Photo Credit:Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography

If walking into the opener of this match between UND and Quinnipiac, you tell Bobcats Head Coach Rand Pecknold that all but one of his goals for the night will be scored by guys who are superb role players but role players and not stars, you would have rightly asked something like how many did UND lose to them by. The Fighting Hawks did not lose in a game that was played from extreme to extreme. After going down 4-1, they battle to earn a 5-5 tie. For the Bobcats, they have veteran defender Cj McGee and his work ethic to thank for salvaging the tie. He put home his third goal in his 62nd college hockey game by picking a spot and making it work. Every Bobcat knows they can play better and all of them shared those sentiments.

Here are some key moments from each period with thoughts on what comes next for the Bobcats.

First period

In the first period, the Bobcats got outchanced. They did capitalize on those 50/50 battles in the corners and behind the net. Those lead to two of their goals in the first period, and showed the work they put in. This is the same team that out chanced Long Island but only ended up drawing even with them. The ability to find players in space for their bottom six is why they went into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead. We know about the stars for the Bobcats, but in the first period , the bottom six were the stars for the night.

Second period

Another TJ Friedmann goal provided another marker for the Bobcats as they faced an onslaught from the Fighting Hawks. With Jakob Hellsten in net to start the second, the group bounced back to get on the board with a Reese Gaber goal in tight on an Owen McLaughlin feed to make it a 4-2 game. This goal for UND came after the Bobcats got caught as Jacob Nordqvist came to try and get the puck and missed, setting up a breakaway look for UND. Perets made the first save, but Dylan James banged home his first goal in college hockey to open the scoring for UND.

Third Period and beyond

This was the period where UND out worked the Bobcats more than any other. Bobcats goalie Yaniv Perets was battling cramps throughout this one and let a few goals in the period that he doesn’t normally allow. The fifth goal for UND went off the shaft of his stick, being an example of this fact. Pecknold praised Perets for his effort as he finished with 38 saves on 43 shots while battling. The Bobcats had backups ready to go multiple times, and Perets fought to stay in multiple times, and had to make many big saves in this one to get overtime and secure the point for his team. Now the Bobcats get to show that they can string together more of a game on Saturday, and hopefully use this game as fuel to get even better.

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