Hard to believe Quinnipiac has suffered their first 0-2 start since joining the ECAC in 2005 as they suffered losses to Cornell and Colgate.
To go 12 years to with at least earning a victory in your first two conference games is quite an accomplishment.
The Big Red and the Raiders have had success going into Hamden in recent years. Back in February of 2014 the two teams came away with wins. That was the last time the Bobcats were swept at home in conference play.
Obviously it’s not the way Quinnipiac wanted to start conference play, but it’s not the end of the world. They have shown with their play outside of the conference that they should be just fine as they get deeper into ECAC play.
This upcoming week they travel to Rensselaer and Union
Dominating goaltending in the conference continues
One of the reasons why Quinnipiac went winless this past weekend is they faced the hottest goaltender in the country in Colton Point on Saturday. Point only allowed one goal in a 4-1 victory over the Bobcats where had 33 saves.
Point had a shutout Friday as Colgate skated to a scoreless tie with Princeton on Friday night where he made 43 saves. On the year he’s 4-0-4 with a 1.08 goals against average and a .965 save percentage.
As a ’98 birth year he’s eligible for the World Junior Championships. It will be interesting to see if the North Bay, Ontario native will be invited to either Canada’s or the USA’s camp as it appears he has duel citizenship. He has appeared for Canada East at the 2015 World Junior “A” Challenge. The WJAC is a Hockey Canada event and not an IIHF event so he’s still eligible to suit up for either country.
This summer he took part in USA Hockey’s Warren Strelow’s goaltender camp where USA Hockey brings in some of the best Under-20 goaltenders in the country. With his start to the, he’s probably on both countries radar.
Clarkson’s Jake Kielly continues his dominance as he helped Clarkson to two wins with a 6-0 victory over RPI and a 3-2 win over Union. He’s 6-3-1 with a 1.50 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He leads the nation in shutouts with three
Union’s Darion Hansen suffered his first collegiate loss against the Golden Knights but he seems to have gained control of the Dutchmen’s net. He’s 5-1 with a 1.84 goals against average and .920 save percentage. He earned a 3-1 victory on Friday against St. Lawrence.
Merrick Madsen (Harvard) and Matthew Galajda (Cornell) are off to strong starts to their seasons. Madsen along with Point each have two shutouts on the year.
Harvard fall to rival
The Crimson had a very slow start to the weekend as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Yale Bulldogs on Friday
Upsets seemed to be the theme on Friday as No. 1 Denver fell also along with Quinnipiac and Penn State also losing teams lower in the USCHO Poll or unranked. The loss was also their first loss at the Bright Landry Hockey Center since a 2-1 loss to RPI on Feb. 12 2016. The Crimson were 18-0-3 before losing to Yale.
They came back Saturday night to earn a 3-0 against Brown.
Things don’t get any easier for the Crimson as they travel to face Colgate and Cornell this weekend with the game against the Big Red another rivalry game. The following weekend they travel to Minnesota for a pair and travel to Boston College for a Black Friday contest.
Colgate is playing really well and (Colton Point) has been outstanding so far,” Harvard coach6 Ted Donato told the media after the Brown win. They went to Quinnipiac I believe and won tonight. It’s a good test for us, they are tough at home. While the emotions of playing at Cornell is something to be excited about, our focus has to be on Colgate and let Saturday happen once we get through Friday night.”
