59 Teams in 59 Days Quinnipiac

The 59 Teams in 59 Days tour continues with a trip to Hamden, Connecticut where the Quinnipiac Bobcats are featured.

Head Coach Rand Pecknold should be happy with the squads first season last year in the ECACHL as they posted their second consecutive 20 win season. This year he and the Bobcats will look to improve on that as they enter their second year in the ECACHL.

A big plus for Quinnipiac is that all of their top five leading scorers are returning. Two players scored 20 goals last year. Junior Jamie Bates, and Sophomore David Marshall will be two of the main offensive threats again this year. Brian Leitch lead the team in scoring as a Freshman, and earned all ECACHL rookie honors. Ben Nelson winds up the top four forward scorers.

But the main player on this team will be Senior Reid Cashman. Cashman, is one of the favorites to win the ECACHL player of the year. In three seasons he has totaled 20 goals while adding 87 assists, and tallying 107 points. Cashman should be one of the top defensemen again not only in the ECACHL, but in the country. Could Quinnipiac see its first ever Hobey Baker Finalist?

In goal will be Sophomore Bud Fisher. As a Freshman last year, Fisher played in 34 games, going 18-14-1 with a 2.56 goalst against average while adding three shutouts. With a year under his belt, Fisher could be one of the better goalies in the conference.

Quinnipaic might of lost seven seniors, but they still have a lot of experience coming back. Expect Quinnipiac to gain home ice for the first round of the ECACHL tournament, and possibly go to the semi-finals in Albany, New York. This is a solid squad that could raise some eyebrows all over the country.

The predicted ceiling for Quinnipiac is fourth in the ECACHL, while their gutter is ninth.

Tommorrow we will make a trip to one of the finest engenerring institutes in the country in Troy, New York, as the Rensselaer Engineers will be featured as we hit day number 48 on the 59 Teams in 59 Days tour.