It’s early in the season, but Quinnipiac has been keeping busy through its first three games. The Bobcats beat Vermont 3-2 in overtime Saturday for its first win of the season. It was the third overtime game in as many games for QU, as it tied Boston College and lost to Boston University the previous weekend.
Freshman Odeen Tufto scored his first two collegiate goals against the Catamounts, including the overtime winner, putting a rebound of Brogan Rafferty’s initial shot into the net.
Sophomore Andrew Shortridge had 22 saves for the Bobcats. Shortridge and freshman Keith Petruzzelli look to be the best goaltending duo in the league this season, and have alternated starts so far in the early going.
RPI heads home with a pair of draws
It’s two games into RPI coach Dave Smith’s career, and he’s still looking for his first win or loss with the Engineers.
RPI opened its season with a pair of 1-1 ties at Ohio State, thanks to an outstanding weekend by goalie Chase Perry, who stopped 83-of-85 shots on the weekend, including a career-high 56 Friday. The junior stopped 25 shots in the second period en route to becoming the first RPI goalie with 50 saves in a game since Mathias Lange had 53 against Yale on March 7, 2008.
The Engineers technically “lost” the shootout both nights, but both games officially count as ties.
Perry will likely need to be on his game all year, as RPI lost much of its offensive production from last season.
Union looking for its first win
A tough early season schedule a number of new faces in the lineup has Union looking at a 0-5 start through the opening weeks of the season.
The Dutchmen lost a pair of one-goal games to Massachusetts and Vermont, respectively, as Messa Rink last weekend. The five losses are already halfway to the ten losses Union had last year, when it shared ECAC Hockey’s regular season title with Harvard.
Last weekend marked the first home games for Union, who had lost to a trio of tough opponents (Boston University, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota) away from Messa Rink.
The Dutchmen were hit fairly hard in the offseason with notable departures on both ends of the ice, so it’s not surprising to see them off to a rough start, although no wins through five games is a little worse than I figured they would be at this point.
Union will need to turn it around quickly in order to enter league play on a good note. The Dutchmen travel to RIT and Niagara this weekend before starting ECAC play with a home-and-home series against Rensselaer in two weeks
