Quinnipiac vs. Harvard, 11/20/10

After a quick half-an-hour drive down the road from Wesleyan, I pulled into the TD Bank Sports Center for the Quinnipiac/Harvard game. The $52 million sports complex, home to both the basketball and hockey teams that represent Quinnipiac, was built in 2007 and has been the keystone of the school's expansion project.

After a short drive up the side of a mountain, I came face to face with this behemoth. "Wow," I said to myself, "This place is top notch." Worried about a potential Saturday night sellout, I walked up to the ticket window and asked if they had any seats left near center ice. Not only did they have a ticket, they had one 4 rows off the ice. I felt like Christmas had come early. 

Then I got into the arena. I had another "Wow" moment. Jumbo-tron, cops keeping an eye in every corner of the arena, press box, high-quality lighting, and seats with armrests (sorry Wesleyan). It reminded me a lot of Thompson Arena at Dartmouth.

Right before puck drop, the lights were brought down and spotlights circled the arena. A nice touch, however, a little too hollywood for me. Harvard's starting lineup was announced first. They were sporting 5 Canadians out of the 6 possible starters. Quinnipiac on the other hand tried to match the diversity with Tempe, AZ native Jeremy Langlois. Looks like Bettman's Sunbelt experiment is finally paying dividends...

The Bobcats opened the scoring with John Dunbar scoring from the slot at 10:21 of the 1st. Only 40 seconds later, Yuri Bouharevich put Q up by 2 on a nice Mark Messier-type snap shot from the right circle. 

Quinnipiac jumped out to a 4-1 lead by midway through the 2nd before Harvard put up its comeback. The Crimson scored 3 unanswered goals and the 2 teams went into the locker room at intermission tied at 4. Only 5 minutes into the 3rd period, Quinnipiac's Ben Arnt put the Bobcats up for good. 

Harvard coach Ted Donato reacts to Arnt's game winner.

A comeback would have been nice, yet Quinnipiac deserved to win this game. They simply played a better game. When the scoreboard showed 0:00 and a 5-4 Q win, I headed home a very tired hockey fan. Yale/Sacred Heart up next on 11/23.

CPF