Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com
Four Bobcats Earn Major Individual Awards; Six Selected All-ECAC Hockey
3/16/2023 7:20:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team was well represented when the 2023 ECAC Hockey awards came out on Thursday night, as the Bobcats scored four major individual awards and six all-league honors ahead of Friday's semifinal matchup with Colgate.
Rand Pecknold earned his third consecutive Tim Taylor Coach of the Year Award, sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets was named to his second MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Year honor, senior Skyler Brind'Amour scored the Gladiator Best Defensive Forward honor and freshman forward Sam Lipkin is the ECAC's Rookie of the Year.
The Bobcats earned six All-League honors, as Perets is joined by Collin Graf as unanimous First Team decisions. Graduate students Ethan de Jong and Zach Metsa were tabbed Second Team honorees, Brind'Amour was slotted Third Team and Lipkin is also on the All-Rookie team.
Pecknold earned his third consecutive Coach of the Year honor and fifth overall after leading the Bobcats to 20 ECAC wins, the most by any program in the league since the 1988-89 campaign. The Bobcats had the nation's best scoring defense for the bulk of the year, recording nine shutouts en route to its third consecutive Cleary Cup and ECAC Regular Season Championship. Quinnipiac won 28 games overall in the regular season, tying last year's team for the most in a regular season in the program's history.
As solid as a goalie as there is in the country, Perets' second consecutive Goaltender of the Year accolade comes after another stellar campaign in which he led the nation in both winning percentage and goals against average. He was also top five nationally in both shutouts and save percentage, landing him a spot in the Richter Award final three and Hobey Baker Top 10 as he looks to help the Bobcats win their first Whitelaw Cup and ECAC Tournament title since 2016.
Brind'Amour was one of the best faceoff men in the country this season, leading the unit to a 56.8 percent win percentage at the dot, good for first in the league and second in the country. His 438 total faceoffs won led the ECAC and landed him eighth on the NCAA leaderboards. The Raleigh, N.C., native earned his first major award and all-league honor during a banner year that saw him set career highs in goals, assists, points, power play goals and game winners.
Standing amongst some of the nation's best first year players, Lipkin led the league's rookies for most of the year in scoring. He finished third overall on the team in points with 35, finishing with 1.03 points per contest which is good for 10th amongst the nation's freshmen. He also got hot as the Bobcats make their postseason push, recording points in seven of his last nine contests including a four-goal weekend against Yale and Brown.
Also a Hobey Top 10 honoree, Graf is currently third nationally in both assists per game and points per game, as well as ninth in power play goals en route to the First Team honor. He also has recorded the most points by any Bobcat since the 2008-09 season, when Bryan Leitch set the program's Division I record with 59.
de Jong earned his first All-League honor, finishing second on the team in points with 36 in his graduate campaign. He finished eighth in the league in both goals and points per game this season. Metsa earned his third consecutive accolade after being a First Team selection in both 2020-21 and 2021-22. He also was a Scholar Athlete of the Year nominee, as well as the Best Defensive Defenseman finalist, an award he won last season.
The Bobcats return to the ice on Friday afternoon, taking on Colgate at 4 p.m., at Herb Brooks Arena in the ECAC Semifinals. The winner of that contest will take on the winner of Cornell and Harvard at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night for the Whitelaw Cup.
Rand Pecknold earned his third consecutive Tim Taylor Coach of the Year Award, sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets was named to his second MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Year honor, senior Skyler Brind'Amour scored the Gladiator Best Defensive Forward honor and freshman forward Sam Lipkin is the ECAC's Rookie of the Year.
The Bobcats earned six All-League honors, as Perets is joined by Collin Graf as unanimous First Team decisions. Graduate students Ethan de Jong and Zach Metsa were tabbed Second Team honorees, Brind'Amour was slotted Third Team and Lipkin is also on the All-Rookie team.
Pecknold earned his third consecutive Coach of the Year honor and fifth overall after leading the Bobcats to 20 ECAC wins, the most by any program in the league since the 1988-89 campaign. The Bobcats had the nation's best scoring defense for the bulk of the year, recording nine shutouts en route to its third consecutive Cleary Cup and ECAC Regular Season Championship. Quinnipiac won 28 games overall in the regular season, tying last year's team for the most in a regular season in the program's history.
As solid as a goalie as there is in the country, Perets' second consecutive Goaltender of the Year accolade comes after another stellar campaign in which he led the nation in both winning percentage and goals against average. He was also top five nationally in both shutouts and save percentage, landing him a spot in the Richter Award final three and Hobey Baker Top 10 as he looks to help the Bobcats win their first Whitelaw Cup and ECAC Tournament title since 2016.
Brind'Amour was one of the best faceoff men in the country this season, leading the unit to a 56.8 percent win percentage at the dot, good for first in the league and second in the country. His 438 total faceoffs won led the ECAC and landed him eighth on the NCAA leaderboards. The Raleigh, N.C., native earned his first major award and all-league honor during a banner year that saw him set career highs in goals, assists, points, power play goals and game winners.
Standing amongst some of the nation's best first year players, Lipkin led the league's rookies for most of the year in scoring. He finished third overall on the team in points with 35, finishing with 1.03 points per contest which is good for 10th amongst the nation's freshmen. He also got hot as the Bobcats make their postseason push, recording points in seven of his last nine contests including a four-goal weekend against Yale and Brown.
Also a Hobey Top 10 honoree, Graf is currently third nationally in both assists per game and points per game, as well as ninth in power play goals en route to the First Team honor. He also has recorded the most points by any Bobcat since the 2008-09 season, when Bryan Leitch set the program's Division I record with 59.
de Jong earned his first All-League honor, finishing second on the team in points with 36 in his graduate campaign. He finished eighth in the league in both goals and points per game this season. Metsa earned his third consecutive accolade after being a First Team selection in both 2020-21 and 2021-22. He also was a Scholar Athlete of the Year nominee, as well as the Best Defensive Defenseman finalist, an award he won last season.
The Bobcats return to the ice on Friday afternoon, taking on Colgate at 4 p.m., at Herb Brooks Arena in the ECAC Semifinals. The winner of that contest will take on the winner of Cornell and Harvard at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night for the Whitelaw Cup.
For an inside look at the Bobcats' postseason run, be sure to follow it on social media @QU_MIH or go to gobobcats.com/mih.
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