By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
Boston Bruins draft picks Chris Pelosi and Elliott Groenewold opened their second half of the college hockey season with an authoritative 9-1 victory over fellow Bruins prospect Mason Langenbrunner and the Harvard Crimson. Pelosi, who had just returned from competing in the Spengler Cup with the US Collegiate Selects Team, earned the start for the Bobcats en route to the eventual rout.
The Bobcats opened the night a bit sluggish, and Harvard wasted no time taking advantage, with Richard Gallant sneaking one through Quinnipiac goaltender Dylan Silverstein just over a minute into the game. A too-many-men penalty shortly after presented an opportunity for Harvard to seize control early, but the Bobcats held firm and quickly turned the tables on the Crimson.
Quinnipiac only surrendered three further shot attempts in the first period following the penalty kill, dominating the rest of the frame and striking twice within two and a half minutes to flip the scoreboard in their favor. Just about ten minutes in, Bobcats dynamite freshman Ethan Wyttenbach pounced on a loose puck in the crease with Harvard goaltender Ben Charette out of position, to tie the game. Graham Sward put Quinnipiac ahead minutes later, combining on a slick passing sequence with Antonin Verrault off the rush to beat Charette clean.
The Bobcats kept their foot on the gas in the second period, outright dominating play and scoring two additional goals within the first six minutes, courtesy of captain Victor Czerneckianair and Markus Vidicek, the latter on the power play. Harvard had little to no answer for the Bobcats’ relentless pressure, and Quinnipiac had ample opportunities to pad their advantage, if not for a few ten-bell saves from Charette.
If there was any possibility of a Crimson comeback in the third period, akin to their heroics against Michigan over Thanksgiving weekend, Quinnipiac snuffed them out in a hurry. Chris Pelosi snapped a three-game scoring drought by scoring the Bobcats’ fifth goal of the night less than a minute into the third period. Twenty-two seconds later, Elliott Groenewold set up Wyttenbach with a tap-in on a two-on-one to extend the lead even further.
By the time Will Gilson scored Quinnipiac’s eighth goal of the night, the game had long since become a formality. The 9-1 final score secured the Bobcats’ highest scoring game of the season, and Harvard’s most lopsided loss since a 7-1 beatdown from Boston University in the Beanpot last year.
Takeaways: I was surprised to see Pelosi in the Quinnipiac lineup with such a short turnaround from the Spengler Cup, let alone starting every period. He looked as dangerous as ever back in his accustomed top-six role with the Bobcats, and had a few more good looks on net beyond his third-period goal.
Despite Quinnipiac putting up eight of their nine goals on Harvard at even strength, Mason Langenbrunner finished the night with just a single blemish on his plus/minus. While that’s a glass-half-full perspective on the performance, I do have some questions about his skating.
He was burned on a rush in the first period, similar to the Michael Hage goal against Michigan in November, except this time it was Elliott Groenewold, a defenseman. He seems to rely on his reach to take up space while defending the rush a bit too much, allowing more adept skaters to skate around him and still find openings in front of the goal.
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