2020–21 Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Quinnipiac Bobcats Men's ice hockey season was the 45th season of play for the program, the 23rd at the Division I level and the 16th season in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Bobcats represented the Quinnipiac University and played their home games at the Frank Perrotti, Jr. Arena in the People's United Center, and were coached by Rand Pecknold, in his 27th season.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Quinnipiac's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Quinnipiac was one of the few teams to play a decent amount of non-conference games during the 20–21 season. The Bobcats played their first 8 games against teams not in ECAC Hockey and performed well, going 6–2. The team continued that level of play throughout the season, consistently being ranked near the middle of the top-20. The stars of the season were team captain Odeen Tufto and starting goaltender Keith Petruzzelli, both seniors. Tufto led the team in scoring by a wide margin, finishing the year with 47 points and was second in the nation. Petruzzelli backstopped the team to a league title and was named as the best goaltender in the conference, allowing less than 2 goals per game on the year.
With their stellar record, the Bobcats were all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament but the team still wanted to earn capture the ECAC championship. Due to 8 of the 12 ECAC teams cancelling their seasons, Quinnipiac would only have to win two games to win the crown. However, due to Clarkson cancelling its season after COVID protocol violations, Quinnipiac received a bye into the title game, becoming the first team at the Division I level to play a one-off game for an automatic bid since 1960. In the title game the Bobcats started slow, recording just 4 shots in the first period, but took over in the middle frame. After taking a 2–1 lead into the third, Quinnipiac tried to win a 1-goal game but St. Lawrence fought back and tied the score with less than 5 minutes to play. The game went into overtime and, after less than 4 minutes, Quinnipiac found themselves on the wrong side of the winning goal, losing the title to the Larries.
A day after the conference tournament, St. Lawrence's head coach tested positive for COVID and the team was forced to withdraw from the NCAA tournament. As a result, Quinnipiac was given the ECAC automatic bid instead, though it was likely that the team would have been selected as an at-large bid anyway. In their opening game of the tournament, Quinnipiac showed none of the hesitancy that they had the game before and roared out to a 2-goal lead after 20 minutes. Once they had their advantage, however, the team slowed in the middle and allowed Minnesota State to cut their lead in half. A more even third period saw the Bobcats restore their 2-goal edge but the Mavericks wouldn't go away and, over the course of the final 11 minutes, Quinnipiac's lead was eroded and MSU tied the game with just over a minute to play. With the team having once again blown a lead, the Bobcats were overwhelmed in the extra session and were outshot 7–2 before Minnesota State ended their season.
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Kārlis Čukste 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (signed with San Jose Barracuda)
William Fällström	Forward 	 	Signed professional contract (Tingsryds AIF)
P. J. Fletcher 	Forward 	 	Returned to juniors (transferred to Miami)
Nick Jermain 	Forward 	 	Graduation (signed with Coventry Blaze)
Jeremy Smith 	Defenseman	 	Transferred to Hamilton
Alex Whelan 	Forward 	 	Graduation (signed with Hartford Wolf Pack)
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Nick Bochen 	Defenseman	 	19 	North Vancouver, BC
Joey Cipollone 	Forward 	 	21 	Purchase, NY; transfer from Vermont
Corey Clifton 	Forward 	 	21 	Matawan, NJ
Christophe Fillion	Forward 	 	20 	Sherbrooke, QC
Tyler Ghirardosi 	Forward 	 	20 	Trail, BC
Yaniv Perets 	Goaltender	 	20 	Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC
Iivari Räsänen 	Defenseman	 	19 	Tampere, FIN
Ty Smilanic 	Forward 	 	18 	Denver, CO; Selected 74th overall in 2020
==Roster==
As of March 17, 2021.
==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
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==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	C 	29 	8 	39 	47 	22
 	RW 	29 	14 	15 	29 	22
 	D 	29 	5 	21 	26 	8
 	C 	29 	14 	7 	21 	10
 	D 	29 	6 	14 	20 	36
 	F 	29 	10 	16 	16 	16
 	F 	26 	5 	11 	16 	0
 	LW/RW 	29 	2 	13 	15 	12
 	F 	25 	6 	5 	11 	4
 	C 	29 	2 	9 	11 	23
 	F 	25 	3 	7 	10 	10
 	F 	21 	4 	5 	9 	0
 	C 	9 	5 	3 	8 	12
 	D 	25 	1 	7 	8 	19
 	D 	23 	2 	5 	7 	6
 	C 	25 	2 	5 	7 	6
 	D 	24 	3 	3 	6 	10
 	D 	27 	2 	3 	5 	14
 	F 	25 	3 	0 	3 	35
 	D 	14 	1 	2 	3 	17
 	D 	28 	1 	2 	3 	32
 	D 	19 	1 	0 	1 	12
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	3 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	29 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	4
Total	 	 	100 	182 	282 	338
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	2 	32 	0 	0 	0 	0 	12 	0 	1.000	0.00
 	4 	15 	0 	0 	0 	0 	12 	0 	1.000	0.00
 	2 	7:35 	0 	0 	0 	0 	2 	0 	1.000	0.00
 	29 	1715 	17 	8 	4 	54 	671 	4 	.926 	1.89
Empty Net	- 	12 	- 	- 	- 	5 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	29 	1783 	17 	8 	4 	59 	697 	5 † 	.922 	1.98
† Petruzzelli and Perets shared a shutout on February 13.
==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
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	
USCHO.com	13 	13 	12 	11 	11 	11 	16 	12 	13 	11 	10 	11 	12 	11 	12 	12 	11 	12 	10 	11 	- 	- 	 	
USA Today	14 	14 	11 	11 	10 	11 	NR 	13 	12 	11 	10 	11 	11 	11 	11 	11 	10 	11 	10 	10 	11 	- 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Player 	Award 	Ref
Odeen Tufto 	AHCA East First Team All-American	
Odeen Tufto 	ECAC Hockey Player of the Year 	
Keith Petruzelli	Ken Dryden Award 	
Rand Pecknold 	Tim Taylor Award 	
Keith Petruzelli	ECAC Hockey First Team 	
Zach Metsa 	ECAC Hockey First Team 	
Odeen Tufto 	ECAC Hockey First Team 	
Ty Smilanic 	ECAC Hockey Rookie Team 	
==References==
Category:Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey seasons
Quinnipiac Bobcats 
Quinnipiac Bobcats 
Quinnipiac Bobcats