that<\/em> opportunity.”<\/p>\nAs noted in the afore-linked blog, most of ECAC Hockey’s top performers are free agents at the moment.<\/p>\n
“And so what?” Whittet asks. “Maybe they’re late bloomers, maybe they’re guys that have been overlooked because of their size or the league they were playing in. You know what? In the long run, it all evens out. The guys who are elite-level players will have the opportunity to play afterward.<\/p>\n
“And you know what? Just because you’re drafted, that doesn’t guarantee you anything.”<\/p>\n
Not so Green anymore<\/h4>\n The last undefeated team in the nation isn’t undefeated anymore, but it’s not too sore about it.<\/p>\n
“We have a really young team that plays very, very hard,” Gaudet said of his 6-2-2 Dartmouth squad. “They’re a great group of guys to be around on a day-to-day basis.”<\/p>\n
The team is 1-2-1 in its last four games after starting 5-0-1, but one of the losses was during a stressful finals week (a late 5-4 loss at Colgate), the other came in what was then the top-ranked team in the nation’s barn (a 6-3 loss at Boston College), and the draw was a hard-fought 1-1 battle against Cornell at ever-intimidating Lynah Rink.<\/p>\n
The BC loss “was disappointing, honestly, because we were in a 3-3 game and territorially it was an even game,” Gaudet said. “They made more plays than we did. They’re quick, they’re fast, and [shifty playmaker Johnny] Gaudreau and his linemates came out quick and made a great play at the start of the third period” to break the tie.<\/p>\n
The Eagles added two more in the third to put the game away.<\/p>\n
“But I thought we played really, really well. In retrospect, [BC] played the game the way we want to play it: They were quick and they were fast.”<\/p>\n
For two periods, the Big Green were just as quick and just as fast. There is a long way yet to go to find 20 more minutes of quick and fast.<\/p>\n
Bobcats are kittens no longer<\/h4>\n “We’re playing well, no doubt about it.”<\/p>\n
Yeah, Pecknold just about summed up the prevailing thoughts on the streaking Q-Cats. Enjoying an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1), Quinnipiac’s head coach is fielding a lot of calls these days.<\/p>\n
“I think we’re probably slightly overachieving, but we’ve got a good team and we’ve definitely gotten a couple good breaks,” Pecknold said. “I think a couple times in our recent streak we’ve struggled a bit, but we seem to find a way to win. Which is good; that’s the mark of a good team.<\/p>\n
“Hartzell’s been great. He’s bailed us out a few times. On Saturday, it wasn’t our best game against RPI but Hartzell was great, Matt Peca scores a three-on-five penalty-kill goal to win the game. (Peca scored the game-winner in the 3-1 victory.) It’s been little things like that, and I think when you work hard and you’ve got good character, you get bounces. Things do go your way, and they have been lately.”<\/p>\n
They weren’t always, though. Nine games ago, QU suffered a frustrating home loss to American International, a team that the Bobcats outshot 40-17. It was Quinnipiac’s second loss in a row, coming on the heels of a 5-1 defeat against Colgate in Hyannis, Mass.<\/p>\n
“We had a lot of players just not prepared for that game,” Pecknold said of the AIC result. Psychologically, physically, emotionally, the coach could see that his bench was simply not in the game.<\/p>\n
The staff made major changes to the lineup, but even those were barely enough to get the Q over the hump. Three nights later, Colgate stood in the way once again.<\/p>\n
“The Russ Goodman overtime goal was huge for us,” Pecknold said of the Nov. 9 win over the Raiders that started the unbeaten run. “It’s hard to say it’s a pivotal moment in our season … but we outshot Colgate 37-10 in that game and it’s 2-2 in overtime. We really needed a win. We deserved a win, and we needed a win, and that Goodman OT goal really kind of launched us and gave us the confidence we needed.”<\/p>\n
Since then, QU has been rolling in W’s.<\/p>\n
Pecknold pointed to Hartzell and the penalty kill as two big reasons for QU’s early-season success: The goalie is stopping over 93 percent of shots on net, and the PK units have surrendered only four goals in 69 short-handed situations (94.2 percent).<\/p>\n
The coach also noted sophomore defenseman Danny Federico, senior forward Goodman, classmate Clay Harvey, second-year forward Bryce Van Brabant and senior forward Ben Arnt for having “really emerged in bigger roles, and playing well.”<\/p>\n
Last but not least, the veteran coach shrugged that “last year, we were maybe a one-and-a-half-line team; this year, we have three good lines that can score. We’re balanced, and I think that’s important in order to win.”<\/p>\n
Many of the Bobcats’ 11 seniors are looking at their best years yet, as five of the team’s top seven scorers are in their graduating years.<\/p>\n
“They’re certainly making the most of their last year in college,” Pecknold said.<\/p>\n
Thanks to their leadership, the team’s positivity, work ethic and general chemistry “is infectious, and it’s showing up in our game,” Pecknold said.<\/p>\n
While some observers — including this one — have posited that this year’s crop isn’t as star-centered as some QU teams in recent memory, the coach is quick to note that he still has some thoroughbreds in the stable.<\/p>\n
“We’re deeper than we’ve been in the past, but we’ve got high-end players,” Pecknold said. “Similar to what we had in the Brandon Wongs and David Marshalls, we’ve got Connor and Kellen Jones, we’ve got Matthew Peca. Their numbers are a little bit off right now: Connor was out for a while with an injury, he’s played some games where he really wasn’t back in shape; Peca was out for a little while and came back this weekend and played after only two days of practice after missing two weeks. Langlois is high-end. I think as the year goes on, you’ll see Connor, Kellen and Peca; their numbers will come back to where they should be. They’re generating chances; they’re just not finishing.”<\/p>\n
If that’s the case, may God have mercy on the opposition that finds itself in the way of a finished (or finishing) product.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After noting the dearth of draftees atop ECAC Hockey’s leaderboards earlier this week, I took to calling some of the conference’s coaches to find out what they thought of the discrepancy. Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said, “in my opinion, the NHL draft is probably a little young. “You look at [goalie Eric] Hartzell and [forward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Coaches take a turn explaining ECAC Hockey's dearth of draftees - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n