HAMDEN, Conn. — No. 11 Boston University upset No. 2 Quinnipiac on the road with a 4-1 in the first-ever matchup between the two teams.
It was the end of the undefeated season for the Bobcats, now 15-1-2, and the first regular-season loss to a ranked team since losing to Harvard in December 2014.
“I’m just really proud of our guys,” BU coach David Quinn said. “Our penalty kill was huge, blocking shots. Our goaltending was outstanding. It’s not easy coming into this building, let alone after playing last night. It certainly says a lot about our team.”
Another victim of the night was the 209-minute shutout streak of Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig.
“He’s been so good this year, it’s going to happen once and a while,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “It wasn’t his best game, but he still made a lot of good saves for us. It’s indicative of how we played today. We’re giving up breakaways all over the place, ‘Garts’ is bailing us out.”
One hundred and fifty feet away, Sean Maguire appeared in his sixth contest of the year. Coming in with bloated numbers – a 2.89 GAA and an .877 save percentage – Maguire showed the strength in net akin to his freshman year when he reigned at the top of Hockey East.
“He’s been a great goalie at this level,” Quinn said. “He keeps getting better and better. He missed a full year [and] I think it’d be unreasonable to expect him to pick up right where he left off. I loved his attitude, his work ethic. I knew this day was going to happen, and I was hoping it was going to happen tonight.”
Quinn also acknowledged how Maguire’s play may lead him to start over sophomore Connor LaCouvee when the second half of the season starts.
“Absolutely, No. 1 goalie guy,” Quinn said. “That being said, if both guys are playing well, you play both.”
The win came with numbers against BU despite being outshot by Quinnipiac 37-28. The Bobcats also won 52 percent of the faceoffs against a Terriers team that came in winning over 60 percent of their draws in the last four games.
BU was strong in forcing holes to break through the Bobcats defense, which prior to the game averaged the nation’s best 1.24 goals-against average.
“It was a huge game and we’ve shown up for all our huge games this year,” Pecknold said. “We had some guys that really played poorly tonight. They’re disappointed, they know it, they’re accountable. They’ll be better when we play next time.”
Quinn saw the work in pushing the defensemen off the puck as a result of the strong work by their forwards.
“I think our forwards do a real good job down low,” Quinn said. “They understand puck possession and we got some talent, too. We got some size, we got some skill. That can pose a problem for some people.”
The Terriers return to play on Jan. 7 at Harvard. Quinnipiac hosts one last home-and-home with travel partner Princeton before the year’s end.
“Realistically we weren’t going to go undefeated,” said QU forward Sam Anas. “It’s not good that we lost, but I think it was necessary. I’d rather, I don’t want to say I’d rather lose, but it’s good to lose to a good team as opposed to maybe a coming back and losing to a weaker team in the PairWise that might affect us more.”
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