Re: Quinnipiac Bobcats 2019 ~ 2020 Season
Nice article from College Hockey News:
Despite Losses, Quinnipiac Doesn't Need Full Rebuild
by Thomas J. Murphy/CHN Reporter
We spoke to Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold before last weekend's games, which wound up being two losses at Arizona State.
CHN: Let’s summarize what has been an eventful offseason for your team. You lost two of the top defensemen in the country, Chase Priskie and Brandon Fortunato, to graduation, and a third top-flight defenseman, Brogan Rafferty, left early. Your goalie, Andrew Shortridge, one of the best in the country, also left a year early. On the offensive end, you lost three of your top four scorers. If this was any other program, this would be a quiet rebuilding year. But expectations seem to be higher with you guys. People seem to think you'll make it work, which says good things about what they think of your program.
Pecknold: Yes, we lost a lot. We lost three-fifths of our first power play that was fantastic last year. Fortunato got hurt late last year and I really think his injury cost us the Frozen Four last year. We were good but not deep enough to offset an injury like that. Right now, we have plenty of talent. We are very young with 22 freshmen and sophomores. We play hard but we lack experience and maturity. Games have been a little chaotic and we need to settle down. It will take time and it is early in the season. I like what we have. We have two good goalies. Keith Petruzzelli has been playing well and we like Evan Fear, so we have talent there. We have a lot of young defensemen. We have taken TJ Friedman and converted him from center to D. He has been doing a nice job and that has been a big help. But we returned some good players. We have our forwards in (Odeen) Tufto, (Ethan) De Jong and (Wyatt) Bongiovanni, so our whole first line is back and better than they were last year.
CHN: So what do you view as the strengths of your team?
Pecknold: It has flipped. Last year, our D corps was our strength. This year, our forwards should be our strength. Our D line is a work in progress but we like what we have there.
CHN: The general consensus seems to be that your team will sink or swim based on your goaltending. It is not just simply the goaltender but the loss of so many excellent defensemen.
Pecknold: I get the general consensus but that is true of every team. If you don’t have goaltending, you are not going to win. You can’t have an .880 (save percentage) goalie and win hockey games. Goaltending is important for every team but we have faith in Keith. He is now a junior and it is his time to take a step. He has been good so far.
CHN: You played a tough American International team a couple weeks ago. You swept them and the goaltending and the team looked good.
Pecknold: AIC is good. And we were good in every area. Our special teams are not where they need to be. Our PK needs to be better. Over the last eight to 10 years, we have always been number one in college hockey in the penalty kill. We have lost a lot of guys but we will get that back to where it needs to be. Our power play needs to be better. It is a small sample size but our power play has not been very good. But we will keep working on that and it will come around.
CHN: And this is a young team. Is this the youngest team that you have had?
Pecknold: Ten freshmen and 12 sophomores. My second year at Quinnipiac I had 19 freshmen. That was my first recruiting year. My first year, we didn’t have enough players to play and we sometimes did not have enough guys to dress. But, since my Division I days, this is probably the youngest team I have had.
CHN: This will be another interesting year in the ECAC. The consensus seems to be that Cornell and Clarkson are the teams to beat. Quinnipiac and Harvard are right behind them. What I am intrigued with is that there are several teams that no one really knows what to expect. Teams like Brown, Colgate and Dartmouth all had decent years last year and all those programs are returning nearly their full teams. How do you see things shaking out this year in the ECAC?
Pecknold: Out of the gate, I think Cornell and Clarkson are the teams to beat with everything they bring back. Clarkson got Frank Marotte, a grad transfer from Robert Morris. He is a great goaltender and that will really help them. Harvard has the best talent of any team in our league. We will have to fight to keep up with those three. I agree with you that there is going to be another team that will have a player who will pop but it is too early to tell. Someone else will be good. We just don’t know yet who that will be.
CHN: It seems like we have two competing team models among the top tier programs. There are those programs who build around the high-profile, first-round draft picks. These players are great while you have them but they are one-and-done or will maybe stay for a second year and then they are gone. The other model is a team like yours that, while you are obviously getting talent, you don’t have the glitzy first-round picks. But your guys develop and stay for at least three years. Your program is of such a high stature that the first-round picks must be interested in your program but you don’t have them. Why is that? Are you actively looking for the first-round picks?
Pecknold: We are not going to turn away a first-round draft pick. I am looking for players with talent, character and high hockey IQ. Those are the three things we want. We get in battles with the “big boys” and we win some of them but it is hard to beat them consistently.
CHN: But there is a great benefit in having players stay for the full four years.
Pecknold: In 2016, we had four juniors who were offered (pro contracts). Two left, two stayed. We have plenty of kids who get offers but we don’t have the one-and-done’s. But Matt Peca could have left after his sophomore year but he stayed all four years because he loved the program. And the Tampa Bay Lightning were ecstatic over his development and they left him. They said you can sign if you want or you can stay where you are because they could see he was developing.
CHN: With the great year that Shortridge had last year, you probably figured he would be gone?
Pecknold: Yes. Absolutely. He had a .940.
CHN: Will the new recruiting rules impact the way you are recruiting?
Pecknold: They will. I think it will change for everyone but I am not sure. There will always be unintended consequences. We will look back in two years where we will see that there are things that we did not think through. I don’t know what those unintended consequences will be. I don’t know if that will help us (against) major junior or not. I think it will hurt us and we will decide to switch the rule back. But we will have to adapt and adjust as to how we recruit.
CHN: With such a young team, who is most likely to have a breakout season?
Pecknold: The sophomore class has a lot of guys who played well last year. Bongiovanni, De Jong or (Peter) DiLiberatore could take a jump and have that big year. Keith Petruzzelli is now carrying the mail for us and he will be good. And we have plenty of guys who have looked good early such as Desi Burgart. TJ Friedman is doing a good job of converting to D. And there are many others we are happy with.
