Anas Still the Spark For No. 1 Quinnipiac

by Joshua Seguin/Staff Writer

Down by three goals with 15 minutes to go against a good, tough, ECAC team is never an easy thing to recover from. Quinnipiac erased this deficit in a game against Dartmouth and, as it started happening, it almost seemed inevitable.

"Coming back is never how we draw it up," Quinnipiac forward Sam Anas said. "It just shows resiliency and I think we have seen that the last few games with comebacks but it is a lot different when you are able to pull off the win too.

Sam Anas has become a household name in college hockey by now, and he in particular, he has been pretty special in situations when the Bobcats are down. Among them, in the Dartmouth game, Anas had two consecutive goals to tie the game en route to a comeback win.

He also had the game-tying goal with 9.4 seconds remaining against Rensselaer a week earlier. His goal against RPI was one of two extra-attacker goals this season, and he also added another extra-attacker goal against Northeastern on the road in early January.

Some might call it luck of the draw. But some players just have the knack.

"That is what players like he (Anas) does," QU coach Rand Pecknold said. "They score goals and some guys have a knack for it, they are in the right spot at the right time. Those type of players they have an instinct, the pucks find them. It is no different at this level or the NHL level."

This weekend, Quinnipiac will face one of the teams it came back against, Cornell. Quinnipiac has just one loss this season — to Boston University — but was down 4-1 to Cornell earlier in the year before coming back to win in overtime. Anas didn't factor in any of the goals, showing that the teams is more than just about him, for sure.

But for a team that has trailed for a meager 286 minutes all season, Anas has nine goals during those situations, the fourth-most in the country. And his 17 overall goals is tied for eighth. Most of the players that get goals in those situations are on struggling teams that spend a good amount of time trailing in game.

Of course, Anas spreads the praise.

"I think our biggest advantage is rolling four lines," Anas continued. "Every night we have four lines that can run the cycle and that can score goals. That makes us so hard to defend against because teams can't matchup with just one certain line."

But Anas is the player that makes the Bobcats' machine go. Whenever Quinnipiac needs a boost, he's always in the right position, and is usually able to come up with a goal.

"I just try and not think about what type of pressure there is, just trying to have poise with the puck," Anas said. "I just know to trust my abilities and know that it is the same game I have always played, just hoping the puck goes in."

Lately, Anas has been a dominant player when it has mattered. He is on a personal nine-game point scoring streak, with 14 points in those games and eight goals. Of those eight goals, two have been with an extra attacker, two have been to tie and seven have been while trailing. He has been involved with all of his team's big comebacks in recent weeks.

This, of course, is not all that new. Anas has been doing this from the get go his freshman year, two seasons ago.

The question when Anas burst on the scene then was whether he would continue scoring at a high level when his high-profile linemates of that year, Connor and Kellen Jones twins, left. Anas has only flourished and grown in recent seasons, especially defensively and as a leader.

"He has been a true professional and has gotten better and better," Pecknold said. "He has gotten bigger, stronger, he is still working on his skating and has continued to work on his defensive game. He has just rounded himself out as a player."

After having 41 points and 21 goals as a freshman, Anas surpassed his goal total with 23 and he also had 39 overall points last year.

"I have tried to round out my game," Anas said. "I came in and had a good freshman year, statistically, but just because you put up points doesn't mean that will get you into the NHL. I knew I had to get stronger, a better skater and better in the defensive zone and just be responsible with the puck all 200 feet of the ice."

Any team as confident as Quinnipiac is this season knows that a game is never over to the final whistle. At some point, Quinnipiac will drop a game they trail late, but until then the deficit will never be insurmountable to the comeback Bobcats.

"Eventually we are not going to get a bounce here or there," Pecknold said. "But it has been one of those years that the guys believe. Confidence is certainly an important part of the game and we are a confident bunch. The guys believe we can do anything."

As a team, Quinnipiac has all the pieces for a long season. Doing it, however, is another story. Everyone is gunning for them right now, as the Bobcats sit No. 1 overall in the Pairwise.

Quinnipiac is also eight games away from some rarities in the ECAC. No one has gone undefeated in league play since 1969-70, when Cornell went 21-0-0 on the way to a national title. The last team with just a lone loss in the ECAC was 1984-85 RPI, which went 20-1-0, also en route to a national championship.

Anas is just one piece of that puzzle, but clearly an important one at that.