This one’s for C-Lo, digital’s Ryan “Chee-chester,” and all the other Quinnipiac alums in the WFAN world – QU men’s hockey coach Rand Pecknold joined Boomer & Gio Monday morning fresh off the Bobcats winning their first Frozen Four National Championship on Saturday night!
Although he doesn’t need any more hugs…
“Man I wish I could take that back, because I’m going to get a lot of heat for that on the golf course,” Pecknold said about asking an ESPN reporter for a hug right after QU’s win Saturday. “But it’s okay; we got a national championship, and that’s awesome for Quinnipiac. I love my players, and the guys who have played for me over the years, put in the blood, sweat, and tears to get us here.”
QU was down 2-1 to a future NHL player-laden Minnesota team, but they got the game-tying goal in a third period where they outshot the Gophers 26-6.
“I walked in, and I may have had a little joke for them, like, this is awesome, we’ve got this, we just have to keep buying in to what we do well and get it done,” Pecknold said. “And they were fired up. They knew we were going to come back, and it’s like we expected to win.”
That goal came when Pecknold made a bold move: with about 40 seconds left in a power play late in the third, he pulled his goalie to give QU a 6-on-4, and they get the goal with a 6-on-5 advantage.
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“Gotta have cojones to do that, but I’m a big proponent of getting the goalie out early; they can ice the puck, but we have two extra guys, and we’ve done that play a couple times this year,” Pecknold said. “I have faith in my team to make plays, and a lot of times, teams don’t get their goalies out quick enough to score that goal.”
And then, not even 10 seconds into OT, QU became National Champions off the opening faceoff.
“We have face-off plays for every dot, and if we’re going to beat the big boys, we have to be more detailed than them on the little things,” Pecknold said; “It’s a play we run a lot called The Jet, and it worked; a lot of little things had to go right, but obviously it paid off. I didn’t see it because the guys jumped up and blocked me, but hey, we won the championship.”
There’s gonna be a big party in Hamden, CT, but don’t worry about Pecknold going anywhere after it’s over – because he’s sticking at QU. Quinnipiac Hockey is about all he knows – he spent three years as an assistant at his alma mater, Connecticut College, and that’s it before taking over in Hamden – and for the near future, it’s all he’s looking forward to.
“I have four kids to get through college, so I have a few years left in me and I ain’t going anywhere,” said Pecknold, who was 27 years old when he started with Quinnipiac in 1994. “I’ve had opportunities, but I love it here. I brought the team all this way from bad Division III, and we love where we live – the grass is not always greener. I’ve thought about the NHL a little bit, but that’s a tough life, and as much as I’d like to be at that level, my buddies who coach in the NHL have told me to stay where I am!”
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