It was bound to happen and in all honesty Quinnipiac’s first loss in the ECAC has been brewing for some time. The Bobcats probably should have lost a few games in recent weeks. There was the miracle goal with 9.8 seconds left against RPI, which probably was put in by an Engineer defender, that provided a tie in that game. Then there was the comeback against Dartmouth from down three goals in the third period, which wasn’t all that special but more of a bloodbath. Before those games it was a win against Princeton, where it trailed by a pair in the second period.

To say the Bobcats were playing well, would have been a wrong assumption, but the fact they got this far without a conference loss is notable and an accomplishment. Since the break, whether it be complacency or overconfidence or peaking too early, QU just hasn’t been the team that it was in the first half of the season.

I hate to break it to ECAC fans, but Cornell’s unbeaten and undefeated mark in ECAC play from 1969-70 (21-0-0) will never be touched again. For those hoping thatit is touched again, it just won’t be because the league is as good as ever at the moment and any team can beat another. This year that comment is another understatement because Quinnipiac, Yale, Harvard, Clarkson, SLU, Dartmouth and RPI are all quality teams that are in the top 20 or so in Pairwise. The ECAC is just a grind, which is a good and bad thing because right now teams on the bubble are beating up on each other.

For Quinnipiac, it could probably hope that a loss is a wakeup call. It in all honesty is just what the doctor ordered for them. Teams get overconfident in college hockey and because of QU’s system it always seems that they peak too early. I sure hope they haven’t peaked too early, but the recent history of its program tells me that this may be another case of it. For all the success that the Bobcats have had in recent years, it still lacks an ECAC tournament title. The last three seasons, it has bowed out in the semifinals of the tournament, including the year it made it to the national title game to lose to Yale.

I like QU, but I will be honest though there is a major worry in the makeup of their team. Ya they get a ton of shots, ya they can produce offense seemingly at will but through all that the defense gets turned a lot and the positioning isn’t that great at that end of the ice. It is something that has plagued the Bobcats since the great class of defensemen left the year it lost in the national championship game a few years back. Every year in the second half, it rears its ugly head. Since Dec. 30th, QU is 35th in team defense and has allowed 3 goals per game. It is also eighth in the ECAC during that time frame. Michael Garteig, as great as he was in the first half, has a .894 save percentage in that same time frame, despite having a lone loss. .894 is hardly impressive is near 30 points from the average goaltender in college hockey. Wins are not sustainable with that low of a save percentage, even with the offense QU has.

The loss is a bump in the road and in no way am I saying it is a sign doom for Quinnipiac, but it needs to get better and a conference loss has been inevitable. Offense is great to have and it is very important when goals are at a premium in the tournament but then again defense and goaltending are all the more important. It will still win the ECAC’s regular season title (Or should) and be well setup in the ECAC tournament. As I have been saying all along, however, is that this QU team will be judged by what it does in March and not what it does now. Its struggles right now could in fact be something more come tournament time. Tomorrow night it finishes its North Country trip against a Clarkson team that is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games, so it gets no easier for QU.

Saturday, February 13th, 2016 - 1:51 am | Blogs, Commentary, ECAC, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings