I-95 Begins its Coverage of Quinnipiac Men's Hockey vs. Cornell

Hamden, CT-- I-95 Sports begins its coverage of ECAC's Quinnipiac Bobcats hockey from the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, CT. Quinnipiac coming off of a pair of victories vs. No. 16 Northeastern at Matthews Arena last weekend. Coming back home versus a bitter rival #18 Cornell Big Red.

Starting Lines for Quinnipiac Bobcats

24-20-8

2-27

35

A team that came off a 3-2 overtime victory against Northeastern University, which ranks #16 in the NCAA. This team led by Alex Whelen, with four goals, was non existent in the teams first 15 minutes of the first period. An early turnover in the neutral zone by the Bobcats, led to a two on one opportunity, that didn't convert into any scoring opportunity.

Next, a power play four minutes in the game on an interference penalty by the Brooks Bandits winger Jeff Mallott. A very back and forth first period that led to no goals scored, 18 shots by Cornell, and going unsuccessful on the power play three consecutive times. The Bobcats did have their fair chance of scoring opportunities with a massive chance in front of the net, by Blooming Thunder product Brogan Rafferty, with Matthew Galajda stopping it between the pads.

In the second period, the Bobcats started off on the wrong skate, as they gave up a quick turnover in the high slot. Omaha Lancers Brendan Smith, took the shot, high and wide of Bobcats goaltender Andrew Shortridge. A power play for the Cornell Big Red eventually led to a 5 on 5 goal, just following the man advantage. Brendan Smith, a familiar name on the shot sheet, scored a goal from just outside the crease, with assists from Junior Forward Beau Starrett and captain Junior Forward Mitch Vanderlaan.

A scary moment on the ice for Quinnipiac as right winger Thomas Aldworth got his arm sliced by a skate, which led to blood on the ice, and roughly a 4-5 minute break to clean the ice up. Once the junior from Texas went down, head coach Rand Pecknold had to do some line shuffling throughout the remainder of the game. One line combination looked like the following: 18-10-8, 25-27 for the Bobcats. The injury to Aldworth did spice things up for the Bobcats, as the best set up from the Bobcats occurred 13 minutes into the second.

In the third period for New York Rangers draftee Morgan Barron and his Big Red, Barron scores a goal that could easily be one of the flukiest goals ever to be scored. Simply one that Bobcats goalie Andrew Shortridge would want back if he had a chance. Quinnipiac did get on the score sheet just a tad late as Matt Forchuk scored his first goal of the season with six minutes remaining in the third period. The late push by the cats was not enough, as the Big Red defeated Quinnipiac 2-1 in a tight matchup.

A livid Head Coach Rand Pecknold met with the media for a whopping 35 seconds, as he was asked about his forwards performance tonight, "I do not want to speak about the forwards at this time, thank you." And proceeded to walk out of the media room. Forchuk met with the media and told I-95, "I need to play with pace moving forward, but that first goal felt great. We need to get ready for tomorrow"

The Bobcats have a quick turn around as they play host to ECAC rival Colgate at 7:00pm from the TD Bank Sports Center. The game can be seen on ESPN3.