The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Familiar opponents set to meet in inaugural event
BRIDGEPORT — This weekend’s Connecticut Ice Festival at Webster Bank Arena may be a new tournament to showcase the state’s four Division I hockey programs.
But the participants are hardly strangers, having met routinely throughout the years with fairly consistent results.
Quinnipiac, ranked 17th in the USCHO.com poll, is the clear favorite, having the upper hand in the recent series history against
UConn, Yale and Sacred Heart. Since joining ECAC Hockey in 2005 the Bobcats have won six of seven games against UConn — the opponent in the 4 p.m. opener Saturday.
And though Yale has had little trouble with UConn and Sacred Heart over the years, the Pioneers, in the midst of their best season ever, could pose problems in Saturday’s 7 p.m. nightcap.
Quinnipiac (13-8-1) enters the tournament with seven wins in its past eight games, including a dominating sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth
earlier this month. Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, whose son Skyler is a freshman forward for the Bobcats, came to speak to the team on Thursday about what it takes to reach the NHL, adding to the excitement of the weekend.
“It’s been a great week of practice,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said.
Quinnipiac’s recent success can be traced to several factors. The team is getting reliable scoring from multiple lines. Sophomore Wyatt Bongiovanni (11 goals, seven assists, 18 points) leads the ECAC in goals while junior Odeen Tufto (3-22-25) leads the league in points. Alex Whelan had a hat trick in a 4-3 win at Holy Cross last weekend.
The Bobcats depth in scoring — 10 players have double-digit points — could be the biggest obstacle for UConn. Tomas Vomacka is a former fifth-round pick of Nashville, but his numbers for the season (3.37 goalsagainst average; .893 save percentage) aren’t terribly encouraging.
Vomacka, a native of the Czech Republic, has been strong his past three outings, though — a 2-1 loss to Providence and successive 3-2 victories,over Maine and Northeastern. Coach Mike Cavanaugh says Vomacka is over a case of the flu that hampered his performance earlier in January.
Quinnipiac goalie Keith Petruzzelli, a backup to Andrew Shortridge the past two seasons, has come into his own now that the job is his alone. The 6-foot-6 junior has been consistently good all season, evidenced by his 2.25 GAA and .912 save percentage.
Petruzzelli, a Detroit draft pick prior to his arrival at Quinnipiac, has the combination of size and athleticism that makes him tough to beat with clean goals. The Bobcats defensive core also does a nice job of keeping traffic and rebounds out of harm’s way.
“Our biggest thing is Keith has been really good in net,” Pecknold said. “He’s making timely saves, and that gives our young team a lot of confidence. Our power play is also a lot better than early in season.”
UConn (9-10-4) doesn’t have a dominant scorer. But, like Quinnipiac, the Huskies feature decent depth led by talented, young players.
Freshman Vladislav Firstov, a second-round pick of Minnesota last June, leads the team with nine goals and seven assists. Sophomore Ruslan Ishakov (6-915) and senior Ben Freeman (4-11-15) aren’t far behind. The Huskies also have Yan Kuznetsov, a 17-year old defenseman and potential first-round pick who is the youngest player in college hockey. He won’t turn 18
until March.
Cavanaugh said UConn’s sub-.500 record is deceiving.
“Since the beginning of November, that’s a stretch of 15 or 16 games, we’ve played pretty well in all but two,” Cavanaugh said. “We’re a .500 team, but we’ve played a consistent brand of hockey. We lost by one goal at Dartmouth, we lost a tough one at Providence. That’s going to happen. Our focus has been on competing every night, and to not be so focused on the result. Since that 2-5-1 start to the season, when I thought we were focusing on the results rather than how we were playing, we’ve competed pretty hard.”
Sacred Heart (14-8-2) is on pace to set a record for single-season wins under coach C.J. Marottolo. Earlier this year, the Atlantic Hockey leader secured a signature victory in program history with a 4-0 win at Boston University. And though the Pioneers are coming off a disappointing one-point home weekend against conference bottomdweller Canisius, they could give Yale a run for its money on their home ice.
Yale (8-9) has won six of eight games since a 2-7 start to the season, including a sweep of Union and RPI in which it outscored the opposition 9-1. Sophomore Curtis Hall has become the nation’s most prolific goal scorer, notching 12 in just 13 games, including seven in his last four.
One of the few blemishes since December is a 7-0 loss to Harvard at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago.
“We’ve won a couple in a row here, so that makes the mood a little bit lighter here around the rink,” Yale forward Luke Stevens said. “The guys have confidence going into the tournament, so I guess that’s all you can ask for. Obviously we won (against Union and RPI) in convincing fashion, and hopefully we can continue that on Saturday and Sunday
… You have to take it one day at a time, but we’re expecting to win it.”
cmalafronte @nhregister.com