QU Sports Page

Tag: NCAA Tournament

  • Pecknold explains goaltending decision in Quinnipiac’s NCAA Tournament loss

    Pecknold explains goaltending decision in Quinnipiac’s NCAA Tournament loss

    By Ethan Hurwitz and Mike King

    Down the home stretch of the regular season, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team leaned on sophomore Matej Marinov in net. Both his 1.75 goals against average and .928 save percentage led ECAC Hockey. The Slovakia native was also between the pipes for seven of the Bobcats’ last 12 games, including four in a row.

    So why did head coach Rand Pecknold turn to freshman Dylan Silverstein for last Friday’s NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal against UConn?

    “(I) just feel like we’ve got two guys, I made a decision,” Pecknold said following the Bobcats’ 4-1 loss to the Huskies. “He played awesome the last time we played UConn, played great. … Either one could have gone today.”

    In his NCAA postseason debut, Silverstein held his own for most of the night. Though not suiting up in a month, the freshman gave a respectable performance, making 18 saves on 21 opportunities.

    The Bobcats struggled to put together a string of chances, and despite standing tall for most of the night, the freshman goaltender was forced to fend for himself.

    “They were just all over us,” Pecknold said. “We just didn’t have enough there. I wanted to get us going, so that’s disappointing.”

    Pecknold’s decision to start Silverstein was influenced by the goaltender’s last outing against the Huskies. In the Connecticut Ice semifinal on Jan. 24, Quinnipiac fell 2-1 after surrendering a game-winning goal with half a second remaining. Despite the soul-snatching loss, Silverstein did his part exceptionally well, stopping 22 of 24 shots.

    “We made a mistake on the (penalty kill) late in the game and hung him out to dry,” Pecknold said.

    Throughout his first season of college hockey, Silverstein was a solid addition to the Bobcats’ goaltending rotation. The California native went 12-9-2 between the pipes and was fifth in the conference in goals against average (2.25). It was a strong enough season for Pecknold to roll the dice and start him in a do-or-die postseason atmosphere.

    Left on the bench was Marinov, who had been playing his way into earning the starting nod in the NCAA Tournament. A day before puck drop, Pecknold left the door open for either goalie to start.

    “Yeah, they’ve both been great,” Pecknold said during his media availability the day before. “So we feel comfortable playing either one of them. We feel that either one of them can win us a game.”

    Less than 24 hours later, Silverstein was the first Bobcat to take the ice. Marinov was the last.

    The Huskies — who were playing in their first-ever NCAA Tournament game — came out firing. They got goals from Hugh Larkin, Ethan Gardula and Tristan Fraser before an empty net goal slammed the door shut.

    “I told the team before the game, in order to be successful in this tournament, you can’t rely on luck,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “You have to bring your all.”

    UConn brought its all and then some, and Quinnipiac failed to advance past the tournament’s first round for the first time in four years. 

    “I never used the term rebuild, but a reload year,” Pecknold said. “We’ll be better next season. We will take a jump. … This was a reload year and (we) had a lot of success.”

    With both Silverstein and Marinov slated to return next season (barring an entry into the transfer portal), how this year ended will likely be a major discussion point in next season’s goaltending conversations.

  • Notes & Quotes: UConn freezes Quinnipiac’s championship hopes with statement win

    Notes & Quotes: UConn freezes Quinnipiac’s championship hopes with statement win

    By Connor Coar and Zachary Carter

    Quinnipiac’s net remained empty. The faceoff was set to be taken in UConn’s defensive end with just over two minutes to play in the third period. Off the draw, skipping up the boards and bouncing off the shoulder of Quinnipiac forward Mason Marcellus, the puck landed on the stick of UConn’s Joey Muldowney. The sophomore flung the puck the length of the ice, watching as it started left, popped up on its side before finally veering right and into the back of Quinnipiac’s unmanned net. 

    Ballgame. 

    The goal – UConn’s fourth of the game – cemented the Huskies’ win in the Allentown regional opening round, sending Quinnipiac home in unceremonious fashion. UConn dominated all game, unlike their previous matchup with Quinnipiac in the Connecticut Ice semifinal round, which was decided with less than a second to play in regulation. 

    UConn scored two early goals and took the match 4-1, never giving Quinnipiac a chance to climb back in. The Huskies will move on to the regional final against Penn State on Sunday, while the Bobcats will pack their bags and load the bus due northeast for Hamden, where Quinnipiac will regroup and plan for next year. Let’s open the notebook and see where Quinnipiac went wrong in contrast to what went right for UConn. 

    What went wrong: Quinnipiac

    Effort. It’s cliche, but Quinnipiac did not play a full 60 minutes. Head coach Rand Pecknold admitted his team was flat early, but fought to the end in an attempt to overcome a sluggish start. The Bobcats have advanced to the regional final every year since 2021 and were determined to do so again. UConn’s relentlessness got in the way of that streak. 

    Pecknold: “We just didn’t have enough. It took us too long to get us going. So that’s disappointing.”

    Luck. Quinnipiac never led throughout the course of the game, but it occasionally threatened a comeback — one that ultimately failed to arrive. The Bobcats’ best chance came in the third period. Though they trailed by two, the offense had started to click, as 11 of Quinnipiac’s 22 total shots came in the final frame. With the puck on the blue line, defenseman Elliot Groenewold fired a shot that beat UConn goaltender Callum Tung but rang the crossbar, deflecting downward and nearly crossing the goal line. UConn’s Viking Gustafsson Nyberg raced in to clear just in time, and Quinnipiac’s short-lived hope dried up. 

    Cavanaugh: “I told the team before the game, ‘In order to be successful in this tournament, you can’t rely on luck. You have to bring your A game.’ That being said, I’ve coached some real good teams in this tournament. And you need some luck sometimes, and that one hit the crossbar on it, you know, if it’s one inch lower it’s in. But it wasn’t. So I think we reset pretty quickly after that and played pretty well.” 

    Pecknold: “Tung made some big saves in the third when we were trying to make a push.”

    Redemption. Freshman goaltender Dylan Silverstein had played in the CT Ice semifinal game against the Huskies in late January and played well for 59:59.5, but bit just a little too hard on a Ryan Tattle move that would eventually send the Huskies to the championship game. In the regional final Friday, Silverstein kept them in the game, but did not look as confident as he did two months earlier.

    Throughout the game, Silverstein was shaky in spots. Silverstein would save UConn’s initial shot, but many times the shot would deflect back in front of him, causing chaos in front of the crease. Other times, he wouldn’t see the puck at all and wait for a reaction from the crowd or skaters on the ice for play to continue. Despite that, Silverstein also stepped up in plenty of moments to deserve the starting nod to keep the Bobcats in the game. 

    Pecknold: “He played great the last time that we played UConn. We should have won. We out-chanced them heavily. We made a mistake on the PK late and hung him out to dry. That was part of it. Either one could have gone tonight.”

    What went right: UConn

    Defense. Quinnipiac’s offense was no pushover. The Bobcats led the ECAC in total goals scored (135) and shots on goal (1,118) through 38 games. Head coach Mike Cavanaugh made it a top priority for his group to possess the puck and force Quinnipiac to skate into unproductive shifts. 

    Cavanaugh: “Something that we take a lot of pride in is defending in our own zone. What allowed us to play so well was we were playing in their zone for the majority of the shift. If it’s a 40-second shift and we’re in their zone for 20-25 seconds, it’s a lot harder for them to play offense. Our defense is a byproduct of how we were controlling the game offensively in their zone.” 

    Energy. UConn’s trek through the Hockey East tournament revealed that a fast start usually correlates to wins. The team’s semifinal win over Boston University was propelled by a fast start and high energy, though it trailed early. In its next game, Cavanaugh thought his team took too long to wake up, and the Huskies had no answers in the loss to Maine. 

    To give an idea of how each team started the game Friday night, Quinnipiac needed over eight minutes to register its first shot on goal. In that time, UConn put eight shots on  Silverstein and even got one past him to open the scoring. 

    Cavanaugh: “We got out to a good start, and I think that helped and we had a lot of energy and as (Hudson Schandor) said that the shift that we scored on, I think there was three or four finished checks, and we finally got a turnover and then (Hugh Larkin) made a nice shot. So yeah, every game we play, we want to get off to a good start. I thought we started well against BU, and we were down 1-0. So, sometimes the score isn’t indicative of the start.”

    Penalty Kill. The Huskies took three penalties in the game and gave Quinnipiac — the nation’s highest converters on the power play — too many opportunities to climb back into the game. The penalty kill staved off any threats from Quinnipiac’s man-advantage units, but sloppy play could have easily cost the Huskies if the Bobcats started to click. The highlight here is again UConn’s defense. Cavanaugh had high praise for his group’s ability to limit second-chance opportunities. 

    Cavanaugh: “We really didn’t give up a lot of second-chance opportunities. That’s always a focal point when we’re playing, that we don’t want to give up second and third chance opportunities… We’re playing great teams. They’re going to get chances. That’s why you have a goaltender, and what we don’t want to do is hang them out to dry on second and third opportunities.”

    Depth. Schandor ranks third on UConn in total points (40) and leads the team in assists (30). His involvement in the offense has been crucial to the team’s success all season long. Naturally, when he suffered a lower body injury on March 14, he was missed throughout the team’s run through the Hockey East tournament. He returned against Quinnipiac, and his mere presence on the ice was a tally in the Husky win column.

    Cavanaugh: It certainly makes us deeper. Hudson has 40 points, he plays 20 minutes a night. We’re a better team with Hudson in the lineup… We pretty much rolled four lines tonight.

  • NCAA Tournament tiers: Where does Quinnipiac men’s hockey stand as field of 16 narrows?

    NCAA Tournament tiers: Where does Quinnipiac men’s hockey stand as field of 16 narrows?


    By: Cameron Levasseur and Ethan Hurwitz

    The NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament kicked off Thursday with regional semifinal games in Toledo, Ohio, and Fargo, North Dakota. As the field of 16 narrows, QUSportsPage’s Cameron Levasseur and Ethan Hurwitz break down which teams have a realistic shot at hoisting a national championship trophy, which ones are facing an uphill battle and everyone else in between.

    TITLE FAVORITES:

    No. 1 Boston College Eagles | 26-7-2 | At-Large Bid (Hockey East)

    The country’s top team for most of the season, Boston College enters this tournament the overwhelming favorites, but there are a few question marks. Struggles on the power play plagued BC all year and an upset loss to Northeastern in the Hockey East quarterfinals sent the Eagles to Manchester on a losing streak.

    And yet, sophomore, all-conference trio of goaltender Jacob Fowler, forward Ryan Leonard (the nation’s leader with 29 goals) and forward Gabe Perreault should lead the Eagles to their 27th Frozen Four in program history with ease.

    No. 4 Western Michigan Broncos | 30-7-1 | Automatic Qualifier (NCHC Champions)

    Western Michigan has been the country’s winningest team all season. Its 31 wins tops any other program in this tournament, and it became just the second team in NCHC history to win the regular season and postseason titles in the same season. Now, a bigger trophy awaits, one that the Broncos (1-9-0 all time in NCAA Tournaments) have never hoisted. 

    After a double overtime win over Minnesota State on Thursday, the Broncos are one step closer to that goal, set to face UMass in the Fargo Regional Final on Saturday. 

    No. 3 Maine Black Bears | 24-7-6 | Automatic Qualifier (Hockey East Champions)

    What a season for Maine. After claiming their first Hockey East title since 2004, the Black Bears clawed their way to the third-overall seed in this tournament and a date with Penn State in the Allentown Regional. The favorites to advance to the Frozen Four, this is a dynamic unit that features eight 20-point scorers and a sophomore goaltender in Albin Boija that boasts a 1.76 GAA and the Hockey East Tournament’s MVP honor to boot.

    FROZEN FOUR CONTENDERS:

    Denver Pioneers | 29-11-1 | At-Large Bid (NCHC)

    Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The Pioneers are back in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight season, and 34th time in program history. Winners of two of the last three national titles, head coach David Carle’s group entered the 2025 edition as an underdog to Providence, a team not unfamiliar with this bracket.

    Denver didn’t clinch the NCHC crown, falling to Western Michigan in a double-overtime thriller last Saturday. Instead, as one of the 10 at-large teams, it will be steered by forwards Jack Devine (56) and Aidan Thompson (51), two of the seven players across Division I to eclipse the 50-point mark.

    Providence Friars | 21-10-5 | At-Large Bid (Hockey East)

    The Friars — who are undefeated on neutral ice this season — will have over two weeks of rest after faltering to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals. They’ve also been resting from a tournament berth for over half a decade (2019).

    In the Manchester Regional, the defending national champion Denver Pioneers are up next on the docket, just the 25th time these programs have ever matched up, and second in an NCAA Tournament. It sure helps that theFriars’ two hour drive to SNHU Arena is nothing compared to Denver’s near-cross country flight.

    COULD MAKE SOME NOISE

    Quinnipiac Bobcats | 24-11-2 | At-Large Bid (ECAC Hockey)

    Just two years removed from a national title, Quinnipiac grabbed an at-large bid after leaving another conference tournament empty handed. In their way is fellow Nutmeg State program UConn, the same Huskies squad that knocked off these Bobcats in January. 

    Sophomore Matej Marinov (12-3, 1.75 GAA) has been one of the ECAC’s top goaltenders, while senior forward Jack Ricketts (team-high 20 goals) and junior forward Jeremy Wilmer (team-high 39 points) lead the offensive attack. A lucky draw to the Allentown Regional plays into the Bobcats’ hands, but losses in regional finals have plagued head coach Rand Pecknold’s team from adding to the trophy case in years past.

    UConn Huskies | 22-11-4 | At-Large Bid (Hockey East)

    This is the season UConn has been waiting for since it joined Hockey East in 2014. A program-record 22 wins, 12 wins in conference, a trip to the NCAA Tournament and the chance to grow the school’s pedestal of dominance beyond basketball. 

    The Huskies didn’t just make their first tournament, they asserted their ability to compete. They’re the No. 6 overall seed, set to face in-state rival Quinnipiac — which they beat en route to a Connecticut Ice Championship — in Allentown on Friday. 

    Penn State Nittany Lions | 20-13-4 | At-Large Bid (Big Ten)

    Two years ago, Penn State came up one goal short of its first Frozen Four appearance in an overtime loss to Michigan in the Allentown Regional Final, a regional it hosted. This year, the Nittany Lions are back in Allentown, again the hosts, and perhaps a better team than they were in 2023. 

    After a slow start to the season, Penn State is 13-4-4 since the start of the new year, led by Hobey Baker finalist Aiden Fink’s 52 points. The Nittany Lions face No. 3 Maine Friday night. 

    Boston University Terriers | 21-13-2 | At-Large Bid (Hockey East)

    BU won the Beanpot in Boston’s TD Garden in February, but couldn’t replicate that success on the same ice in the Hockey East Tournament in March, exiting with a three-goal loss to eventual runner-up UConn. So an at-large bid to the big dance for a second-straight year, the Terriers are looking to overcome their defensive shortcomings with an electric offense and power their way to a third-consecutive Frozen Four. They did so Thursday, powering past Ohio State with a five-goal third period to set up a date with Cornell in the Toledo Regional Final. 

    The team is led by Quinn and Cole Hutson (47 and 41 points, respectively). The latter Hutson, a freshman defenseman, has taken up the mantle left by his brother Lane, now with the NHL’s Montreal Canadians. 

    Cornell Big Red | 18-10-6 | Automatic Qualifier (ECAC Hockey Champions)

    Few teams in the tournament are as hot as Cornell, which came back to reality in the ECAC Tournament after a disappointing regular season hampered by injuries that left it as the conference’s No. 6 seed. The Big Red knocked off No. 3 Colgate, No. 1 Quinnipiac and No. 2 Clarkson en route to a second-consecutive Whitelaw Cup and an automatic berth. 

    Cornell head coach Mike Schafer will retire at the end of this season. He has made just one Frozen Four (2003) in his 30-year career. The Big Red took a step closer to making his second on Thursday, knocking off No. 2-overall seed Michigan State with a goal in the final ten seconds of regulation. 

    UMass Minutemen | 20-13-5 | At-Large Bid (Hockey East)

    The final of six at-large bids out of the Hockey East, UMass enters its sixth NCAA Tournament as an underdog. The Minutemen are 1,500 miles from home in Fargo, North Dakota, and faced a heavy crowd disadvantage against Minnesota Thursday. 

    Regardless, UMass battled the Gophers to overtime, an Aydar Suniev winner powering the Minutemen into the regional final for the first time since 2021, when they won  the national championship. They’ll face the indomitable No. 4 Western Michigan on Saturday with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line. 

    NEEDS A MIRACLE

    Bentley Falcons | 23-14-2 | Automatic Qualifier (Atlantic Hockey America Champions)

    Bentley won a program-record 23 games this season en route to an Atlantic Hockey Championship and its first NCAA Tournament Appearance. The Falcons, led by former Quinnipiac forwards Ethan Leyh (41 points) and Nick Bochen (29 points), stormed their way through the AHA Tournament as the No. 3 seed. They swept No. 2 Sacred Heart on its home ice in the semifinals and erased a two-goal deficit to top Holy Cross in the championship game. 

    The odds are stacked against Bentley, the No. 16 seed who will face overall No. 1 seed Boston College Friday, but such an upset is not out of the realm of possibility. Three Atlantic Hockey teams (RIT in 2015, Air Force in 2018 and American International in 2019) knocked off the tournament’s top seed as its lowest-ranked entrant.