Quinnipiac undeterred by pedigree of North Dakota ahead of title game

Rand Pecknold, the veteran coach of Quinnipiac’s hockey team, knows it hardly matters that his squad was the top seed in the NCAA tournament or that it became the first team since 1997 to reach the Frozen Four with three losses or fewer. 

And when his team plays North Dakota in Saturday’s national title game, the fact that it will be Quinnipiac’s second national championship game since 2013 has done little to alter outside perception. 

“We are probably the underdog just because North Dakota has all that tradition,” Pecknold told USA TODAY Sports on Friday from the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla. “I think everyone in college hockey probably expects them to win.”

Pecknold, in his 22nd season at the Hamden, Conn., school, likened Quinnipiac’s rise in college hockey the past five years to what college basketball fans have seen from Butler and Gonzaga in recent years. Despite their lack of pedigree, both have become perennial national contenders, with Butler even making back-to-back improbable national title game appearances in men’s basketball in 2010 and 2011.

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Taking over the program in 1994, Pecknold helped lead the program’s transition from Division II to Division I 18 years ago. And he led them to the 2013 national title game against Yale, which beat them, 4-0.

If Quinnipiac (32-3-7) is to capture its first national championship, it will have to beat its second straight blue-blooded opponent. After beating Boston College – which has five national titles – in Thursday’s semifinal, it will now face a storied North Dakota program that has seven national titles and 22 Frozen Four appearances.

Becoming a national title-contending threat in recent years has “galvanized our university, our community, our fan base, our alums,” Pecknold said. “We’re still a relatively young athletic program … There’s been a constant buzz on campus about the hockey program the last four to five years.”

Much like the 2013 team, this year’s team has stellar goaltending, as evidenced by Michael Garteig’s 34 saves against Boston College. Pecknold noted that this year’s team’s power play is probably better than that of the 2013 team. He said the hallmark of this year’s team is “relentless puck pursuit.”

Pecknold knows his team has talent -- including Arizona Coyotes draft pick Connor Clifton – just not quite as much talent as teams like Boston College or North Dakota possess.

Regardless, he said if his upstart program “plays to our identity, we will get our reward.”

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