# 2021–22 Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey season

The 2021–22 Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey season was the 46th season of play for the program. They represented Quinnipiac University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season and for the 17th season in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Bobcats were coached by Rand Pecknold, in his 28th season, and played their home games at the People's United Center.

## Season
### Regular season

Quinnipiac began the season with high hopes of building on their recent success. The biggest question early in the year was how the team would replace the now-departed Keith Petruzzelli in goal. Graduate transfer Dylan St. Cyr was the obvious choice for the Bobcats; however, he was injured in the first game of the season. Backup Yaniv Perets, a sophomore who had played just 32 minutes all of the year before, finished the game and then posted his first career shutout in the Ice Breaker Tournament consolation match. St. Cyr returned the following game, earning a shutout of his own, but head coach Rand Pecknold had seen something special with his young goalie. Buoyed by a suffocating defensive system, both goaltenders performed well and led the Bobcats to an enviable record early in the season.
Though the team was hampered by a weak schedule, that did not stop Quinnipiac from earning the #2 ranking on the strength of an astounding 14–1–3 record when they paused for their winter break. By that time the team was already the top defensive club in the nation with 8 shutouts shared between their two starters. The start to their second half was delayed by COVID-19 positives but that did not slow down the Bobcats. The team continued winning and was the top-ranked team in the nation in mid-January. A narrow loss to Cornell dropped Quinnipiac down to #2 but the team responded by winning their next seven games.
As the regular season wound down, it was apparent that the team's biggest weakness was its offense. Though they were one of the top scoring teams in ECAC Hockey, the Bobcats' offense had not been consistent during the course of the season. The team went through stretches where they could not score with their impenetrable goaltending being the only reason the Bobcats would win. Over the final three weeks of the season, the lack of scoring punch cost Quinnipiac three games against good teams. While the losses did not harm their NCAA tournament hopes, they did prevent the Bobcats from earning a top seed for the tournament.

### Postseason

Even with the subpar end, Quinnipiac earned their second consecutive regular season title. As they entered the postseason, Quinnipiac had already set the record for most shutouts by a team in one season with 16. They had broken the record held by 1999–2000 Niagara (12) with Perets just one behind Greg Gardner for the individual single-season mark. Despite facing rather weak opposition in the quarterfinals, Quinnipiac struggled against St. Lawrence and had to come back from a 2-goal deficit to win the second game in overtime. After downing the Cinderella hopes of Colgate in the semifinal, Quinnipiac was challenged by a rising Harvard squad who were playing for the season. The Bobcats widely outshot the Crimson, 49–17, but were never able to gain a lead in the match. Harvard's defense held and Perets was unable to stop the winning goal from getting by his glove in overtime.
As they entered the NCAA tournament, Quinnipiac received a #2 seed; however, they were set against the defending national runners-up, St. Cloud State. Before the game began, the scales were tilted in the Bobcats' favor due to the opposing starter being unable to play due to pneumonia. As it turned out, the Bobcats needed all the luck they could get. The team played its worst game all season, getting outshot 16–34 with Perets allowing a season-high 4 goals. It was only though the ineffective netminding in the St. Cloud end that Quinnipiac managed to squeak by with a 5–4 victory.
For their second game, Quinnipiac knew they were facing a tougher fight in top-seeded Michigan and they would have to play much better if they had any chance at victory. Early on, nothing seemed to go right for the Bobcats. They were not able to get any traction in the game and found themselves down 0–4 after two periods. Needing to wake his team up, Pecknold replaced Perets with St. Cyr in goal for the start of third and the Bobcats rose to the occasion. Quinnipiac completely took over the game in the final frame, peppering the Wolverine cage with shot after shot until Jayden Lee finally broke through. The score remained unchanged for about five minutes but the assault continued. Around the mid-way point of the period, Quinnipiac netted 2 goals in the span of 2 minutes, cutting the lead to 1 with just under nine minutes to play. With Michigan reeling, it appeared that the Bobcats may have had a shot at upsetting the championship favorites. While the Wolverines shored up their defense, they could not keep the puck away from Quinnipiac and the bobcats attacked relentlessly. Despite the constant threat of scoring, Pecknold pulled St. Cyr for an extra attacker with 4 minutes to play, much earlier than 1-goal deficit typically required. The gambit failed almost immediately as a bad pass in the Michigan zone ended up being skated down the ice into a vacated cage. Two successive goals put the game out of reach and Quinnipiac's season was over.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Logan Britt | Defenseman | United States | Transferred to Sacred Heart |
| Corey Clifton | Forward | United States | Transferred to Massachusetts–Boston |
| Peter Diliberatore | Defenseman | Canada | Signed professional contract (Vegas Golden Knights) |
| Matt Fawcett | Forward | United States | Transferred to Maine |
| Evan Fear | Goaltender | United States | Transferred to Northeastern |
| Tyler Ghirardosi | Forward | Canada | Transferred to Holy Cross |
| Josh Mayanja | Goaltender | United States | Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers) |
| Joe O'Connor | Defenseman | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Keith Petruzzelli | Goaltender | United States | Graduation (signed with Toronto Marlies) |
| Odeen Tufto | Forward | United States | Graduation (signed with Tampa Bay Lightning) |
| Daniel Winslow | Forward | United States | Transferred to New England |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Noah Altman | Goaltender | United States | 21 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Jack Babbage | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Tully, NY |
| Oliver Chau | Forward | Canada | 24 | Oakville, ON; graduate transfer from Massachusetts |
| Brendan Less | Defenseman | United States | 23 | Kinnelon, NJ; graduate transfer from Dartmouth |
| Liam McLinskey | Forward | United States | 20 | Pearl River, NY |
| Griffin Mendel | Defenseman | Canada | 22 | Kelowna, BC; graduate transfer from Denver |
| Jacob Quillan | Forward | Canada | 19 | Dartmouth, NS |
| Dylan St. Cyr | Goaltender | United States | 22 | Las Vegas, NV; graduate transfer from Notre Dame |
| Tony Stillwell | Defenseman | United States | 24 | Green Bay, WI; graduate transfer from Brown |
| Cristophe Tellier | Forward | Canada | 21 | Sherbrooke, QC |

## Roster

As of August 19, 2021

## Standings

2021–22 ECAC Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #8 Quinnipiac † | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 54 | 71 | 14 | 42 | 32 | 7 | 3 | 139 | 53 |
| #17 Clarkson | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 51 | 86 | 47 | 37 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 123 | 85 |
| #15 Harvard * | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 46 | 69 | 46 | 35 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 116 | 82 |
| Cornell | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 73 | 47 | 32 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 100 | 72 |
| Colgate | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 55 | 57 | 40 | 18 | 18 | 4 | 111 | 112 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 58 | 63 | 44 | 18 | 23 | 3 | 114 | 119 |
| Union | 22 | 9 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 52 | 66 | 37 | 14 | 19 | 4 | 89 | 110 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 44 | 60 | 37 | 11 | 19 | 7 | 72 | 110 |
| Brown | 22 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 36 | 61 | 31 | 7 | 20 | 4 | 50 | 100 |
| Princeton | 22 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 54 | 89 | 31 | 8 | 21 | 2 | 70 | 122 |
| Yale | 22 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 38 | 60 | 30 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 55 | 90 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 45 | 71 | 32 | 7 | 22 | 3 | 69 | 110 |
| Championship: March 19, 2022 † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Rank$^#$ | Site | TV | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Exhibition ||||||||||
| October 2 | | vs. Maine* | #9 | Phillips Exeter Academy Rink • Exeter, New Hampshire (Exhibition) | | | W 7–0 | | — |
| Ice Breaker Tournament ||||||||||
| October 8 | 4:30 p.m. | vs. #6 Boston College* | #9 | DCU Center • Worcester, Massachusetts (Ice Breaker Game 1) | NESN+ | Perets | T 2–2 $^{SOL}$ | 0 | 0–0–1 |
| October 9 | 4:30 p.m. | vs. #18 Northeastern* | #9 | DCU Center • Worcester, Massachusetts (Ice Breaker Game 2) | | Perets | W 3–0 | 872 | 1–0–1 |
| Regular season ||||||||||
| October 16 | 7:00 p.m. | at Vermont* | #8 | Gutterson Fieldhouse • Burlington, Vermont | | St. Cyr | W 2–0 | 3,037 | 2–0–1 |
| October 22 | 7:00 p.m. | #6 North Dakota* | #7 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 5–2 | 3,498 | 3–0–1 |
| October 23 | 7:00 p.m. | #6 North Dakota* | #7 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | L 1–3 | 3,512 | 3–1–1 |
| October 26 | 7:00 p.m. | Holy Cross* | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 5–2 | 2,502 | 4–1–1 |
| October 29 | 7:05 PM | at American International* | #5 | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | | St. Cyr | T 2–2 $^{OT}$ | 487 | 4–1–2 |
| October 30 | 7:00 p.m. | American International* | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 2–1 $^{OT}$ | 3,426 | 5–1–2 |
| November 5 | 7:00 p.m. | at Yale | #6 | Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Connecticut | | Perets | W 3–0 | 1,200 | 6–1–2 (1–0–0) |
| November 6 | 7:00 p.m. | at Brown | #6 | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | | Perets | W 1–0 | 383 | 7–1–2 (2–0–0) |
| November 12 | 7:00 p.m. | Arizona State* | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 5–3 | 3,050 | 8–1–2 |
| November 13 | 7:00 p.m. | Arizona State* | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 5–2 | 2,928 | 9–1–2 |
| November 19 | 7:00 p.m. | Clarkson | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | T 2–2 $^{SOW}$ | 2,521 | 9–1–3 (2–0–1) |
| November 20 | 7:00 p.m. | St. Lawrence | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 8–0 | 2,217 | 10–1–3 (3–0–1) |
| December 3 | 7:00 p.m. | at Rensselaer | #4 | Houston Field House • Troy, New York | | Perets | W 2–0 | 252 | 11–1–3 (4–0–1) |
| December 4 | 7:00 p.m. | at Union | #4 | Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York | | Perets | W 4–0 | 1,723 | 12–1–3 (5–0–1) |
| December 10 | 7:00 p.m. | at Long Island* | #2 | Northwell Health Ice Center • East Meadow, New York | | Perets | W 4–1 | 672 | 13–1–3 |
| December 11 | 7:00 p.m. | at Long Island* | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 5–0 | 2,890 | 14–1–3 |
| January 14 | 7:00 p.m. | #18 Harvard | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 3–0 | 0 | 15–1–3 (6–0–1) |
| January 16 | 7:00 p.m. | Dartmouth | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 3–1 | 2,108 | 16–1–3 (7–0–1) |
| January 18 | 4:00 p.m. | Princeton | #1 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 9–0 | 1,897 | 17–1–3 (8–0–1) |
| January 21 | 7:00 p.m. | at Colgate | #1 | Class of 1965 Arena • Hamilton, New York | | Perets | W 5–1 | 607 | 18–1–3 (9–0–1) |
| January 22 | 7:00 p.m. | at #8 Cornell | #1 | Lynah Rink • Ithaca, New York | | Perets | L 1–2 $^{OT}$ | 2,133 | 18–2–3 (9–1–1) |
| January 26 | 7:00 p.m. | at Princeton | #2 | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | | St. Cyr | W 6–0 | 0 | 19–2–3 (10–1–1) |
| Connecticut Ice ||||||||||
| January 29 | 7:00 p.m. | at Sacred Heart* | #2 | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut (Connecticut Ice semifinal) | SNY | St. Cyr | W 3–2 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 20–2–3 |
| January 30 | 4:30 p.m. | vs. Connecticut* | #2 | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut (Connecticut Ice championship) | SNY | Perets | W 2–0 | 0 | 21–2–3 |
| Regular season ||||||||||
| February 4 | 7:00 p.m. | Union | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 2–1 | 2,939 | 22–2–3 (11–1–1) |
| February 5 | 7:00 p.m. | Rensselaer | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 1–0 | 0 | 23–2–3 (12–1–1) |
| February 8 | 7:00 p.m. | Brown | #2 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 3–1 | 1,813 | 24–2–3 (13–1–1) |
| February 11 | 7:00 p.m. | at St. Lawrence | #2 | Appleton Arena • Canton, New York | | Perets | W 3–1 | 651 | 25–2–3 (14–1–1) |
| February 12 | 7:00 p.m. | at #19 Clarkson | #2 | Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York | | Perets | L 1–3 | 2,654 | 25–3–3 (14–2–1) |
| February 18 | 7:00 p.m. | at Dartmouth | #4 | Thompson Arena • Hanover, New Hampshire | | St. Cyr | W 5–0 | 978 | 26–3–3 (15–2–1) |
| February 19 | 7:00 p.m. | at Harvard | #4 | Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts | | Perets | L 0–1 | 1,823 | 26–4–3 (15–3–1) |
| February 22 | 7:00 p.m. | Yale | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | W 4–0 | 3,625 | 27–4–3 (16–3–1) |
| February 25 | 7:00 p.m. | #18 Cornell | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | Perets | L 0–1 | 3,027 | 27–5–3 (16–4–1) |
| February 26 | 7:00 p.m. | Colgate | #5 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | | St. Cyr | W 4–0 | 3,061 | 28–5–3 (17–4–1) |
| ECAC Hockey tournament ||||||||||
| March 11 | 7:00 p.m. | St. Lawrence* | #6 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut (Quarterfinal game 1) | | Perets | W 4–1 | 2,739 | 29–5–3 |
| March 12 | 7:00 p.m. | St. Lawrence* | #6 | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut (Quarterfinal game 2) | | Perets | W 4–3 $^{OT}$ | 2,401 | 30–5–3 |
| Quinnipiac won series 2–0 ||||||||||
| March 18 | 4:00 p.m. | vs. Colgate* | #6 | Herb Brooks Arena • Lake Placid, New York (Semifinal) | | Perets | W 3–1 | 4,256 | 31–5–3 |
| March 19 | 7:30 p.m. | vs. #17 Harvard* | #6 | Herb Brooks Arena • Lake Placid, New York (Championship) | | Perets | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 4,478 | 31–6–3 |
| NCAA tournament ||||||||||
| March 25 | 8:00 p.m. | vs. #11 St. Cloud State* | #8 | PPL Center • Allentown, Pennsylvania (Midwest Regional semifinal) | ESPNews | Perets | W 5–4 | 2,155 | 32–6–3 |
| March 27 | 6:30 p.m. | vs. #2 Michigan* | #8 | PPL Center • Allentown, Pennsylvania (Midwest Regional final) | ESPN2 | Perets | L 4–7 | 3,256 | 32–7–3 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern. Source: ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Zach Metsa | D | 42 | 10 | 27 | 37 | 8 |
| Wyatt Bongiovanni | C | 42 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 45 |
| Oliver Chau | C | 42 | 13 | 20 | 33 | 24 |
| Ethan de Jong | RW | 42 | 11 | 21 | 32 | 24 |
| Michael Lombardi | F | 42 | 14 | 13 | 27 | 10 |
| Ty Smilanic | C | 41 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 34 |
| T. J. Friedmann | F | 41 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 14 |
| Brendan Less | D | 39 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 12 |
| Skyler Brind'Amour | C | 41 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 18 |
| Joey Cipollone | C | 41 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 8 |
| Desi Burgart | F | 42 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 6 |
| Guus van Nes | LW/RW | 37 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 26 |
| Jayden Lee | D | 42 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 2 |
| Griffin Mendel | D | 42 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 14 |
| Ethan Leyh | F | 31 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| Jacob Quillan | C | 36 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 24 |
| Marcus Chorney | D | 42 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
| Ilvari Räsänen | D | 40 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 16 |
| Christophe Fillion | F | 19 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Cristophe Tellier | LW | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 21 |
| C. J. McGee | D | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Tony Stillwell | D | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Nick Bochen | D | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dylan St. Cyr | G | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Yaniv Perets | G | 31 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Liam McLinskey | F | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | - | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Total | | | 139 | 239 | 378 | 358 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals against | Saves | Shutouts | SV % | GAA |
| Dylan St. Cyr | 13 | 722 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 204 | 5 | .936 | 1.16 |
| Yaniv Perets | 31 | 1842 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 559 | 11 | .939 | 1.17 |
| Empty Net | - | 19 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 42 | 2583 | 32 | 7 | 3 | 53 | 774 | 16 | .936 | 1.23 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 (6) | 4 (6) | 2 (15) | 2 (12) | 2 (7) | 2 (5) | 1 (30) | 2 (18) | 2 (14) | 2 (12) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | - | 7 |
| USA Today | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 (2) | 4 (4) | 2 (13) | 2 (12) | 2 (5) | 2 (6) | 1 (19) | 2 (5) | 2 (5) | 2 (8) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.

## Awards and honors

| Player | Award |
| Zach Metsa | AHCA All-American East First Team |
| Yaniv Perets | AHCA All-American East Second Team |
| Yaniv Perets | ECAC Hockey Player of the Year |
| Zach Metsa | ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman |
| Yaniv Perets | Ken Dryden Award |
| Rand Pecknold | Tim Taylor Award |
| Yaniv Perets | ECAC Hockey First Team |
| Zach Metsa | ECAC Hockey First Team |
| Wyatt Bongiovanni | ECAC Hockey Third Team |