By: Brandon Murdock and Tyler Platz
When you think of the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team, you typically think of a team full of veterans. They build a core and keep them together for years, often touted as a part of the reason they won the national championship in 2023.
The 2024-25 team is a different story, as following 14 players leaving the program last season, this team is now full of younger players. The roster now includes 16 total underclassmen, including nine freshmen.
The lack of experience leads to growing pains, which Quinnipiac has had its share of this season.
Following their 3-0 loss to ECAC rival Harvard on Nov. 9, the young squad fell to 3-5, something this program has not seen in years.
Something Rand Pecknold spoke about for the majority of that rough patch, was the team needing to mature and buy-in.
“It’s a great group of guys,” head coach Rand Pecknold said following an early season loss to Dartmouth. “We will buy in at some point.”
Fast forward to February and it looks like this young team is starting to do just that. Following their worst loss of the season, a 5-1 defeat at home to Northeastern, the Bobcats have gone 7-2-1 with their losses coming to UConn, a near-NCAA Tournament lock and Clarkson, an ECAC squad on the tournament bubble.
This team has learned how to battle back, a self-imposed struggle given their inability to score first this season. Over the past month, they have only scored the opening goal twice. A young team has learned to grow up a bit, constantly needing to come back, with three come-from-behind wins in that span.
Something like that does not come out of nowhere, it comes from leadership and the player that has stepped up the most is sophomore leading point scorer, Mason Marcellus.
He scored the opening goal in Friday night’s win against St. Lawrence and had three points inside the first 10 minutes of the game.
“With everyone leaving, I’m kind of a little louder in the locker room,” said Marcellus. “Especially playing with two freshmen, I think I’m a little louder on the bench.”
Marcellus finds himself on a line with first-year forward Chris Pelosi and has found ways to make him feel more comfortable in Hamden.
“He teaches me after every shift,” said Pelosi. “I couldn’t thank him more and he just makes me better every single day.”
Despite a quick start against St. Lawrence on Friday, Quinnipiac again fell behind early in the 3-2 overtime loss to Clarkson the following day. However, a sign of the team’s maturation came in how they responded when trailing.
After giving up the opening goal eight minutes into the game, the Bobcats answered with goals from Pelosi and junior forward Victor Czerneckianair in just under two minutes to regain the early lead before ultimately falling in overtime.
“You just got to put it away,” assistant coach Rick Bennett said. “It was just a hard fought game tonight, just did not go our way and sometimes that’s hockey.”
While the team is starting to come together and play some of its best hockey, they still have a bit of an upward hill to climb. Despite being first in the ECAC hockey standings, some tough losses at the beginning of the season has the team on the bubble of making the NCAA tournament.
In order for the Bobcats to give themselves the best chance to make the tournament, this young group will need to avenge some old demons and take care of business in the ECAC Tournament up in Lake Placid.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. when they take on Union on the road.