutions Arena.

Quinnipiac (1-1-1) was victimized twice by Evan Campbell, a sophomore center and Edmonton Oiler draft pick, the second goal a tough-angled redirection that allowed the RiverHawks (2-0-1) to escape with a tie.

“We deserved a better fate,” Pecknold said. “We played well enough to win, but needed a little extra.”

On the whole, there was a lot to like. Lawrence made a case to start again on Tuesday against UConn at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena. He stopped two breakaways and limited rebounds in place of junior incumbent Michael Garteig, on the bench for the first time since Quinnipiac’s loss to Yale in the 2013 national championship game.

The switch wasn’t much of a surprise. Garteig, in taking over for Hobey Hat Trick finalist Eric Hartzell last winter, was reliable in starting all 40 games. But his stats through the first two games weren’t pretty. He’d given up five goals Friday night to inflate his goals-against average to 4.04 and save percentage to .810.

Lawrence, like Garteig, owns an impressive Junior hockey resume. Last winter, playing for the Boston Jr. Bruins of the U.S. Premier Hockey League, he was named league MVP and goaltender of the year. He was even better in the playoffs, posting a .943 save percentage in six games to lead his team to a championship.

“I was nervous at first,” Lawrence said. “I’ve never really played in front of fans before. Once I settled in, the team played awesome.”

Landon Smith, another highly-regarded freshman, also enjoyed his coming out party. The MVP of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League delivered his first two collegiate goals, first a powerplay snipe off a feed from Matthew Peca in the opening period and then a rebound goal with 11:06 remaining that gave Quinnipiac a 3-2 lead and was on track to be the winner.

The bad? A second-period injury to center Travis St. Denis ended his night early, forcing defenseman Alex Barron to move up front. And while Pecknold refused to comment on the night’s officiating — his opening statement at the postgame press conference was a simple request to not ask any questions on that topic — everyone in the arena heard him voice his displeasure moments after the game ended.

Pecknold spent a few minutes barking at referees Chip McDonald and Scott Whittemore. His chief gripe was likely a missed goaltender interference call midway through the first, when Lawrence was run by a UMass Lowell skater seconds before a turnover in the Quinnipiac zone led to the game’s first goal.

Later, referees whistled Campbell for goaltender interference. But they also nabbed Lawrence for embellishment. If anything, it set up the line of the night from Quinnipiac radio color commentator Chris Kotsopoulos. When one of the refs stumbled to his knees after incidental contact with a UMass Lowell player, Kotsopoulos, on air, quipped, “Maybe the referee should be called for embellishment.”

Rookie mistakes were expected in the early portion of the season. Quinnipiac has started five freshman and transfer defenseman Justin Agosta (who also scored a goal Saturday) in each of the first three games. The problem is there’s little room for error. After UConn, the Bobcats take on Northeastern for a two-game set next weekend before the ECAC opener against Colgate, ranked sixth in the country, and always-tough Cornell. Then it’s off to defending national champ Union.

Lineup changes helped on Saturday. There was a deeper lesson, too.

“The only thing that may be a blessing in disguise is we now understand what it takes to win and how it feels to be outworked and outplayed,” Peca said. “At the end of the day, it’s good to get that out of our system early on, and now guys know what to expect.” WESTERN CONN. 20, FITCHBURGSTATE14» Stratford’s Tory Mack scored three touchdowns including a 1-yard run in overtime to lift the Colonials.

Mack finished with 112 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries. Michael Nichol was 10 of 14 passing for 96 yards, while also adding 69 yards rushing on 20 carries forWCSU (5-2). Nichol set up the game-winner with an 18yard scramble on Western’s third play of the extra session. ROBERTMORRIS27,CCSU24 » Senior RobHollomon ran for two touchdowns in the first half, and in the process surpassed former Blue Devil Stan House for Central Connecticut’s career rushing record, but the Blue Devils fell at Robert Morris.

House, who played from 1994-97, held the CCSU rushing record for nearly 20 years. His total of 3,347 was passed by Hollomon ona three-yard rush late in the second quarter. Hollomon finished the day with 3,430 career rushing yards and 874 yards on the season. AMHERST33,WESLEYAN30 » Phillip Nwosu tied the game with a 41-yard field goal with 23 seconds to play and won it with 35yard field goal in overtime as visiting Amherst handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season.

Jay Fabien caught a pair of touchdown passes for Wesleyan (4-1) and finished with 120 yards on five catches. Josh Hurwitz added seven catches for 109 yards. Jesse Warren threw for 305 and two scores. The Cardinals also got 82 yards and a touchdown on the ground by Lou Stevens. MAINEMARITIME 13, COAST GUARD 7 » The visiting Bears turned the ball over four times in the second half, and despite holding the nations’s top rushing attack to just 42 yards after the break, dropped their New England Football Conference game.

Bryan Popp caught a 17yard pass from Derek Victory for Coast Guard’s (34, 2-2) lone score.

Chip Malafronte