Quinnipiac University
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Dartmouth
No. 2/3 Bobcats Restart ECAC Play with Bouts with Dartmouth, No. 9/10 Harvard
1/5/2023 7:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: Click Here
Saturday, Jan. 7 | 7:00 PM EST | No. 2/3 Quinnipiac Bobcats (15-1-3, 10-0-0 ECAC Hockey) vs. Harvard Crimson (9-3-1, 7-1-0 ECAC Hockey)
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: Click Here
HAMDEN, Conn. — The No. 2/3 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey program will play at home for the first time in the 2023 calendar year, playing host to Dartmouth and Harvard as ECAC play resumes. Puck drop in both contests will be slated for 7 p.m., and can be seen live on ESPN+.
THE KIDS OF HAMDEN
With a combined 3.5 years of college hockey experience after the first half of 2022-23 concluded, the line of youngsters Collin Graf, Jacob Quillan and Sam Lipkin is leading the Bobcat offense, with the three making up the top of the scoring leaderboard.
The sophomores lead the way, with Graf (29) and Quillan (21) standing first and second. Lipkin, in his first collegiate season, is third with 19 points. Quillan leads the team with 10 goals on the year. The three combine for 69 of QU's 221 points (31.2 percent).
ATOP THE RANKINGS
In addition to being in the Top 3 in both national polls and No. 2 in the Pairwise entering the weekend, the Bobcats are in the Top 3 nationally in seven statistical categories, including leading the nation in scoring defense (1.84), scoring margin (2.32) and winning percentage (.868).
They are second nationally in faceoff win percentage (.562) and third in scoring offense (4.16), total assists (142) and total points (221).
THE GOLDEN START
Sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets will be making his 50th start on Friday night when the Bobcats take on Holy Cross and he is already rewriting the Quinnipiac record books in his second season.
The Dollard-des-Ormaneux, Quebec native broke the single-season record with 11 shutouts to his name a season ago, becoming the first Quinnipiac goalie with double digits in that category. His 1.39 goals-against average and .932 save percentage are currently tops in the Division I career category leaderboards.
POWERED UP
Collin Graf and Ethan de Jong have each been a focal point on the Bobcats' second-ranked power play in the ECAC. Both players are tied for the second in the league and inside the Top 15 nationally in power play goals, tallying five each, while the squad ranks 11th nationally, converting on 25 percent of its man-up opportunities.
DRAW!
Quinnipiac enters the weekend with the second-best percentage at the faceoff dot, winning 56.2 percent through the first two months of the season.
This attack is led by Skyler Brind'Amour, with the senior currently sitting seventh in the nation and atop the ECAC with 219 faceoff wins. TJ Friedmann has 148 wins to his name, good for fifth in the league.
USA! USA! USA!
The Bobcats of past and present have a presence at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships in New Brunswick this week. Head coach Rand Pecknold, director of operations Shawn Roche, head equipment manager Rob Kennedy and first-year forward Sam Lipkin are all taking a break from the Bobcats to don the stars and stripes.
Three past Bobcat connections are also on Pecknold's staff, with former assistant head coach and captain Reid Cashman, goaltending coach Jared Waimon, student manager Jessica Thibault also on staff. Cashman is currently the head coach at Dartmouth, Waimon is a goaltending scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Thibault is the director of ops at Sacred Heart.
For an inside look at the Quinnipiac men's ice hockey program, be sure to follow it on social media @QU_MIH or go to gobobcats.com/mih.
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