Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey

Quinnipiac Bobcats

University Quinnipiac University
Conference ECACHL
Head coach Rand Pecknold
21st year, 403–253–74
Arena High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center
Capacity: 3,386
Location Hamden, Connecticut
Colors Blue and Gold[1][2]

             

NCAA Tournament Frozen Four
2013
NCAA Tournament Appearances
2002, 2013, 2014, 2015
Conference Tournament Champions
2002
Conference Regular Season Champions
2013, 2015
Current uniform

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Quinnipiac University. The Bobcats are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Connecticut.[3]

History

Quinnipiac University began sponsoring men's ice hockey as a varsity sport for the 1975–76 season. The program joined as an independent NCAA Division II team. The team played as an independent Division II team until In 1998 the program joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and transferred to Division I.[4] The Braves won the MAAC Regular Season Championship in their first season in the league. The trend continued as Quinnipiac won the title the follow two seasons.[4] In 2002 The Braves won the team's first playoff series, winning the MAAC Playoff Championship with a 6–4 win over Mercyhurst.[5] With the win, Quinnipiac received an automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the first NCAA post season appearance in program history.[5] Quinnipiac faced off against Cornell in the first round of the East Regional, held in Worcester, Massachusetts.[6] Quinnipiac's run into the NCAA Tournament ended early in a 1–6 loss to the Big Red. [7] The game was the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Braves.[8] Quinnipiac finished the 2001–02 season 20–13–5, marking the team's fourth consecutive season with at least 20 wins.[9]

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey team battles Dartmouth College at the then-named TD Banknorth Sports Center, February 2007. Quinnipiac student section is on right.

In 2003 the MAAC Hockey league split off from the main athletic conference to form Atlantic Hockey.[10] After two years in Atlantic Hockey Quinnipiac left to join the ECAC, replacing Vermont who left the league for Hockey East[11] and changed their name to the Bobcats. QU was chosen over a number of applicants in large part to the university's commitment to build a new multipurpose sports arena to replace the civic-owned Northford Ice Pavilion.[11] The Bobcats moved into the new 3,386-seat TD Bank Sports Center (then known as TD Banknorth Sports Center) in 2007.[12]

The 2012-13 season has brought Quinnipiac to national prominence. The program reached a new high becoming the number one team in the country on February 11, 2013 in both the USCHO.com poll and USA Today College Hockey poll. Quinnipiac retained the ranking the following week despite losing their first game as the top ranked team to St. Lawrence University as the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams also fell the same weekend. The Bobcats also won their first ever Cleary Cup presented to the ECAC regular season champion. On March 24, 2013, the Bobcats received the number one overall seed in the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. The Bobcats won the East Region with wins over Canisius (4-3) and Union (5-1) to advance to the school's first ever Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, Pa. In the national semifinals, Quinnipiac defeated St. Cloud State (4-1) to advance to the national championship game against arch rival Yale. The Bobcats fell 4-0 to Yale to end the 2012-13 as the national runner-up.

In the 2013-14 season the Bobcats once again reached the NCAA tournament yet were defeated in the first round by Providence College 4-0. The team finished the season with a 24-10-6 record.

Rivals

Since moving to the ECAC, Quinnipiac's biggest rival has been the Yale Bulldogs. The rivalry is dubbed the War on Whitney Avenue as the two campuses are separated by a mere 8 miles on Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut to New Haven, Connecticut. The rivalry has reached its highest point in 2013 as both the Bobcats and the Bulldogs rank in the top 10 nationally and are 1 and 2 in the ECAC standings. Quinnipiac holds a 9-5-2 all-time record against the Bulldogs. The winner of the final game between the two teams receives the Heroes Hat which honors those who risked their lives during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The two teams met on April 13, 2013 for the fourth time in the 2012-13 season in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to play for the national championship. Quinnipiac won the previous three meetings by a combined score of 13-3, but was upset in the national championship game, 4-0.

References

  1. ↑ "Quinnipiac University Graphic Standards Manual 2014" (PDF). Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ "PMS Color Chart". Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Quinnipiac Bobcats, Union Dutchmen play 5-overtime hockey game, longest in NCAA history - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Statistics :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1
  6. ↑ "2002 NCAA Tournament". Inside College Hockey. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "Statistics :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  9. ↑ "Bobcat hockey looking for repeated success | The Quinnipiac Chronicle". 2002-10-10. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  10. ↑ "Atlantic Hockey : ATLANTIC HOCKEY HISTORY". Atlantichockeyonline.com. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Quinnipiac Officially Admitted to ECAC :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online". USCHO.com. 2004-08-24. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  12. ↑ Holtz, Jeff (2007-01-27). "Arena Fit for Quinnipiac's Ambition". The New York Times.

See also

External links