Tie looks good on Quinnipiac

Still don’t understand why the wireless at Quinnipiac won’t allow me to publish the blog. So, here’s a few belated thoughts filed from home.

There were some mixed emotions from Rand Pecknold, who was disappointed the Bobcats blew a 2-0 lead but pleased with his power play and penalty kill units. A tie against Union, especially given Quinnipiac’s inability to find wins in the early season, has the players feeling confident heading into the RPI game Saturday.

There were two pucks that sure looked in to me, one which was reviewed by the officials and upheld in the second period, and another in the third that didn’t go to the video review. It was the one in the third, which would have given the Bobcats a 3-1 lead, that really looked like a goal. In fact, the game-day staff in the press box had the scorer and the assists ready to be entered.

Just seconds later, Union got the tying goal on a puck that deflected off Quinnipiac forward Connor Jones’ skate in front and past goalie Eric Hartzell.

“For the most part, I had the entire play read,” Hartzell said. “They didn’t have too much pressure; they had a guy backdoor and the other guy was trying to feed him the pass. He had a nice rip to his pass, and unfortunately it bounced off Conner’s skate. Sometimes the puck just finds the back of the net.”

Hartzell is in a groove, essentially wresting the No. 1 job from Dan Clarke. He said a film study of game film from last season has helped him get back to what works after a slow start.

“I wasn’t lackadaisical, but I wasn’t challenging quite as much as I normally do,” Hartzell said. “Watching film from last year, I’m out on top of my crease, I’m a foot outside, and the shooter isn’t seeing as much net. We got back to that, as it worked out well. There was one play in particular in the first period tonight. We got caught off-guard with a change, and the guy came down. Fortunatley, he didn’t try to roof it on me, but I was about three or four feet outside the crease and made a left pad save.”