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.