Reid Cashman was fortunate enough to have
a car on campus when he was a freshman at Quinnipiac University.
He needed it, too, because the Bobcats' home games and daily
practices were held at the Northford Ice Pavilion, which
was about a 15-minute drive from his campus residence.
ECAC
Hockey League Notebook
Quinnipiac's senior captain and two-time All-American
selection Reid Cashman practices at the new TD Banknorth
Sports Center. The on-campus facility provides nicer
amenities, and a shorter commute, for the Bobcat players.
Practices usually took place between 11:30
a.m. and 1:30 p.m., which meant players had to hustle to
practice after morning classes, and rush back after practice
for afternoon classes.
Cashman, nor any of the current or future
Bobcats, has to worry about that commute anymore. The TD
BankNorth Sports Center hosted its first games last weekend,
although it's been open for Quinnipiac's practices for about
two weeks now.
"It's been quite an evolution and we've
seen some drastic changes," Cashman said. "We
were playing in a smaller rink in Atlantic Hockey and now
we've moved to this new facility and playing in the ECAC
Hockey League."
Cashman has been an integral part of Quinnipiac's
growth in college hockey over the last four years. As a
freshman, he was named to the All-Atlantic Hockey Second
Team and finished with 19 assists and 21 points in 35 games.
His sophomore campaign saw him lead all of Atlantic Hockey
in scoring with 45 points and was one of 10 finalists for
the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
The next year was the first in the ECACHL
for Cashman and Quinnipiac, which ended with a 10th-place
finish, a first-round playoff series win over Rensselaer,
and a quarterfinal loss in three games to nationally-ranked
Colgate.
The Bobcats are moving forward each and every
year. They're within striking distance of a top-four regular-season
finish this year and have spent many weeks in the national
polls. They're constantly striving to reach the next level.
"We feel like we've got a lot to prove
to ourselves and to others that we're capable of being a
top-20 program," Cashman said.
The TD Banknorth Sports Center is now open
and has been sold out for the team's first two home games,
and is sold out for Friday's game against Yale.
The Quinnipiac players have handled the distractions
that come along with a new facility quite well. Classes
began in mid-January, and many of the players' parents are
visiting campus for this stretch of four games in seven
days.
Head Coach Rand Pecknold said that there's
no special way that you can deal with the distractions,
other than to be aware of them, and prepare for them. He
gave the team the day off on Wednesday to take care of schoolwork
and get some time away from the rink.
Although the new arena has some of the best
amenities, and is a huge boost simply because of its on-campus
location, the Bobcats won't forget about those commutes
and game-night crowds that were one-third the size of their
current following.
"We teach the kids not to take anything
for granted, and we've always taught them to respect what
we have here," Pecknold said. "We've moved up
the food chain a little bit and there are lots of kids dying
to come here, so we can be a little more selective with
our recruiting."
SEEN AND HEARD IN THE ECACHL
Flowing From the Freakout!:
RPI's tie against St. Lawrence in the Big Red Freakout!
game on Jan. 20 has gave the Engineers some momentum heading
into the last five weekends of the regular season. After
getting that point against the Saints, who are currently
leading the ECACHL, Rensselaer went on the road and defeated
Yale 2-1 and Brown 4-3.
Those road victories were significant in moving
RPI up the standings, but it's not just that they won the
games, but how they won the games. RPI held on to a one-goal
lead in the third period against Yale, despite being outshot
15-8 in the final period. Rensselaer also faced a three-on-five
short-handed situation for 57 seconds near the end of the
period. The Engineers and goaltender Jordan Alford held
firm and earned the two points.
The following night saw RPI fall behind Brown
in the first period, but the Engineers responded with three
consecutive goals in the second period. A pair of goals
from the Bears erased Rensselaer's 3-1 lead, but once again
the Engineers found a way to win a close game, getting a
power-play goal from Matt Angers-Goulet with 10:51 remaining.
Two more road tests await RPI this weekend,
with a game at Dartmouth on Friday and at Harvard on Saturday.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM
OF THE BAG
Great Weekend Getaway
Union
at Harvard (Fri.)
RPI at Harvard (Sat.)
Beanpot: Harvard vs. BC (Mon.)
It's the special super-sized Great Weekend Getaway
this week, with Union and RPI visiting Harvard for
a weekend set, and the first night of Beanpot action
following on Monday. The Crimson suffered two close
losses at St. Lawrence and Clarkson, but responded
with a very strong effort at Quinnipiac on Tuesday.
Despite their recent record, they're playing well
heading into this weekend.
While You're There: Confiscate
all Sam Adams neon signs you see hanging in bars.
They might be explosive devices.
Stick
Salute
Union
won two road games on the same weekend for
the first time since the 2004-05 season, and Olivier
Bouchard was a big part of it. He had three goals
on the weekend and was the ECACHL Player of the Week.
Bench
Minor
There's
bound to be trouble anytime a new facility opens,
but a lengthy delay occurred during Sunday afternoon's
Quinnipiac-Holy Cross game when an injured Holy Cross
player suffered a broken leg, and there was no
ambulance or medical staff at the rink to provide
a stretcher to move the player from the rink.
• St. Lawrence is off to its best start
in the ECACHL since the 1999-2000 season, which ended with
the Saints winning the league's regular-season and playoff
championships. This year's club is 10-3-1 through 14 league
games, while the '99-'00 team was 11-2-1 in its first 14.
Freshman goalie Alex Petizian has made nine straight starts.
• Cornell's Mike Schafer is the Big
Red's all-time winningest coach. Saturday night's 2-1 victory
over Colgate was Schafer's 231st behind the Cornell bench.
Dick Bertrand held the record previously.
• Another coaching milestone could be
accomplished this weekend, as Ted Donato has 49 career wins
at Harvard and will reach the half-century mark with the
Crimson's next victory.
• Had to share this humorous exchange
between Washington Capitals' television personalities during
Thursday's game. While promoting an upcoming "college
night" at a Caps' home game, play-by-play announcer
Joe Beninati asked analyst, and former Clarkson player,
Craig Laughlin if he still had his Clarkson ID. Laughlin
responded, "I didn't need an ID. I was a hockey player."
• Princeton returned from its exam break
and played Robert Morris on Monday night, losing 3-1. Lee
Jubinville scored the Tigers' lone goal late in the second
period, and it gave Princeton a 1-0 lead. Robert Morris
scored three times in an eight-minute span in the third
period to get the win.
• Colgate is hosting a Make-A-Wish Weekend
at their home games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. In
an effort organized by freshman forward Ethan Cox, the Raiders
will raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in honor
of 8-year-old Miranda Hadlock, a Colgate hockey fan, cancer
patient, and "wish kid". Miranda will oversee
a ceremonial puck drop prior to Saturday's game against
Clarkson. The Raiders will also wear alternate sweaters
in both games, and those are available for sale to the public.
Almost all of them had been purchased as of Thursday afternoon,
and nobody had seen them yet.
• Clarkson will have to face a difficult
road trip to Cornell and Colgate without one of its best
players. Junior captain Nick Dodge, who leads the team in
goals (14) and points (29) won't play in either game due
to injury. Freshman Matt Beca has regained his scoring tough,
with three goals last week in three games. He was named
ECACHL Rookie of the Week.
• Brown junior defenseman Sean Hurley
logs lots of minutes for the Bears and is one of the better
blueliners in the league. He has a four-game point streak.
• Yale freshmen Sean Backman (19 points)
and Mark Arcobello (18 points) lead the Bulldogs in scoring.
The last freshman to lead Yale in scoring was Chris Higgins
in the 2001-02 campaign.
• Colgate senior forward Marc Fulton
said his team is preparing for the end of the season by
taking a playoff-type attitude into every weekend.
"We're just focusing on putting things
in three-game series. Anybody in this league can win on
any given night, and we just take every weekend like a series,"
Colgate senior Marc Fulton said. "One, It will prepare
us for the playoffs, and two, we're not looking too far
ahead down the road. We keep focused on what's right in
front of us."
A variety of sources were utilized in
the compilation of this report. Joe Gladziszewski can be
reached at gladdy@insidecollegehockey.com.
