WQAQ Doubleheader today

Today there are two games to be heard on the Bobcats Sports Network.  First, at noon, the Women’s Basketball team will take on Maine.  You can hear that game on the basketball stream, with Tom Butto and Luke Mauro on the call.  Then, come back at 4:00 p.m. to hear Men’s Ice Hockey face-off against American International College. Scott Sheahen and Robin Schuppert will have that one for you on the hockey stream.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week – Brandon Wong

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week award goes to Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) of the men’s ice hockey team.

Quinnipiac Bobcats' senior forward Brandon Wong

Wong, a senior assistant captain, scored the game tying and game winning goals to lead Quinnipiac to a 5-4 overtime home victory over No. 10 Massachusetts. Wong also had two goals in the Bobcats’ 7-4 loss at Yale on Friday night. Wong has been receiving recognition for his solid start and was a guest on “ECAC Hockey Weekly” on 91.5 FM WRPI.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Mike Atkinson

By Tom Butto

Senior Mike Atkinson

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week award goes to Mike Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) of the men’s ice hockey team. Atkinson, a senior assistant captain, scored three goals, two of which were short handed, in a 4-2 win against ECAC foe Clarkson University.

With Atkinson’s hat trick, Quinnipiac improved to 5-1-0 overall with a 2-0-0 mark in the conference. The last time Quinnipiac won five of their first six games was in the 2000-2001 season.

Atkinson’s two shorthanded goals came in the second and third periods. He added his third to complete the hat trick on an empty netter late in the third period.

The Bobcats return to action this weekend, with home games against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Bobcats Men’s Hockey vs. Clarkson

The Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ will be broadasting tonight’s men’s hockey against Clarkson at 7:00 p.m.  The broadacst can be heard on the hockey stream, with Alex Birsh and Jeremy Schilling calling all the action.

Cadieux, Zurevinski save Bobcats in ugly OT win

By Jamie Palatini

HAMDEN – Last weekend, the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team shocked the nation with two convincing road victories against then 17^th ranked Ohio State University.

This weekend, the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team shocked the home crowd with their lackluster, uninspired performance.

Scott Zurevinski’s goal 29 seconds into overtime saved the Bobcats from any further embarrassment, giving Quinnipiac the 3-2 win over the Bentley Falcons in Quinnipiac’s home opener at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden. Quinnipiac improves to 3-0-0 with the win, while Bentley drops to 0-2-0. Quinnipiac came into the game as the clear favorite, but played as if it were the underdog.

“I thought our energy was terrible tonight, and I thought Bentley was the better team tonight,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We got outworked in all three zones all night…we stole a win tonight.”

Things started out well enough for the Bobcats, who got the scoring started early in the first period. Three minutes into play, freshman Reese Rolheiser’s shot from the right point deflected off of a Bentley stick and snuck over the left shoulder of Bentley goaltender Kyle Rank. It was the Edmonton, Alberta native’s first career goal and it gave the home team the early 1-0 advantage.

Bentley was able to counter just four minutes and 30 seconds later. Following a faceoff in the Quinnipiac zone, the Falcons peppered Quinnipiac goaltender Mathieu Cadieux with shots until a rebound came to forward Jamie Nudy. Cadieux was off to the far side of the crease after making a few saves, and Nudy put the rebound into the relatively open net to even the score at one.

Cadieux finished with 25 saves in his first career start to earn the victory. The freshman allowed two goals, but made some key saves down the stretch in order to keep the Bobcats in the game.

“He played well,” Pecknold said. “We didn’t play well in front of him, that’s for sure. Our freshmen D were playing like freshmen D, and our vets weren’t really good either. He did a nice job, he battled for us today and that’s a good win.”

Brandon Wong gave the Bobcats a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Freshman D’Arcy Oakes put a shot on net which was initially saved by Rank, but Wong kept jamming away at the loose puck in the crease before sliding it past the Falcons’ goaltender to put Quinnipiac up by one.

Early on in the second period, the Falcons drew even again. After a turnover along the boards in the Bobcats’ zone, Bentley had a two-on-one and took advantage. Dan Koudys collected the puck and slipped a pass to Kane Osmars, who slid the puck to right of Cadieux to tie the game at two.

The score remained that way through the rest of the second period and the third period before Zurevinski’s OT game-winner. Quinnipiac outshot Bentley 16-9 in the final stanza, but it was the Falcons who controlled the play for the most part. The Bobcats struggled bringing the puck out of their own zone all game long, and had numerous turnovers in the neutral zone. Pecknold attributed the team’s struggles to his young players showing their youth.

“You’ve got a ton of freshmen here and they were struggling,” Pecknold said. “Sloppy…we have a certain breakout to work, and they weren’t working it. It all comes from poor mental preparation. We weren’t ready to play the game, and we were in scramble mode all night”

The Bobcats will look to bounce back this upcoming weekend when they head to Moon Township, Penn. to take on Robert Morris for a two-game series. The first game of that series is scheduled for 7 PM on Friday night, with Bill Schweizer and Ken Sweeten providing the call on 1220 WQUN-AM and wqun.com.

Men’s Hockey on WQAQ Sports Stream

The #18th ranked Men’s Hockey’s regular season home opener against Bentley can be heard live on the WQAQ hockey stream.  The broadcast will start at 3:50, with Corey Hersch and Kyle Brennan on the call.

Bobcats lose temper, game to Brown

By Jamie Palatini

After the final whistle blew in Quinnipiac’s men’s ice hockey game against Brown, the Bobcats showed more fire and energy than they did in 60 minutes of play.

Quinnipiac (15-14-3. 8-9-3 ECAC) followed up an embarrassing performance with an even more embarrassing display of sportsmanship, inciting a full out brawl after a 3-2 loss to the lowly Brown Bears (3-20-4, 3-14-3) at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.

The fracas fired up behind the Brown net, with David Marshall, Eric Lampe and Zach Hansen all involved for the Bobcats. It was unclear who started the fight, but all three received game misconducts and disqualifications which will force them to miss the Bobcats’ next game at Harvard.

Saturday’s lackluster performance came on the heels of one of Quinnipiac’s best games, a 3-3 tie against ECAC leader and crosstown rival Yale. But the Bobcats played with only a fraction of that intensity and energy against a Brown team in the basement of the ECAC and only two wins to its name all season.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Brown, but from our standpoint I’m really disappointed with how we played,” Pecknold said. “We’re battling for a home-ice playoff spot, and the guys just kind of showed up at the rink tonight.”

Tonight was Quinnipiac’s final home game, which was preceded by Senior Night festivities honoring seven players who were participating in their final game on home ice. Both of the Bobcats’ goals were scored by seniors, Marshall and Bryan Leitch, but Pecknold felt the negatives far outweighed the positives.

“I’m disappointed in my seniors, and I’m really disappointed in my captains,” Pecknold said. “We’re just not getting the leadership that we need.”

With 4:10 remaining in the first period, Brown took the lead. While on the power play, Jeremy Russell’s pass was deflected through the slot into the left faceoff circle. Senior goalie Bud Fisher slid across the crease to try and recover, but Matt Vokes got to the loose puck and lifted it over Fisher to give Brown the 1-0 lead.

Quinnipiac had two 5-on-3 advantages in the second period, and was able to score on the latter. Marshall skated into the slot of the Brown zone untouched, and fired a snap shot into the top right corner of the net past Brown goalie Michael Clemente. It was Marshall’s 18th goal of the season, and Quinnipiac had tied the game at one.

But with 2:16 to go in the second period, the Bears retook the lead. Freshman defenseman Michael Wolff’s soft wrist shot seemingly had eyes and fluttered past a screened Fisher to give Brown the 2-1 advantage.

Just over four minutes into the third period, Brown extended their lead. After Andrew Meyer failed to clear the puck, Jordan Pietrus picked up the loose puck and passed it to Sean McMonagle. Fisher caught a piece of Pietrus’ shot, but not enough of it as the puck trickled in behind him to spot Brown a two-goal lead.

“That’s the hockey game right there,” Pecknold said. “If you’re looking for the pivotal moment, it’s right there…two seniors with no urgency.”

Leitch scored with 35 seconds remaining to pull Quinnipiac within a goal, but the Bobcats were unable to score the equalizer.

The Bobcats currently sit in seventh place in the ECAC, and are now in danger of having to travel on the road for the first round of the playoffs. They’ll look to regroup on Friday when they travel to Cambridge, Mass., to play Harvard.

Click here to view the box score from this game.

Men’s hockey live on sports stream

By Andrew Fletcher

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s ice hockey team is taking on the Brown Bears tonight at the TD Banknorth Sports Center at 7 p.m.

Justin Cohen, Brett Gross and Robin Schuppert will bring you all the action live on our sports stream at that time.

Athlete of the Week: David Marshall

Photo Credit: QuinnipiacBobcats.com

By Tyler Chaput

The Quinnipiac Division I career goals record has been set.  Forward David Marshall scored his 68th career goal and team-leading 17th in a 5-3 victory over Clarkson on Feb. 14 earning him WQAQ Athlete of the Week honors.

Marshall’s goal would prove to be the game winner as he put the Bobcats up 4-1 at the 8:41 mark in the third period.  Quinnipiac improved to 15-13-2 and 8-8-2 in ECAC play.

He also recorded one assist in the game on an empty-net goal by Eric Lampe.

Along with leading the team in goals, Marshall is second on the team in points with 36 and second in assists with 19.

Being 5-11 and 185 pounds doesn’t stop Marshall from mixing it up with the opposition on a regular basis.  He has been a catalyst for the Quinnipiac offense and as goes Marshall, so go the Bobcats.

Henningson leads the way, Bobcats snap four-game skid

By Jamie Palatini

With 6:28 remaining in the third period of Saturday night’s game between Quinnipiac and Clarkson, the Bobcats were clinging to 4-3 lead. Quinnipiac had just seen its three-goal lead slashed to one in a span of 12 seconds. Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold called a timeout, and gathered his team around the bench to talk things over.

“I know what I was going to tell them,” Pecknold said. “But Dan Henningson took over the timeout.”

The Bobcats’ captain led his team vocally on the bench, and led by example on the ice with a goal and an assist as Quinnipiac (15-13-2, 8-8-2 ECAC Hockey) defeated Clarkson (8-16-6, 6-9-3 ECAC Hockey) by a score of 5-3 at the TD Banknorth Center on Saturday night. Following three consecutive overtime defeats, the man wearing the “C” for the Bobcats knew how important it was to come away with a win.

“I think they’re all must wins now,” Henningson said. “We have to take it one game at a time, and every game is huge.”

During that timeout in the third period, Henningson reminded his teammates of what happened in the 2006-2007 ECAC Hockey Championship game against the same Clarkson team. In that game, the Bobcats held a 2-0 lead heading into the third period, but ended up squandering the lead and eventually lost 4-2. Since then, Quinnipiac is 32-0-3 in games they’ve lead after two periods. The Captain couldn’t help but be a little nervous with shades of ’07 in his mind.

“Well, maybe we were a little panicked after the last few games,” Henningson said. “But we kept our cool.”

Senior forward David Marshall has played with Henningson for four years at Quinnipiac, and knows what he brings to the team on and off the ice.

“Henny is definitely a quiet leader, he’s not a vocal guy,” Marshall said. “To hear him speak up perks everyone’s ears up. But when he’s talking, he definitely has something to say.”

Marshall scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season on a 5-on-3 power play to give Quinnipiac a 4-1 lead in the third period, and broke a school record in the process. It was the 68th goal of his career, which eclipsed Chris Cerrella’s career mark of 67, and made Marshall the Quinnipiac Division I record holder in goals scored.

For the second night in a row, the Bobcats fell behind early in the first period. A bad turnover in the Clarkson zone by Bryan Leitch led to a two-on-one for the Golden Knights. Sophomore defenseman Bryan Rufenach’s one-timer off a feed from Scott Freeman was slowed by Quinnipiac goalie Dan Clarke, but trickled through his legs to stake Clarkson an early 1-0 lead.

5:34 into the second period, Henningson stepped up when the Bobcats needed him to. Both teams were skating 4-on-4 until a Shea Guthrie penalty gave Quinnipiac a 4-on-3 advantage. Zach Hansen won the ensuing faceoff in the Clarkson zone back to Henningson, who skated into the slot and took a slap shot that beat Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich for his fifth goal of the season to tie the game at one.

The Bobcats then tacked on two quick goals just a few minutes later. Chris Myers and Spencer Heichman scored just 48 seconds apart to give Quinnipiac a 3-1 lead which lasted until Marshall’s goal midway through the third made it 4-1. It looked like smooth sailing until Shea Guthrie and Lauri Tuohimaa scored quickly to make things interesting.

Things got even tighter for the Bobcats as the final seconds ticked away. At 4-3 with just under a minute remaining, Clarkson rang a shot off the crossbar that deflected just wide. Eric Lampe made his return to the Bobcats’ lineup on Saturday after missing three games following a concussion, and finished off the scoring with an empty net goal.

“He adds so much depth to our lineup,” Marshall said. “Eric brings intensity and so many little things. He’s one of our best penalty killers too, and it’s definitely great to have him back.”

And if there were ever a game to right the ship, now is the time. Quinnipiac’s next game is against their cross-town rival and ECAC leading Yale on Friday, Feb. 20 in the annual battle for the Heroes’ Hat. Alex Birsh and I will provide the call on the WQAQ Sports stream, and the broadcast is scheduled to get underway at 6:50 p.m.

Click here to view the box score from this game.