The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 92, Issue 14

FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • VOLUME 92 • ISSUE 14

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative condition that is believed to be caused by repeated trauma to the head. Most studied cases have come from athletes from sports such as football, boxing, ice hockey and many others. Unfortunately, very little is currently known about the condition as it is still being researched. It can only be diagnosed after the patient has passed and their brain can be examined. There are many potential symptoms of the condition, ranging from memory loss and dementia to speech impediments and even depression. As of 2022 there is no cure for the condition.

“I WISH I NEVER PLAYED HOCKEY”

DANIEL PASSAPERA/CHRONICLE

NEWS P.2: RAPID TEST VENDING MACHINE

A rapid COVID-19 test vending machine will be installed on campus for student access

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

OPINION P.5: BLUE LIGHTS

Associate Opinion Editor Michael LaRocca shares his frustration with the lack of emergency lights on campus

Former Quinnipiac men’s hockey captain struggling with life-threatening p.6-7 CTE symptoms, severe anxiety CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE

A&L P. 8: SPB WELCOME BACK WEEK

The Student Programming Board kicked off the spring semester with weeklong events

Catalytic converter thefts return after period of inactivity

By NICOLE MCISAAC News Editor

Two Quinnipiac University students reported their vehicles’ catalytic converters stolen last week, following a slew of the same thefts last semester.

Chief of Public Safety Tony Reyes said there are no current suspects, and it is unknown if the two incidents are connected.

He said the university is collaborating with the Hamden Police Department to obtain any information, and Public Safety will con-

tinue to have officers patrolling around campus parking lots to prevent future incidents.

“It’s information sharing, it’s making the connection and then it’s vigilance,” Reyes said. “And, we’ll keep doing that.”

A catalytic converter is a component of a vehicle’s exhaust system located between the engine and the muffler. These parts are targeted by thieves because they are made out of highly valuable metals, such as platinum, palladium or rhodium.

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Some indicators that a catalytic converter has been removed include a loud roaring sound that increasingly gets louder when pushing on the gas, a sputtering sound when changing speed and the vehicle not driving smoothly, according to Allstate. Thieves typically remove the parts off of vehicles with a battery-operated cutting machine or saw, Reyes said.

Despite some distractions individuals might be enduring while driving, Reyes said the noise of a missing catalytic converter is very distinguishable when you are behind the wheel.

“When the catalytic converter gets taken out, your vehicle is going to make a lot more noise when you’re driving,” Reyes said. “If you have the radio blasting or if you’re on the phone, you might not pick up on it. But it’s actually pretty distinct.”

Gabriella Shulenski, a sophomore chemistry major, said she parked her 2009 Honda CRV in the Eastview parking lot on the York Hill campus on Jan. 23. Upon returning to her car the next day, Shulenski said she immediately noticed a noise coming from the vehicle when attempting to start the car.

“It was like a popping sound,” Shulenski said. “It was a really loud noise that my car has never made.”

From there, Shulenski called the local tow truck company, Wheelers Auto Service Inc. When the mechanic arrived, Shulenski said she was immediately informed that half of her catalytic converter had been removed.

She filed an official report with the university and Hamden PD on Jan. 25.

Reyes told The Chronicle that Shulenski’s file noted the incident was an attempt to steal the vehicle’s parts, but no full catalytic converter was missing upon inspection.

However, as a result of the incident, Shulenski said she feels frightened to leave her car in the university’s parking lots.

“I’m just kind of worried for the whole Quinnipiac community,” Shulenski said. “...

If they’re not even safe in Public Safety’s hands, then who do they have to trust?”

Two days after Shulenski’s reported incident, another student said her catalytic converter was stolen after being parked at North Lot on the Mount Carmel campus on Jan. 27.

Shannon Flaherty, a senior media studies major, said she noticed her vehicle running differently and assumed it was sparked by cold weather or other issues in her car. She said she continued with her tasks and parked her vehicle overnight at her off-campus house.

See CATALYTIC CONVERTER Page 2

2| News

MEET THE EDITORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Sicoli MANAGING EDITORS Emily Flamme Toyloy Brown III CREATIVE DIRECTOR Connor Lawless DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR Chatwan Mongkol NEWS EDITORS Nicole McIsaac Melina Khan ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Katie Langley OPINION EDITOR Xavier Cullen ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR Michael LaRocca ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Ashley Pelletier ASSOCIATE ARTS & LIFE EDITORS David Matos Neha Seenarine SPORTS EDITORS Riley Millette Peter Piekarski ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITORS Cameron Levasseur Ethan Hurwitz PODCAST PRODUCER Brendan Samson PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Daniel Passapera

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

February 2, 2022

Quinnipiac to install COVID-19 rapid test vending machine

By NICOLE MCISAAC News Editor

Quinnipiac University will introduce a personal protective equipment vending machine in Student Health Services on the Mount Carmel campus within the first two weeks of February.

The machine will allow students to readily purchase rapid test kits if they have come in contact or show symptoms of COVID-19. Associate Vice President of Public Relations John Morgan said the university is still finalizing details on how students will utilize the machine.

President Judy Olian announced the release of the vending machine during the Student Welcome Back Event on Jan. 27. Olian said the university wants to give the community a full-semester experience as long as students responsibly regulate their health.

“It’s really you that will manage your health,” Olian said. “If you’re not feeling well, make sure that you withdraw from connections with other people until you rapid test. I think that with that social responsibility and accountability, we’ll be full swing in the classroom, outside the classroom and able to have all of these events as long as we continue to wear masks for a while.”

Sophomore civil engineering major Jack Krut said he agrees with the decision to install the machine, but he said the pricing of tests should be discussed with students.

“It’s not a bad idea if the tests are free for students,” Krut said. “If they are looking to charge, I feel like students would be more

likely to not use it or even go to a Walgreens or CVS and get the rapid tests there.”

Despite believing that the vending machines would be beneficial, Krut said it could additionally spark unreported cases within the Quinnipiac community.

“I feel these kids might just take the test, find it’s positive and not tell anyone but their teachers so they can Zoom in from their dorm,” Krut said. “Most kids do not want to have to move out to quarantine and are probably kind of traumatized from the quarantine dorms last year.”

For other students, the idea of having sick individuals travel to main campus to use the machines poses a greater risk on campus.

“If they only put one on the main campus, students on York Hill are at a disadvantage,” said Victoria Lorenz, a senior graphic and interactive design major. “If they are already feeling ill, traveling to main campus can be draining and put others at risk.”

Although she is worried about the spread of cases if the PPE machines don’t expand across the campuses, Lorenz said students will have easier accessibility to testing when needed throughout the semester.

“Being able to get a test whenever you feel you may need one put everyone at peace of mind,” Lorenz said. “I think it would also relieve a lot of stress from students because they wouldn’t have to worry about providing their own tests and can give their full attention to academics.”

In addition to easing worries, Lorenz said the convenience of using the machines would aid in creating more flexibility for students’ schedules during the semester.

“In the past, to get a test you had to call the health center and wait for an appointment which could be challenging to align with your schedule,” Lorenz said. “This system would save time for both students and health center faculty.”

However, not everyone said they are not in favor of the machine being placed on campus.

Emma Conklin, a sophomore nursing major, said she believes the university could implement other testing procedures that would benefit the overall cost of testing on campus.

“I think that the school could just implement a system where the student can pick up a rapid test from Student Health Services or have it delivered to their dorm,” Conkin said. “This would probably be more cost effective in my opinion.”

Despite believing students should have access to testing, Conklin said she fears that students could abuse the PPE vending machine by taking an ample amount of kits “without thinking of the needs of other students.”

“I think that students could be greedy and take as many tests as they want without a system that monitors who the tests are being distributed to,” Conklin said. “Also, rapid tests are not extremely accurate, so having such easy accessibility to rapid tests may defer people from getting a PCR test.”

DESIGN EDITOR Amanda Riha ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITORS Peyton McKenzie Emma Kogel COPY EDITOR Aidan Sheedy THE QUINNIPIAC CHRONICLE is the proud recipient of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors’ award for College Newspaper of the Year in New England for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2015-16.

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sound on Monday. She said she finally discovered that her catalytic converter was missUpon starting her car the next morning, ing, immediately notified the university and Flaherty said she noticed the same noise filed a report with Hamden PD on Jan. 31. and went to a nearby Walmart to put oil in “I was like ‘No, that was just a silly email her car. After another failed attempt to fix we were getting last semester, that doesn’t the sound, Flaherty said she parked her car actually happen to people,’” Flaherty said. overnight at the York Hill campus over the “Sure enough, there was like a clean cut of weekend and stayed with a friend to avoid something ripped, like literally sawed off of shoveling her car out of the snow. the bottom of my car.”

Flaherty told The Chronicle that her veAs a result of not reporting the sound hicle continued to make noise and eventually immediately, it is unknown where the incihad a friend familiar with cars inspect the dent occured. However, Flaherty said she believes the theft had to occur when her car was parked in the North Lot last week.

Despite being relieved to know what the issue was, Flaherty said the incident has left her feeling uneasy.

“It shakes you up a lot,” Flaherty said. “Especially the fact that I know that someone was underneath my car with a saw.”

The most recent incident prior to the spring semester was on Oct. 5-6 PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY SHANNON FLAHERTY last year, and the perpeMany thieves use a battery-powered cutting machine or saw to trator was never idenextract a catalytic converter from a vehicle within seconds. tified. Reyes told The CATALYTIC CONVERTER from cover

“I was like ‘No, that was just a silly email we were getting last semester, that doesn’t actually happen to people.’”

– Shannon Flaherty

SENIOR MEDIA STUDIES MAJOR

Chronicle that he is confident the university will locate and prosecute those responsible.

“We haven’t had one in a little while, which is good,” Reyes said. “These tend to happen in waves.”

Reyes urges students to report any suspicious activity by calling Public Safety at 203-582-6200, or to dial 911 if there is an immediate emergency.

“If you’re driving away and you’re not sure, call us,” Reyes said. “And we can go real quickly and check. That way, we can take the report right away and also document it because times are of the essence sometimes and it’s good to find out as soon as possible.”

February 2, 2022

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

News |3

‘An insult to commuters’: Parking fee implemented after semester delay

By KATIE LANGLEY Associate News Editor

Quinnipiac University commuter students have to pay to park this semester, leaving many upset at administration.

The university implemented a $90 parking fee for commuter students on Jan. 24, after postponing its implementation for the fall 2021 semester due to negative student feedback. “​​Public Safety is patrolling all universityowned parking lots and ticketing vehicles of students who have not paid the parking fee,” said John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations. “First-year students who have brought vehicles to campus without approval from Public Safety also will be ticketed. Vehicles that are ticketed may be towed at their owner’s expense.”

Morgan said that students who do not have parking passes will be fined $40.

Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett originally announced the fee in an email to commuters in February 2021, which sparked protests and petitions as students noted the added financial strain.

Thomas Cherneskie, a junior biology major and commuter student, said that the fee is “the cost of an additional textbook for parking that isn’t even guaranteed.”

“I think the commuter parking fee is an insult to commuters,” Cherneskie said. “For most, commuting was a decision based not on the desire to commute but one based on financial need.”

Cherneskie said that the decision involves not being able to pay for both the university’s private school tuition and the added cost of living on campus. Though the new fee does not cost as much as room and board at Quinnipiac, Cherneskie said it is still a financial burden to

DANIEL PASSAPERA/CHRONICLE

Commuter students who park on campus without the proper permit will be fined $40.

those who commute to the university every day, which could push potential commuters away from coming to the university.

In Ellett’s original email, he pointed to higher GPAs and an 11% great retention rate for students who live on campus.

“We believe that living on campus can offer you a rich set of developmental opportunities that enable you to advance your personal and vocational passions and to thrive academically and interpersonally,” Ellett wrote to commuters.

However, Cherneskie said that this is not a feasible option for all.

“As commuters, we did not choose to remove ourselves from this college experience,” Cherneskie said. “In fact, simply being a commuter already makes it more difficult to partake in many activities, making it more difficult to have the same experience afforded to those who live on campus.”

Many students said they have faced difficulty finding parking in the university’s North Lot, further compounding the issue for those who live off-campus. Cherneskie said that this issue is worse for those who are forced to drive their own vehicles to campus.

“So many of the existing commuters struggle time after time to find legitimate options for parking,” Cherneskie said.

Ashleigh Perisco, a junior health science studies major, commutes to campus and said that the lack of parking availability makes the fee unacceptable. In May 2021, The Chronicle reported that there are 2,702 total parking spots between North, Hogan, Hilltop, Whitney, Westwoods and Whitney Village lots.

“I would honestly like to know what the money is going towards, and my first concern was we are paying for parking without guaranteed parking,” Perisco said. “I would be more accepting of the parking fee if I knew I wasn’t going to have to drive in circles for 30 minutes every day and potentially be late for my classes.”

Added travel time is also an issue for Rebekah Lagassie, a sophomore law in society major. She said that on top of the hour it takes her to drive to school, she often has to factor in time looking for parking in Hogan or Whitney Village lots to her daily commute because North Lot does not have spots.

“I would understand resuming the fee if it somehow improved the parking situation, but I still have yet to see any improvement in the situation,” Lagassie said.

Until parking is fixed, Lagassie said that it should be free for commuters.

When it comes to finances, Perisco said that she was able to afford the fee because she works outside of school. However, she said that this is not always the case.

“I know for others this could be an additional stressor if they don’t want to ask for parents and guardians to pay or don’t have that financial support,” Perisco said.

Perisco said she understands that the university has to raise funds, but it should also take into account students who struggle financially.

With 27% of the university’s population coming from Connecticut, Cherneskie said that the university should emphasize building a connection with those who live nearby.

“This school should be fostering a welcoming attitude toward those in the area who choose to attend, being that it is almost exclusively known as a regional university,” Cherneskie said.

However, Lagassie said many students who live near campus are left feeling unappreciated.

“Commuters get forgotten about in all sorts of ways,” Lagassie said. “We get the worst meal plan, we get terrible parking situations and we have often the farthest walks on campus. How is it fair that we have to pay to potentially not even get a parking spot or spend time circling the parking lot to try and find someone walking to their car so you can take it?”

Law students debunk human trafficking myths

By MELINA KHAN News Editor

With National Human Trafficking Prevention Month coming to a close, Quinnipiac University law students utilized the first week of the spring semester to focus on demystifying human trafficking for the community.

The School of Law’s Human Trafficking Prevention Project held its annual Human Trafficking Awareness Week beginning Jan. 24. It aimed to educate community members about human trafficking.

A variety of events were held throughout the week, including two panels co-sponsored by the Connecticut Bar Foundation and the Connecticut Bar Association and a training on spotting signs of human trafficking. The HTPP also set up educational tabling in the School of Law and hosted a trivia night on myths that are usually spread through the media regarding human trafficking.

“We make panels and we do a training all to kind of educate the legal community and the general community about what human trafficking is, because there’s a lot of myths out there,” said Kaylyn Fagan, a third-year law student and executive chair of HTPP. “So (Human Trafficking Awareness Week) acts like general education and also a little bit of myth busting, and that’s why it’s important.”

Sheila Hayre, a visiting associate professor of law and the chair of the Connecticut Bar Association’s committee on human trafficking, is HTPP’s faculty advisor. She said HTPP initially started to train hospitality workers how to identify and report the signs of trafficking.

“That’s how (HTPP) got started, but we realized that there’s a lot of misunderstanding about human trafficking more generally among the general public, and so we decided to sort of branch out and spend a week sort of getting people to come and participate in discussions,” Hayre said.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported 188 contacts made by victims or poten-

tial victims of human trafficking to their organization referencing Connecticut in 2020.

The awareness week’s inaugural event was a virtual panel discussing sex trade reform and the criminalization of prostitution. This conversation was particularly significant for HTPP, said the organization’s awareness week co-chair and third-year law student Kathleen Lima.

“We’ve been trying to do a panel about sex work for a really long time because it’s so connected to trafficking … and it’s been very contentious and it still is,” Lima said.

Erin Williamson, vice president of global programs and strategy for Love146, a nonprofit organization that works to end child trafficking and exploitation, moderated the event. Trafficking advocates Mary Speta and Kate D’Adamo spoke during the panel. Speta is the chief impact officer for Amirah, Inc., an organization that supports women who have survived prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

D’Adamo is a consultant for Reframe Health and Justice, an agency that provides social injustice harm reduction solutions.

The conversation focused on the intersection of sex work and trafficking, and the division of the subject within the field of trafficking research. Williamson said that there is general agreement among experts in the field that as it stands in the U.S., the full criminalization of prostitution is not working to eliminate or drastically reduce trafficking.

However, aside from agreeing that it should not be legalized, she said there is no consensus among experts about the extent to which prostitution should be criminalized.

In the U.S., prostitution is fully criminalized, meaning that all aspects of it is illegal, including the buying, selling, organizing or trafficking of sex. However, some other countries follow different models, including partial decriminalization, full decriminalization and full legalization of prostitution. During the panel, Speta and D’Adamo explained the implications of the different legal stances against prostitution.

DANIEL PASSAPERA/CHRONICLE

Members of Quinnipiac University’s Human Trafficking Prevention Project held informational tabling in the School of Law during its annual awareness week.

Fagan said the panel on sex trade reform was important to educate people, especially those in the legal community, about the different policy models.

“A lot of people don’t feel like they know enough about the different models of sex work reform to really have an educated opinion on what they think works best,” Fagan said. “And so, if (sex reform legislation) comes up on the table, then there’s going to be organizations that need kind of an educated opinion to advocate either for or against legislation.”

The other panel held during the week focused on labor trafficking and featured panelists who have experienced labor trafficking firsthand.

“We really wanted to place an emphasis on labor trafficking because labor trafficking is one of the things that no one talks about,” Lima said. “Labor trafficking is extremely under researched … it’s never at the forefront when you

think of trafficking and it’s one of the most prevalent that we see, even in Connecticut.”

In addition to the two panels held throughout the week, HTPP also held a training on how to detect signs of human trafficking and how to report it. The introductory training mirrored some of the same methods taught in the training the group does for hospital or hotel workers, Lima said.

Fagan said the week was particularly significant for the Quinnipiac community, both within the law circle and beyond.

“I find personally that a lot of people in our age group, that college age … there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet about what trafficking is … so I think it’s extra important that we speak to the Quinnipiac community and our demographic because we’re surrounded by I think maybe a lot more misinformation than older folks are,” Fagan said.

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T hTeh eQ Q uu i ni nnni i pp i a cc CChhr or no inc il ec l e

February 2, 2022

Opinion

NASCAR and small-town America are on a track toward obscurity

By JACK MUSCATELLO AND BENJAMIN YEARGIN

A small community sits nestled underneath the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.

It is a quaint southern community, home to just over 4,000 residents, and was founded upon the promise of American textile manufacturing and railroad shipping.

The town of North Wilkesboro is also considered the birthplace of modern stock car racing, a pastime once inherent to the American identity. It is home to a world-class speedway, a humble fan experience and an important venue on the NASCAR schedule.

Well, it used to be. The track has since been tarnished and ignored by the sport’s leadership, who decided to pack up on a whim and leave its most loyal fans behind.

The North Wilkesboro Speedway opened its gates in 1947, and held its first sanctioned NASCAR race in October 1949. But NASCAR abruptly announced that a 1996 race would be the track’s last. Young icon Jeff Gordon won in dominating fashion as cheers erupted from the stands for the final time. Shortly after the checkered flag flew, the speedway closed its doors, and overgrown weeds eventually replaced its historic charm.

With the turn of the century looming, the leaders of competition decided to search for new markets of fans. An ill-fated west coast expansion became the topic of conversation as new speedways rapidly popped up in Kansas, Texas and Las Vegas. These 1.5-mile giants promised a more streamlined and modern image for NASCAR, all but replacing the heritage of the sport’s Southern roots.

In all fairness, the small towns surrounding many of the older tracks never had the infrastructure for a national audience of fans. NASCAR’s sanctioning body believed the NFL and MLB stadium atmosphere could work much better for stock car racing, and bring the sport to an even greater level.

But they failed to recognize that as much as these small towns appeared to struggle with traffic jams, overbooked hotels and limited dining, local business owners needed these packed race weekends. NASCAR was the economic backbone of these otherwise unknown pockets of America, and it has developed a troubling pattern of abandoning them without hesitation.

Most recently, in response to the pandemic, NASCAR decided to remove the annual race at Watkins Glen International from the 2020 season. Due to the loss of expected

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tourism, lodging and general spending during its traditional August weekend, the village of Watkins Glen expected to lose over 20% of its annual revenue.

Though COVID-19 was the primary factor behind this decision, it is no coincidence that a local track was the first to be axed from the schedule.

With the general rise in tech giants, media conglomerates and information hubs in major cities, the intrigue of small towns has largely vanished. Jobs have also left these niche regions on a consistent basis, strangling the already limited economic viability of the average small-town economy.

The demise of American manufacturing in rural areas contributed to a general decrease in people looking for work. Older workers were especially inclined to leave the workforce altogether after systemic layoffs, relying instead on federal unemployment benefits for survival.

Younger workers took a different approach, as many fled the financial ruin of small villages for urban areas, opting for the influx of opportunity synonymous with bigger cities.

Due to this, roughly half of all rural counties have substantially lower populations than they did twenty years ago.

Some efforts have been made to adapt the average township into a cheap tech hub for popular companies. But recent tax incentives from state governments have done little to convince the likes of Amazon and Apple to relocate their offices out of urban

The North Wilkesboro Speedway is a husk of its former glory.

PHOTO BY JEREMY MARKOVICH

environments. Large corporations need an abundance of job availability, and the meager populations of most rural hamlets offer little return on investment.

These developments are not new, as the financial struggles throughout the South and Midwest have been apparent for decades.

Even NASCAR’s departure from small town USA is rather old news.

But what makes NASCAR’s situation a tragic one, and separate from most other companies fleeing the countryside, is that its master plan has failed.

While the NFL continues to thrive, in-person attendance at NASCAR races across the country has fallen dramatically since the year 2000. Though the Daytona 500 is still a sellout venue nearly every year, many of the new tracks within the sport’s western extension have removed seating, replacing previouslypacked sections for additional advertisements.

Television viewership has also plummeted.

On average, most races fail to surpass three to four million viewers, and it is a triumph whenever a race broadcast attracts more than seven million pairs of eyeballs. For comparison, the NFL averaged over 17 million viewers across its regular season slate in 2021, which is a new high for the sport.

In response to this, competition leaders within NASCAR have adopted a simple strategy: throw money at the problem.

The opening exhibition race for the 2022 season moved from its traditional location in Daytona Beach, Florida, to the tiny football field of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Crews paved a temporary quarter-mile oval over the 100-yard stretch of grass in December, and a bizarre concert lineup was recently planned as a supplement to the racing on display.

On traditional race weekends, it is entirely normal to see small-town communities gather together to form the best possible racing experience for fans. But this new endeavor is trying excessively hard to appeal to the largest demographic possible, and has veered far off the beaten path.

“The season-opening Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum exhibition race will get a taste of West Coast flavor in 2022,” reads an official statement from NASCAR’s website. Rapper Pitbull has been contracted to perform during a pre-race concert, and it was announced in January that Ice Cube will sing during a new mid-race “halftime” show.

NASCAR has a lot riding on this race, for better or worse. The arrival of its latest car, which has been in development for several years, promises an overhaul of the spread-out

style of racing that is synonymous with the 2010s. The new concert experience also marks a first for a sport that is no longer as ingrained in American culture as it once was.

But it is hard to shake the feeling that this elaborate scheme betrays the identity of what stock car racing is about. NASCAR, at its core, is about speed. The sport’s biggest intrigue has always been the awe of three-ton stock cars reaching 150-200 mph in mere seconds. Not the vocal talent of Pitbull or Ice Cube.

NASCAR was once indicative of a dangerous edge within America, and the desire to see drivers push their machines to the limit. Dale Earnhardt, who was immensely popular for his aggressive tactics and charismatic interviews, emerged as a top-tier talent from the unknown suburbs of Kannapolis, North Carolina. Bill Elliott set the fastest lap on record at Talladega in 1987 after successfully standing out from the tiny town square of Dawsonville, Georgia.

These drivers, among others, represented the everyman image of NASCAR talent. Dozens of the sport’s greatest talents hailed from hamlets and villages with populations under ten thousand, automatically striking a relatable chord with a large chunk of America. Their willingness to risk it all for a shorter lap-time around the sport’s toughest circuits was inspiring, and the raw, unbridled speed was a sight to behold.

Though modern safety concerns are entirely justified, with recent innovations saving the lives of countless drivers, the sport’s goal of making its racing a conglomeration of random bits of current trends does not match its heritage.

It remains to be seen if this plan will work, as the Busch Light Clash will take place Feb. 6. It may turn out to be a resounding success.

But just as NASCAR’s previous efforts have crippled under the weight of its lofty aspirations, the latest push by the sanctioning body to take advantage of modern flare will likely sink the sport further into obscurity.

If there was ever a sport that better encapsulated the humble hustle of small-town America, it was NASCAR. This makes it all the more upsetting that its current leadership is obsessed with capturing pop-culture lightning in a bottle, and developing various escapades that only bury its established character deeper underground.

Though a recent grant by the state of North Carolina shows promise for the dilapidated North Wilkesboro Speedway, and hope for its surrounding infrastructure, it would be far from a surprise if the leaders behind one of America’s most distinct competitions neglect a chance at saving a dying small town.

February 2, 2022

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Opinion|5

Opinion

Lack of blue lights risks student safety

By MICHAEL LAROCCA Associate Opinion Editor

The average walk from my dorm to a Quinnipiac Chronicle meeting in the Lender School of Business takes about seven minutes.

While walking along Bobcat Way at 9 p.m., it’s not hard to notice how ominous the road can be without any buddies beside you.

The street is dotted with a few light posts, but there are not enough to prevent the occasional pitch black space from appearing as you walk.

Personally, as a young adult male, I recognize that I have the privilege of being able to go outside at this time of night without much concern for my safety or well-being. However, I can see why this strip of road may be worrisome, especially when there are zero installed blue lights along the way.

Blue light emergency systems are a means of security, primarily used on college campuses, to give students a simple and quick way to contact campus security in the event of an emergency. They tend to come in the form of a tall, blue telephone pole, which contains a red button that can be used to call the authorities.

Walking along Bobcat Way during the night already leaves students vulnerable to potentially violent encounters under the cover of darkness, and without a quick way to contact the authorities, those chances can only increase.

While I have thankfully never needed to use the service these systems provide, nor have I ever heard of their use, their presence when in my sightline gives me a sense of calm I cannot find anywhere else.

However, at Quinnipiac, that calm can only be found at concerningly few places on campus.

During my college search, campus security seemed to be a universal priority for prospective students in my high school class, and most universities have been willing to address those concerns in proactive ways.

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICE

Students walking by one of 13 blue lights around the Mount Carmel campus.

One example that has stood out to me Chief of Public Safety Tony Reyes recently occurred during my visit to the Uni- said there are 13 blue light boxes on the versity of Maryland, College Park in April Mount Carmel campus. These include five 2019. During my tour, I remember vividly at various locations in the North Lot, five in when the tour guide said that no matter the Hogan Lot, two in between the College where you are on campus, you will never of Arts and Sciences buildings and Bobcat be out of view from one of their emergency Way, and one in the South Lot. blue light boxes. The university also has the The starkest contrast to Quinnipiac’s ofUMD Guardian mobile application that al- fering can be found only 10 miles up the road lows students to communicate with campus at Yale University. The university’s website police at all hours of the day, and includes a flaunts that it provides over 250 emergency panic function similar to the blue lights. phones across its 260-acre central campus, In an attempt to call UMD’s bluff, which happens to be only slightly larger than I went online to see how many blue light Mount Carmel’s 250-acre size. boxes they had scattered across campus, and While New Haven is a very different was amazed to find out that it was over 300. place size and safety-wise compared to HamDespite the fact that the UMD is consider- den, the approximate 19:1 ratio is still unreaably larger than Quinnipiac’s Mount Car- sonable on Quinnipiac’s end. A more fair commel campus, this amount absolutely dwarfs parison for this scenario can be seen through Quinnipiac’s offering.

Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Its campus is slightly smaller than Mount Car-

mel at 242 acres, yet it provides 32 blue lights compared to Quinnipiac’s 13.

Through the eyes of a concerned student, this amount is absolutely appalling. Recently, after the conclusion of a late class, I had to make the long walk from the Center for Communications and Engineering back to my residence hall on the opposite end of campus.

During this 10-minute walk in the near-pitch black darkness, I happened to notice that I did not see a single blue light along the way.

This stood out to me, especially while walking across the campus’ sprawling quad that wasn’t adequately lit to begin with.

Considering the staff shortage that campus security is suffering from at the moment, a lack of blue lights on campus can only be more concerning for Quinnipiac students currently living on main campus. It is even more worrying when one realizes that the few blue lights the campus does have happen to be in locations that students who live on campus rarely visit. With the budget cuts that Public Safety is facing as well, more blue light can only help the department do their jobs better in this climate.

Across the residential and academic districts of Mount Carmel, the only real checkpoint of security is the Public Safety office located at the base of Irmagarde Tator Hall. This means that in the event of an emergency, this location is your best bet for safety.

In no way am I calling Mount Carmel an unsafe place to live as a student, I am just someone who would love to see it be even safer. College should be a place where everyone can live their lives to the fullest without any worry for their safety, indoors and outdoors.

As a student body, we should feel thankful that there were not any major safety emergencies on Mount Carmel campus this past fall because in the simplest terms, the lack of blue lights is a tragedy waiting to happen.

378 days in office, zero progress made

By XAVIER CULLEN Opinion Editor

Tens of millions of people took a collective sigh of relief as the results slowly came in that President Donald Trump would be denied a second term. One of the most tumultuous and tense times in recent history was put to a stop — or so we hoped.

Newly-elected President Joe Biden told voters he would be one of the most progressive presidents in U.S. history. But what we got instead was a president who has broken

nearly all of his campaign promises.

Since Biden took office, America has seen the highest deaths per day since winter 2021. States are lifting mask mandates, employers are forcing workers back to their unsafe jobs and stores are artificially inflating prices for necessary goods. Is this what “under control” looks like?

How about Biden’s promise to cancel student loan debt for the millions of borrowers in the United States? So far, he has put a moratorium on payments until at least May 1, 2022, and has canceled $15 billion of loans. But that

PHOTO FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

President Joe Biden currently holds a 41.7% approval rating, 1.8 points higher than former President Donald Trump had on Jan. 31, 2018, according to FiveThiryEight.

moratorium will end soon, and what has been canceled so far is less than 1% of the $1.7 trillion of national student loan debt.

To say that this doesn’t even scratch the surface would be a gross understatement.

Or how about Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ promise to decriminalize marijuana? Well, if you hadn’t followed the election before votes were cast, you would have never known that this was a key campaign issue. Criminal reform was one of Kamala Harris’ most harped-on topics, as she claimed to be a staunch supporter of decriminalization.

But nothing has been done.

Let’s also not forget Biden’s promise of ending “forever wars” in the Middle East and following through by pulling our troops out in the worst, least-coordinated way possible. Now, troops are on standby to potentially be deployed in Ukraine. Not a single campaign promise has gone as planned.

Where is the accountability? Why aren’t we giving Biden and Harris the same scrutiny we gave Trump? Just because they don’t go on unhinged Twitter rants or have blatantly shady colleagues doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to their failures.

The absurdity of Trump’s four years have made us numb to discreet corruption.

Instead of perjuring themselves for millions of followers to see, Biden and Harris are keeping up a facade of stability. In reality, we are living in one of the worst times for COVID-19, the economy, jobs and housing.

Biden’s defenders will point toward adversaries such as senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema, as well as congressional Re-

publicans, as reasons why the president’s legislation isn’t getting through. But I think that makes Biden’s failures even worse. Instead of attempting to circumvent traditional legislative routes like Trump did, Biden promised he could reason with the unreasonable. He tried to make an ally out of the enemy.

This failed attempt at bipartisanship was doomed from the start. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are propped up by their corporate donors, so faltering from the beliefs of their backers would be a death sentence for them. Morals don’t outweigh money.

As we reflect on the failed first year of the Biden administration, ask yourself: Is life better now than it was five years ago?

Have we improved as a country since before Trump took over? The U.S. is still funding foreign wars, finding a job is nearly impossible, the federal minimum wage hasn’t changed, COVID-19 has come back in full force, the housing market is unattainable to first-time buyers and states are swiftly taking away human rights.

Biden has a clear path to recovery if he simply follows through with what the people voted him in for. The looming Russia-Ukraine tensions and the opportunity to elect a new Supreme Court judge could provide Biden with enough public support to make a Bill Clinton-like resurgence in approval. But I’ll wait to see those changes for myself, if they ever come at all.

“Not the worst” is not good enough for the most powerful person in the world, but if Biden continues down this trajectory, he might end up reaching rock bottom.

6|Feature

February 2, 2022

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

'I Wish I Never Played Hockey'

Former QU men's hockey player reveals lifethreatening effects of ‘intoxicating’ smashmouth culture that has left him searching for answers This article is part one of a two-part series exploring the risks involved in contact sports and the dangers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

By RILEY MILLETTE Sports Editor

Masculinity is forever ingrained in American sports.

Remember the days when a hockey player would slam their helmet into a sheet of Plexiglass after a huge hit?

They would say, “I’m fine, coach.” Or the medical staff would say, “he’s fine, coach,” when that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The repercussions of the rockstar playstyle has caught up to former athletes. Players who were uneducated on the true peril of concussions are suffering today: pain, mental illness, addiction, suicide.

Neil Breen was a star. He played hockey for the Omaha Lancers, a junior league team in the USHL. The stadium was sold out every night he played there — he estimated about 7,000 fans. He called it “addictive” and “intoxicating.”

Neil was a small player, only 5 feet, 7 inches and around 190 lbs during his playing days. During his first game as a Lancer, he fought a mountainous 6-foot-4-inch man on the other team. He wasn't afraid of anyone. That was his style.

Have you ever almost passed out? You're almost hanging upside down, and then you stand up really quick, and you get like this tingly kind of white fuzz? That happened all the time, when you made a really, really hard collision” - Neil Breen Former QU hockey player “I think I won, I don't remember, it was a long fight,” Neil said. “But I remember after that game, I couldn't hear for like three days. I couldn't hear a thing. It was like my eardrums were damaged. It was so loud in that building.”

Neil later played hockey for the Quinnipiac Bobcats from 1998-2002. As a smaller player, he had to make up for his lack of size by being a “knuckle-dragger,” as he referred to himself.

He was the tough guy of tough guys, captain of the team in his senior year. He made his career by flying around, making hits and being the bad boy. But it came at a price.

Neil sustained concussion after concussion, almost all of which were left untreated. Hundreds of hits to the head, he estimates. He now regularly suffers from severe anxiety and an uncontrollable temper. Though he’s been sober for close to three years, he’s struggled with alcoholism in the past.

Now convinced he has CTE, he knows what caused crippling damage to his head.

“We were supposed to do this fitness thing on the road, people were gonna follow us on YouTube and see how joyful it was to get stuck in a tin fucking can,” Heather said.

But Neil being cooped up in a confined space with his family wasn’t the answer to solving his mental health problems.

It was almost the end of his and Heather’s marriage.

“Well, obviously, we didn't make one video because it wasn't fun,”Heather said. “He's driving and he's pulling a 32foot trailer behind us, we had kids screaming and this and that, like it didn't help. It didn't help his mindset at all. I didn't think we were gonna make it.”

Heather fought through tears as she explained, in front of her husband, why she thought their marriage might not have lasted. They met when Neil was playing for Omaha, and Heather was a bartender. Their attraction blossomed through Neil’s presence on the local hockey team, and led to marriage which has lasted five years and is still going.

“Neil was the bad boy of the team, he fought a lot so he had his big fan section,” Heather said. “And I actually thought he was an asshole. He still is an asshole, I just married him now.”

Heather’s wisecracks are an important part of their connection. She described herself more than once as a “smartass.” She likes poking fun at Neil, and he likes giving it right back to her. That was their thing for a long time while they were dating and during part of their marriage.

But when his symptoms reached their peak around the time of their move to Florida, the playfulness in their marriage evaporated.

“I say something smartass thinking I'm being funny, and it pissed him off or hurt his feelings or something and then he just flipped and he just screamed,” Heather said. “So for me to have to like, step back and walk on eggshells, it kind of feels like I'm put…”

“It's like…” Neil, who was sitting beside her, interjected.

“This is my interview,” Heather playfully snapped back.

The interruption from her husband gave her a moment to regroup, as it was emotional for her to describe how serious Neil’s illnesses were. It was a real-time example of the connection that made them a match in the first place.

Heather used her humor to take a step away from her emotions, and while she laughed, just for a second or two, Neil made eye contact with her through the tears in her eyes.

Through the blurriness, Heather looked back at him.

He couldn’t quit the thrill of thousands of fans erupting after every goal, every hit, every fight.

“That's America, man. America wants blood, death and pain … and people are dying later behind the scenes,” Neil said.

Neil’s affliction made his everyday life a struggle that he had to find ways to navigate. Formerly a Connecticut resident that recently moved to Florida, he and his wife, Heather, lived out of a UHaul trailer for a short time.

After selling their Connecticut residence and before making their way to the Sunshine State, they took a detour to Nebraska to see Heather’s family, then eventually bought a house in Florida to complete the two-month road trip. They tried to make the best of it, turning it into a fun family expedition.

CONTRIBUTED BY NEIL BREEN

Former Quinnipiac hockey captain Neil Breen (left) sustained countless hits to the head that devastated his mental health.

57%

43%

In an anonymous survery of 70 UPenn college athletes, 30 said they have hidden concussion symptoms to continue playing

Neil played for the Quinnipiac Bobcats from 1998-2002.

He flew around for loose pucks and made headfirst hits — the dirty work few players want to take on. When he came off the ice for a line shift, the trainer would pull him aside after seeing him wobble to his spot on the bench.

He did whatever he had to do to get back on the ice.

“The mentality was, ‘Hey, Breener, how many fingers am I holding up?’” Neil said. “And I'll be like, ‘I don't know, I can't see that far anymore.’ ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’ I'll be like, ‘One, fuck you.’ And that’s funny right, like we laugh at that, but that’s literally how it was.”

Neil knew he took too many high hits without taking the proper precautions, and that the old-fashioned “finger test” was probably not enough. But his reason for keeping his injuries to himself was bigger than just wanting to play more minutes.

He was living his dream. As a small player, he knew playing professionally in a serious capacity was out of his reach. Playing NCAA hockey was his ultimate goal, second only to getting his tuition paid for. It placed Neil in a difficult situation when he skirted through the Swiss cheese concussion protocols.

“I knew that shit wasn't right,” Neil said about the concussion protocol. “But I'm in the place that I've been trying to get to since I was four years old. So I'm not saying shit, I'm not gonna talk to the trainer. Like, hell no, my parents can't pay for college.

Various people have been like, ‘Dude, you probably shouldn't play hockey anymore if you've had that many concussions, right?’ But when you're a player that is getting their college paid for and you're surviving, you're chasing your dream, you don't hear any of that.”

Huge strides have been made in recent years regarding the treatments of head injuries and concussions since the days of the “finger test,” which is now used more as a comedy bit than a medical examination. Dr. Robert Cantu, medical director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, has focused on concussion diagnoses in football and has found that hundreds of thousands of other athletes also misrepresent their concussion status.

“60% of (football players) said after the season, where there was no playing time involved and no coach had to hear what they said, ‘Yeah, I've had that during the season,’” Cantu said.

“And a number of them said, ‘We've actually had that multiple times.’ The concussion rate for football at that time was around 5%. Clearly, the overwhelming majority of concussions were being missed.”

The new wave of concussion awareness challenged the ageold culture of being tough and staying out on the ice no matter what. Cantu said the average football player takes 800 hits to the head every season. Even though there are less direct headto-head hits in hockey, the hits are at a much higher velocity.

February 2, 2022

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Feature|7

DESIGN BY CONNOR LAWLESS/PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY NEIL BREEN/BRAIN IMAGES FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

To make it to the NHL, you gotta be tough, you gotta play hard, and I had to coach that way for 20 years. I had to instill in my players that you had to play physical, you got to bang, you got to smash. And I want to take all of that back. It’s like this vicious cycle that you can’t escape.”

- Neil Breen Former QU men's hockey player But Neil’s career came before that awakening. Even though he said the athletic trainers took concussions seriously, there wasn’t a heightened emphasis on them like there is now.

As a result, he became more familiar with the sensation of a concussion, thanks to fight after fight, hit after hit.

“Have you ever almost passed out?” Neil said. “You're almost hanging upside down, and then you stand up really quick, and you get like this tingly kind of white fuzz?

That happened all the time, when you made a really, really hard collision.”

The damage done to his brain has left a catastrophe behind.

Crippling anxiety is a regular part of Neil’s life, even to the point where he can’t go inside a hockey rink. He had to give up coaching, a job he held in the USHL and NAHL, because he would “freeze up” every time he went near the ice.

His specific case was unique because he tried a flurry of different medications, and he said none of them worked. This happens to many others as well, but it put a stress on him and Heather. It frustrated her not knowing why Neil wouldn’t take his medication, because on the outside, she said it looked like they helped him.

But this was before Heather knew everything about her husband’s mental health. She didn’t know that even though the medication may have put on the illusion that they were working, his mind was still wracked with anxiety.

“To me, that doesn't make sense,” Heather said. “It's like, just don't be an asshole, just take the pill, you know? Because it worked from my point of view, because it calmed him down.

But I didn't know he's fighting demons in his head."

Since he kept his health issues to himself, she was left on the outside, wondering why he wouldn’t take something that she thought would help. But that’s part of what made Neil’s case so impactful. Wherever he turned, there was no help.

Every therapy session, every medication, every possible avenue was a dead end.

“We've had those discussions so many times, like, ‘Well, maybe you're bipolar, and so let's just up his dose of Zoloft, or you name it. Sertraline, or whatever,’” Neil said. “So, I've gone through all of that, and it's all garbage, man. I can't afford half the treatment that they want me to do now. And it’s rough, man.

It’s rough on my family.”

Neil was the enforcer when he played in college and junior hockey. Back then, it was a job that needed to be done.

He obliged. Having the insight now on the damage players are doing to their bodies, it’s impossible for Neil to forget.

Seattle Kraken forward Mason Appleton, whom Neil coached during his time with the Tri-City Storm, was a recipient of that type of coaching.

“Breener taught me what it was like to play the game the right way,” Appleton said in a written testimonial for Neil’s business, Athletes and Coaches United. “He preached honest, two-way, hard nose hockey. The type of hockey that wins in the postseason.”

Appleton, standing at 6 feet, 3 inches, has the size that Neil never had. Formerly a Winnipeg Jet, Appleton was selected by the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. The knowledge he learned from Neil was a major reason Appleton’s NHL career continues to trend upward, and nhl.com analyst Dan Rosen noticed that trait.

The brain on the left is a sample of a healthy brain.

The shrunken, damaged brain on the right is from someone diagnosed with CTE post-mortem.

“The Kraken clearly want forwards who are smart, physical, fearless, hard to play against, versatile and have offensive upside,” Rosen said.

“Physical” and “fearless.” Sounds familiar.

That’s how Neil taught his players. He wanted to impart in them the trait that made him successful during his playing days.

“To make it to the NHL, you gotta be tough, you gotta play hard,” Neil said. “And I had to coach that way for 20 years. I had to instill in my players that you had to play physical, you got to bang, you got to smash. And I want to take all of that back. It’s like this vicious cycle that you can’t escape.”

Concussions and CTE are now at the forefront of the injury conversation, and have been for a number of years. There have been plenty of stories of lawsuits and suicides of former players over the past half-century detailing how sports leagues needed to address the issue.

Even though concussion protocols were strengthened, medical science can’t solve the chief issue that leads to concussions: culture. Players from every sport have fallen victim to the agony of CTE and other mental illnesses resulting from head injuries, only because they didn’t speak up about it.

Neil Breen was an enforcer. There was no doubt about it. It takes some serious grit to fight a player nine inches taller than you on your very first night as a junior hockey player. He was tasked with being the junkyard dog of the team, meaning he had to be tough on the ice. But the lines get blurred between toughness on the ice and toughness off it.

At what point is it no longer tough to deny having concussion symptoms to trainers? Or to knowingly play through concussions? Or to refuse treatment for a head injury for a fear of losing playing time, just because you’re supposed to be the “tough guy?”

“The enforcers were shown to have a higher likelihood for CTE than people who just played the sport in a skill manner, say a Wayne Gretzky or something like that,” Cantu said.

College hockey was the light in Neil’s life. Once he was done living out his dream, he remained involved in the game through coaching. It was a pillar of his personality.

Now the light in his life is his family, who he said has “saved his life.” His wife Heather, his two children Jesse and Seamus and his chocolate lab-Weimaraner mix Howie are providing a solid foundation for the rest of his life.

But his love of hockey almost got in the way of all of that.

Neil’s mental health struggles have changed him completely.

The guy who many saw as the nasty, hard-as-nails type has entirely shifted his priorities. Instead of the guy who would be at the very bottom of the scrum, Neil is now the guy who questions the very idea of contact in hockey.

Neil uses his story as a cautionary tale. If he could go back, he would do a lot of things differently. His anxiety, his depression, his short temper are all results of his relentless style. Now almost 20 years removed from the end of his college career, his reflection of his former glory days offers insight into one of the most prevalent issues in all of sports.

“Mistakes were made and they're still being made,” Neil said. “I'm fresh off of being a coach in junior hockey and the idea of contact and taking that out of the sport, you get laughed at for doing that. And now I wish I never played hockey.”

8|Arts and Life

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

February 2, 2022

SPB takes a trip to Hogwarts

By ASHLEY PELLETIER AND TOYLOY BROWN III

The first week back from winter break can be a drag for even the most dedicated student. With a week of “Harry Potter”-themed events, the Student Programming Board welcomed every witch and wizard in the Quinnipiac University community back to campus.

Jaylene Guerra, a sophomore marketing major and SPB’s marketing chair, said that the SPB e-board knew right away that “Harry Potter” was the perfect theme for the week.

“If I recall correctly, there actually weren’t ever any other plans,” Guerra said. “The brainstorming process had just begun, and we stuck with our first thought.”

In the past few years, J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, has come under fire for inflammatory comments against transgender women. However, Guerra said she thinks “Harry Potter” has grown beyond its origins.

“I think as a whole since “Harry Potter” has such a wellestablished community of fans, most people have separated the art from the author,” Guerra said.

The first event of the week was “Accio Energy,” a pickup event where students could go to the SPB suite in the Carl Hansen Student Center and pick up energy drinks and other sugar-filled elixirs.

On Tuesday, SPB’s weekly trivia game had questions about “Harry Potter” and prizes that related to the series.

Wednesday night, students had the opportunity to make their own wands, bookmarks and “remembralls,” a gift that character Neville Longbottom receives in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

The highlight of the week was “Crucio Comedy Night” on Jan. 27, featuring comedian Feraz Ozel at On The Rocks.

SPB gave a couple of lucky attendees prizes such as a “Harry Potter” Lego set and a blanket.

Ozel, who is based in California, came to Quinnipiac to bring his sense of humor to a place he had never been to and acknowledged the respect he was given by his audience.

“I like bringing laughs to different areas," Ozel said.

“Everybody was attentive and listening … but one thing I really appreciated was, everybody (not paying attention) had the common decency to be like ‘we’re not trying to listen to this guy’ and leave.”

Tamara Anderson, a third-year in the MAT program, attended the show with friends and was happy she saw something new at Quinnipiac.

“I think it was good to bring (comedy) to the community and allow (us) to see something different that we haven't had in a while,” Anderson said.

Paige Pezzella, SPB’s vice president of membership and a sophomore English and media studies double major, booked the comedy event in October when she attended

the National Association for Campus Activities conference in Hartford. At NACA, she saw Ozel perform his comedy routine.

“I just thought that he seemed like a really down-to-earth guy, but also, I really enjoyed his jokes and I thought that he would just be a great person to have at the school,” Pezzella said.

Ozel is an Afghani-Pakistani American and some of his material is related to his race and how others perceive his background based on his appearance. He said he’s been told he looks like a terrorist and has been assumed to be Mexican, likely due to what he described as his “El Chapoesque” mustache.

“What stood out to me was that he was able to provide a bit of comic relief to everyday things we might see, such as racial profiling,” said Deja Banner, a junior behavioral CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE neuroscience major. “Just like how California-based comedian Feraz Ozel performed his stand-up at Quinnipiac's he could divert that and use that as a On The Rocks Bar. joke, I thought that was pretty cool.”

“He was telling it from his own story, his own perspective Ozel intentionally designed his comedy routine to fit a and just communicating his own lived experiences naturally,” crowd of mostly college students and was told by SPB that Ciampanelli said. he could do some risqué material.

The last event of the week was a QU classic — bingo.

“I cater it a bit to the college audience,” Ozel said. “I was Bingo is consistently one of SPB’s most popular events, told that you guys can handle a little more edgy stuff than but because of the snowstorm that started on Friday night, other colleges.” attendance was lower than usual.

Ozel joked about his experimentation with drugs with Sasha Karzhevsky, a first-year undeclared communications his friends and his time studying abroad in Spain while in major, said that the weather was one of the reasons she decided college. He also impersonated the artist Eminem’s rapping to spend the night playing bingo. To her, fewer people going style and fielded topic suggestions on what his freestyle raps meant a higher likelihood of winning a prize. should be about. “‘It’s a Friday night, the snow is coming so I’m not going “I’ve never heard a comedian ever mimic a rapper or out,’” Karzhevsky said. “I also really like bingo.” somebody like that and to be honest it was pretty good,” However, the cafe still was buzzing with magic as Anderson said. students vied to win prizes, including box sets of the “Harry Mackenzie Orlov, SPB’s late night chair and first-year Potter” books and movies, AirPods and a Yogibo bean bag physical therapy major, said that the event went well and chair. complimented Ozel’s ability to engage the audience.

While e-board members like Pezzella planned the “Overall, the event was definitely a really big success, the logistics for their individual events, Guerra and SPB people who did come seem to really enjoy his jokes,” Orlov President Shannon Flaherty were the heart of the theme. said. “He did a really good job at kind of getting the audience “Most of the events were created by (Flaherty) and me involved in asking questions, and making sure that the jokes he during the (NACA) conference,” Guerra said. “Once all was making were things that people our age could relate to.” the other e-board members were given a day and event to SGA President Nick Ciampanelli appreciated that Ozel’s oversee, everything was given its own flair by them.” stand-up routine was heavily influenced by his own life.

A unique Sundance experience

By AIDAN SHEEDY Copy Editor

Just 16 days before departure, a Quinnipiac Film Society tradition nearly came to a grinding halt as the Sundance Film Festival announced for the second consecutive year, in-person screenings of its annual lustrous event would be unavailable.

“It was devastating,” said Jamie Manley, QFS vice president. “But we always had a plan B.” Manley, a third-year in the 3+1 film, television and media arts program, began to plan this trip in 2020 with QFS president and fellow third-year 3+1 film, television and media arts major Ben Labadia. Since then, the student organization has hosted several fundraisers to support the cost of airfare, housing and tickets. In total, it raised about $200 in total from events like a screening of the 2009 slasher film “Jennifer’s Body” and a Venmo donation campaign.

“We had no SGA funding for the trip,” Manley said.

“Fortunately, many students were able to buy individual tickets.”

The trip itself lasted six days, from Jan. 21-26. With the festival located in breathtaking Park City, Utah, students were able to stay together in a rented three-floor house equipped with a large common area and renovated kitchen.

“Once we got there, everything that had happened before with COVID and planning it all made it all so worth it,” Manley said.

Many of the students have not been to the festival yet because of last year’s unexpected circumstances that led to the festival going entirely virtual. Unfortunately, not all 45 applicants were accepted to attend; the official list included 23 QFS members.

“It did not feel real being there,” said Mason Glod, a sophomore media studies major. “It feels like you are living in a Hallmark movie.”

The crew was able to view about 15 films in those six days.

The most popular film among the group was Cooper Raiff’s “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” which was recently purchased for $15 million in a deal with Apple. Yet, the overall feeling of the films was a shared one.

“The main theme was about women taking control,” Manley said. “It was nice to sit down and relate films to the real world, and even though we could not take everybody, I am glad we were able to bring something back.”

Of course, there was an educational component to the excursion. As one can only imagine what a jam-packed room full of film majors would do, after each viewing, the group would gather around to discuss, analyze and criticize the latest premiere.

“It was the perfect balance of educational,” Glod said. “It was just so much fun.”

Aside from watching movies all day, the majority of students set out to explore the area. “If we were not watching movies, we were out in Park City,” Glod said.

Park City, a quaint and picturesque town located in northern Utah, is engulfed by the Wasatch mountain range. The main street features the expected upscale restaurants, boutiques, cafes and countless tourist attractions. The surrounding area offered more adventurous activities for the students, such as skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and snow tubing.

Glod reflected on the exclusive experience no other student organization was able to have.

“I’m so grateful for Ben and Jamie. I want to go to Sundance every year now,” Glod said.

Manley was just as grateful for this experience that almost never came to fruition.

“Aside from the films, you’re able to bond. We became one big family,” Manley said. “Despite (COVID-19), we were able to get out there and make an impact on so many students.”

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY COLIN GOSSELIN

The Egyptian Theatre, nestled in downtown Park City, was unable to screen and host the festival for the second year in a row.

February 2, 2022

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Arts and Life|9

Cooking competitions satisfy reality TV cravings

By NEHA SEENARINE

Associate Arts & Life Editor

Move over Kris Jenner, the marketing strategies for your children are no match for competitive cooking shows.

On the surface, reality TV is Kim Kardashian West and unrelatable controversies surrounding her family on the internet. However, the genre is not limited to cameras following around rich people. There is a reality television show for anything that caters your niche interests from “House Hunters” to “American Idol.” You couldn’t spot me talking about “Pawn Stars” on a date.

There are similar strategies among reality television shows such as manipulative editing and cherry-picked quotes in confessionals. The big idea is to have audiences tune in for the chaos between characters, keeping the fuel throughout the season. The formula of reality television works like a charm every time.

“I find myself frustrated by the same copycat ideas repeated again and again,” TV producer Richard Drew wrote for The Atlantic. “People always criticize reality shows for being meanspirited, but trust me there's nothing more boring than watching people sunbathing, enjoying dinner, or shopping. Reality has to be dramatic and high-stakes — and there are only so many ways to push people's buttons.”

Reality television shows can be associated with “trash entertainment.” I’ve seen the majority of “The Simple Life” and as much as I love Paris Hilton, it rotted my brain.

However, the cooking competition subgenre is far more intriguing. I have never felt more stressed than watching a contestant on “Chopped” have no idea what to do with their random basket items. Aside from my heart rate going up watching the competition timer go down, these cooking shows are an easy watch.

At any time, I can tune into “Guy’s Grocery Games” without any prior knowledge because the rules are explained in every episode.

Cooking competitions are the most relatable to viewers

out of all reality television. The most common factor is we all have to eat. I couldn’t imagine Tyra Banks bullying me for my unruly eyebrows on “America’s Next Top Model.”

However, if I overcooked lamb chops, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was upset with my poor performance.

The one cooking competition host I cannot get enough of is chef Gordon Ramsay.

His persona is not boring, to say the least. His patience is limited, but he offers his cooking expertise in any way he can. He’s portrayed to be crude or a guy you would never want to play “Monopoly” with.

Ramsay being called a jerk is inaccurate. Sometimes people have it coming; if you had a disgusting restaurant in “Kitchen Nightmares,” I’d curse you out too. In reality, you can’t be a Michelin star chef and expect people to respect you in the restaurant industry if you’re impolite.

In “MasterChef Junior,” he encourages the young chefs to improve when they make mistakes. If Ramsay was mean to the children, I’m sure we wouldn’t be hearing much of him in entertainment anymore. There are also times when contestants get eliminated, and Ramsay offers scholarships to culinary schools. In 2017, he offered finalist Gabriel Lewis in season eight of “MasterChef” tuition assistance to continue his culinary journey.

Ramsay is basically the LinkedIn of the culinary world. He welcomes other chefs to be judges in “MasterChef” and “Next Level Chef” from American cuisine connoisseur, chef Richard Blais to pastry queen, chef Christina Tosi. It is interesting to watch chefs across the board critique a dish whether it’s as simple as macaroni and cheese or as complex as soufflé.

I know I won’t attempt to recreate any dishes, but watching someone cook with a lot of passion is top-tier entertainment. "'Catfish” could never give me the same adrenaline as Ramsey screaming at contestants on "Hell's Kitchen.”

ILLUSTRATION BY PEYTON MCKENZIE

Me, myself and solitude Appreciating the importance of being alone

By DAVID MATOS

Associate Arts & Life Editor

Cut the chit-chat and focus on the most important person in your life — you.

The everyday person often fears the thought of being alone. Being perceived to be lame, lonely or even — in more extreme cases— a menace to society is a legitimate concern to the average person. Some people have no clue what to do with themselves when they’re not in the company of others, and more are hesitant to be left alone with their own thoughts. Humans are social creatures, so it’s completely normal to crave the gratification of being surrounded by your peers. However, allowing yourself to take a step back from society can be a good thing.

According to an article in The Atlantic, Jack Fong, a sociologist who studied solitude said, “When people take these moments to explore their solitude, not only will they be forced to confront who they are, they just might learn a little bit about how to outmaneuver some of the toxicity that surrounds them in a social setting.”

We often force ourselves into a prescribed box crowded with societal norms and expectations when we’re in the company of others. Being around people often means playing a part to fit into whatever social situation we find ourselves in. Take, for example, when you’re in a job interview — you might find yourself talking in a unique professional tone of voice, sitting in a more upright position with your ankles crossed, spewing strategic answers to the interviewer’s questions in hopes of landing the job.

If you’re in a social gathering full of new people around your age, you might act completely differently than if you were surrounded by family or friends. We are all guilty of putting on a particular mask to better adapt to the environment we’re in. It’s not until we’re alone that we can remove our imaginary mask, and set our truest form free.

Letting loose without the natural fear of judgment is one of the most rewarding experiences a person can have.

Sometimes, I want to eat my ribs messily and not have to worry about the excess barbecue sauce that has escaped my mouth. Other times, I want to release my inner Gibby from “iCarly” and walk around unapologetically without a shirt.

Everyone has personal needs, and some of those needs simply cannot be fulfilled within the presence of your peers. It’s a separate issue in itself, but we all fear being embarrassed or judged by others, and until society can remedy itself in that regard, expressing yourself to your fullest capacity might

stay confined to a detached environment.

How everyone chooses to spend their alone time can differ from person to person. I personally like to pick an old television series and binge watch it from beginning to end. Some people choose to spend their alone time meditating, listening to music or working out. Being by yourself might even be a great time to explore your creativity. I’m not the greatest artist, but sometimes I like to just doodle in a notebook to pass the time. Writing my thoughts into a journal to release some buried feelings can also be extremely healing.

Even doing absolutely nothing, unrestrained from everyday social cues, can lead you down an enlightening path. I’ve personally had my biggest epiphanies when I’m left with nothing but my own thoughts at night in bed or even the shower. Having the time to focus and reflect on nothing else but yourself can help you explore your own passions and desires in life without the interference of your peers.

Most of us desire that eureka moment when we finally find what we’ve been searching for in life, and having time put aside for reflection can be the best way to reach it. Aside from soul searching, being by yourself can also be a great opportunity to recharge your social battery.

From my own personal experience as a long-time introvert, having quality alone time during the day is quite reenergizing. I value the 30-minute break during my eighthour shift at work as I spend that time isolated. Time away from the demanding social environment of my retail job allows me to better perform during the remainder of my shift when I clock back in. Talking can be exhausting sometimes.

Though it might come more naturally to some, coming up with the right things to say can be overwhelming. We all deserve to relax those vocal cords and prepare for the next round of conversations on the battlefield.

We also tend to perform better when we’re isolated. A study by the University of Calgary claims that workers are more efficient at completing their tasks when they’re left secluded. Being free of social stimulation when you’re completing any responsibility is a great method to execute any activity to its fullest potential. When I was training for my cashier position at my retail job, I found my performance improved when I was left to my own devices in contrast to when another associate was peeping over my shoulder the whole time.

ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA RIHA

However, doing too much of anything is unhealthy, especially taking too much time for yourself. Keeping yourself away from others for extreme amounts of time can cause you to unlearn any social skills you’ve previously developed, making functioning in a society that requires human interaction so much more difficult. Reflecting on your personal problems by your lonesome is important, but tackling them head-on is even more so. In order to fully commit to self care, balancing your social time and private time is essential for a healthy mind.

Being alone is not an easy task. We are all guilty of wanting that gratification of social interaction, especially coming out of a time when we were completely isolated in earlier lockdown precautions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and there’s no shame in that. However, there’s no need to feel liable for just wanting to be alone from time to time. Plan a movie date with yourself, blast some music and paint or take a longer route on your way home from work one day. There’s no one way to have me-time, but you’re the one person in your life that deserves the attention that only you can provide.

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

10|Sports

Scores & Schedule

February 2, 2022

Pecknold: ‘I’m in the trenches, and I see the growth in it ... Kids are coming (to the tournament) with their parents’

Wednesday 1/26

MIH won 6-0 @ Princeton

Thursday 1/27

WBB won 62-53 @ Canisius

Friday 1/28

WIH lost 4-3 OT vs. Colgate MBB won 94-87 vs. Marist WIT&F Great Dane Invitational (No team results)

Saturday 1/29

WBB won 85-79 @ Niagara MIH won 3-2 OT vs. Sacred Heart (CT Ice)

Sunday 1/30

WIH won 3-0 vs. Cornell MTEN lost 7-0 vs. Army MBB lost 85-76 @ Siena MIH won 2-0 vs. UConn (CT Ice)

AIDAN SHEEDY/CHRONICLE

Freshman goaltender Yaniv Perets clinched the program record for most single-season shutouts (nine) after a 2-0 win over UConn.

CT ICE from Page 12

CT Ice looks to inspire the younger generation – Cameron Levasseur

JAN. 30

PEYTON MCKENZIE/CHRONICLE

Upcoming Thursday 2/3

When you think of hockey, Canada is likely the first country that comes to mind, but over the past decade or so, there have been major strides made in the sport’s popularization here in the U.S. Prior to the start of the pandemic, youth hockey participation in the state of Connecticut had been steadily on the rise for three years straight. Of course, the past two years have caused a significant decline in that aspect, but events like this past weekend’s Connecticut Ice tournament are trying to turn the tide once more.

“I was a young Connecticut hockey player, and I know what it’s like to go watch college games,” Sacred Heart head coach C.J. Marottolo said in a pretournament press conference. “I used to go watch the Yale games every time I could and that inspired me, that made me love the game of hockey. It made me

want to be a college hockey player.”

This is an opportunity to showcase the wealth of hockey talent held by the state’s four Division I schools, something that Yale head coach Keith Allain believes needs to have more limelight.

“I think youth hockey players don’t get to watch enough college hockey,” Yale head coach Keith Allain said.

“They don’t get to see how exciting it is. They don’t get to see the pageantry … (so) when they look at the rosters and see that there are Connecticut players on all of our rosters, I think it’s a ‘well if they can do it, maybe I can do it as well.’”

That thought process has been behind the surge of youth participation in nontraditional hockey markets around the US. The rise of NHL players such as Auston Matthews, an Arizona native, as well as Jack and Quinn Hughes, who hail from central Florida, have enthralled and inspired young sports fans with their speed and skill.

The success of professional teams also has also served to boost participation. After the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, the state of Missouri saw a 28.2% increase in USA

Hockey memberships in the eight and under age group.

Marottolo, a North Haven native, hopes this tournament will, on a smaller scale, have the same positive effect on young players in the area.

“I think the youth teams that come and watch us play are going to gravitate towards our sport and give them a goal to hopefully reach one of our schools in the future,” Marottolo said.

With two kids in local youth programs, Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold has a strong grasp on how the success of these college teams is beneficial to the younger generation.

“I’ve got an 05’ that started with the Riverhawks and Mid Fairfield. I’ve got a 13’ that started with the Wonderland Wizards and now Mid Fairfield. So I’m in it,” Pecknold said. “I’m in the trenches, and I see the growth in it …

I’m getting texts and emails, all those kids are coming (to the tournament) with their parents.”

With the popularity of the tournament in its short lifespan, Pecknold hopes it will prosper far into the future.

“I think it’s fantastic for our state,” Pecknold said. “I know it’s only year

WBB vs. Marist 6 p.m.

Friday 2/4

WIT&F New England Championships MTEN vs. Saint Michael’s 12:30 p.m.

WIH @ Clarkson 6 p.m.

MIH vs. Union 7 p.m.

MBB @ Saint Peter’s 7 p.m.

Saturday 2/5 WIT&F New England Championships ACRO vs. Gannon vs. East Stroudsberg 1 p.m.

WBB @ Monmouth 2 p.m.

WIH @ St. Lawrence 3 p.m.

MTEN @ Fordham 4 p.m.

WTEN vs. URI 6 p.m.

MIH vs RPI 7 p.m.

Sunday 2/6

MBB vs. Monmouth 2 p.m.

WIH @ St. Lawrence 2 p.m.

Monday 2/7

WBB vs. Canisius 1 p.m.

AIDAN SHEEDY/CHRONICLE

Senior forward Desi Burgart scored the game-winning goal against UConn on Sunday to secure the Connecticut Ice championship.

February 2, 2022

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

Sports|11

Amani Free’s growth, 11 years after her ‘Lady Kobe’ mixtape How Free’s admiration for the ‘Mamba Mentality’ has guided her

By TOYLOY BROWN III Managing Editor

To understand who senior guard Amani Free is, one has to start with her favorite basketball player: Kobe Bryant.

Bryant’s the reason she ever stepped on the court. He’s the reason she dons the jersey number 24. He’s the person she’s emulated since at least the fifth grade.

“There’s something about this man I just have to be like,” Free said, reminiscing on the early years she watched Bryant play. “I just wanted to be like him in every aspect, whether it be on the court or off the court.”

Free’s dad made a basketball mixtape of her when she was 11 and at the start of it, flashes the nickname “Lady Kobe Bryant.”

Free’s adoration for Bryant is not purely based on his poetry on the basketball court. She appreciated and studied his legendary “Mamba Mentality,” even reading the book “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable” by Tim Grover, Bryant’s trainer, multiple times since she was 16 years old so she could better understand Bryant’s overall mindset.

So when Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people died tragically in a helicopter crash Jan. 26, 2020, Free was heartbroken. This also just so happened to be the day she planned on celebrating her 20th birthday, which was the previous day.

“My heart dropped,” Free said, remembering how she felt when she confirmed Bryant’s death. “Probably about two minutes later, my dad calls me. He’s like, ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘Dad, I can’t breathe, I’m literally frozen in my bed right now.’ Hysterically crying. My heart just shattered that day, it was the biggest loss.”

Free and her teammates still went to Cheesecake Factory that day, but they cried throughout their time in the restaurant.

“I didn’t even meet the guy, and that was probably my top bucket-list thing to do … so I could pick his brain, you know, get all the knowledge I can,” Free said.

Free’s mom, Nadirah, told her daughter that to feel better, she must open up.

“She kind of shut down for a couple of days,” Nadirah said. “And I had to explain to her that shutting down is not really something that you should do. That when pain or hurt occurs, it’s something that you need to talk about.”

What helped Free get better was the presence of her parents and brothers, who are all at least 12 years older than her.

“Just being able to talk, communicate and share different experiences, everything with the rest of our close family, it’s pretty much natural for her and all of us,” said Jai Echols, Free’s second-oldest brother.

The 22-year-old Free still uses the lessons she’s learned from watching Bryant today to help her this season with the basketball team.

In her COVID-19-shortened junior season last year, Free started in 15 of the 21 games played. She approached games thinking she had to do it all — something that Bryant often did for his Lakers teams.

“Last year, I really just focused on like, ‘I have to score, I have to do everything, it’s all on me now,’” Free said. “But this year, I have to take that breath and realize it’s not always on me.”

Free is aware that she has to trust her teammates, especially her underclassmen, to do more out there so the team can be better for the future. Popular to contrary belief, she also learned that from Bryant.

“I got that a little bit from Kobe Bryant because although he did lead his teams a lot, he also groomed his teammates,” Free said.

Now as a more mature person than when she started at Quinnipiac, Free is willing to accept her role as the sixth player in the rotation. She also plays in the frontcourt even though she has been a guard most of her life.

However, the defining trait of Free’s game is her versatility, which is important for power forwards in head coach Tricia Fabbri’s system.

“She’s vital to our rotation in the style that we play,” Fabbri said. “So whether she’s starting or not is almost (unimportant) because she’s helping us get the result (we want).

“Her ability to go in and play post up back to the basket, shoot the 3-ball, handle the ball against pressure. She is multidimensional, not a one-trick pony by any stretch of the imagination.”

On Jan. 17, Free displayed this versatility in a bigger role after replacing junior forward Cur’Tiera Haywood in the starting lineup due to an injury.

Against Saint Peter’s, Free scored a season-high 19 points and grabbed a careerhigh 16 rebounds along with five assists and four steals. In the following game on Jan. 22, versus Manhattan, she put up a new season-high in points with 21 and had eight rebounds. For this outburst in play, Free was awarded MAAC Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

Free thanked God and appreciated the recognition. She did not expect to start but was thankful that her teammates and coaches entrusted her with filling. During this period of personal success, she also sensed a connection with Bryant.

“I think spiritually, I felt it,” Free said.

“I always like to believe that (Bryant is) watching over me in the basketball community, so I think just during that time, he was watching me.”

Away from the hardwood, Free has grown tremendously after a rocky first year at Quinnipiac. The Syracuse, New York, native was living away from home for the first time and didn’t think she could adapt to college life.

“I really didn’t think I could do it my freshman year,” Free said. “I really thought I was going to quit … I even had my parents have to come up a whole weekend, because I was just bawling my eyes out.”

Free was reserved back then, staying in the back of the classroom and not socializing with too many people outside of her close friends, who were generally older players on the basketball team. Her biggest leaps socially happened this year once her best friend and former teammate Vanessa Udoji graduated. Without her, Free gradually opened up and has become more outgoing, willing to strike up a conversation with practically anyone.

“Amani has got incredible personality, and she’s really the sweetest person,” Fabbri said. “I remember her being actually pretty quiet, and now that is not Amani Free.”

Free’s delightfulness and communication skills are going to be necessary once she finishes her time in Hamden and her professional basketball career. She wants to use her journalism degree to become a sports broadcaster in the vein of WNBA player Candace Parker.

“I think it’s always been my calling,” Free said. “Whenever I talk to people … they’re like ‘I can tell, you have that persona to you, you have the face for it.’”

Before Free brings her Mamba Mentality to the broadcast booth, she wants to help Quinnipiac (12-7, 7-3 MAAC) accomplish something the Bobcats haven’t done since her first year: win a MAAC championship.

“I’m excited to see where we end up,” Free said. “I’m very confident in us.

ALEX BAYER/CHRONICLE (2021)

Amani Free was named MAAC Player of the Week on Jan. 24, after scoring 40 combined points in two games.

CONNOR LAWLESS/CHRONICLE (2019)

Free is averaging 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 19 games this season.

12|Sports

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

February 2, 2022

Sports @QUCHRONSPORTS

AIDAN SHEEDY/CHRONICLE

Three takeaways from 2022 Connecticut Ice

A breakdown of the Bobcats’ performance, plus what the second installation of the tournament means for local hockey

By PETER PIEKARSKI, ETHAN HURWITZ & CAMERON LEVASSEUR

Quinnipiac struggles in back-to-back CT Ice tournaments – Peter Piekarski The inaugural Connecticut Ice tournament in 2020 ended with the hosts, the Sacred Heart Pioneers, lifting the championship trophy. Two years later, the Quinnipiac Bobcats knocked off the reigning champions and ultimately claimed the trophy for themselves.

Multiple parallels can be made from the first tournament to this year for Quinnipiac. The main similarity was the Bobcats failing to assert themselves and play a full 60-minute game.

What was the difference this time around for Quinnipiac?

Even with a lackluster performance in the opening round against Sacred Heart, the team displayed a more levelheaded approach, scoring clutch goals against both the Pioneers and UConn.

Quinnipiac squeaked by in the first game, nearly losing before junior forward Joey Cipollone netted his second goal of the game with 89 seconds left to send it to overtime.

The performance was uninspiring, but it makes a huge difference during the season to win games that are undeserving.

Following the overtime win, Quinnipiac played a hard-fought, grindit-out championship against UConn.

The Bobcats played a better overall game to win the championship, but it still was not the expected performance of a No. 2-ranked team in the country. No, a blowout was not expected, as UConn has played fairly AIDAN SHEEDY/CHRONICLE

well against a tough schedule. Regardless of its record (12-110), UConn recorded five wins against ranked teams this season.

This is not and will not be an easy tournament going forward. All four teams are hungry to beat one another and hold the bragging rights for a year. However, that should not change Quinnipiac’s approach to any of the games.

In the 2020 opening game against UConn, Quinnipiac surrendered 16 shots and two goals, with former captain Nick Jermain referring to it as “probably the worst period of the year.” The Bobcats went on to win the game 3-2 and their play rebounded substantially.

Their efforts against Sacred Heart in 2020 were mysterious. I remember vividly how intense Quinnipiac opened the game, but for some reason, all that momentum disappeared once the second period began. Sacred Heart went on to win due to four straight second-period goals.

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold talked about what that loss would do for his team going forward.

“The best lesson of the night was Sacred Heart’s celebration, it was awesome,” Pecknold said. “It teaches you those kids wanted it, they wanted this win. They deserved it. It was awesome to see that celebration, that energy, that enthusiasm, that passion. That’s what we need to take away from the game.”

Just days later, Pecknold and his Bobcats smoked No. 1 Cornell at home. Safe to assume the team learned its lesson.

Quinnipiac securing the championship this time around provides a sense of reward to a hard-working team that has dominated all year long. Though it may not be the main priority for what the team accomplishes on the year, it’s still important to collect some form of hardware to know what effort level is expected.

How QU’s first trophy of 2022 will impact the rest of its title hopes – Ethan Hurwitz The Bobcats found a way to win the championship, but it took a wacky path to get there. Currently ranked No. 2 in the country, Quinnipiac played down to the competition in the bracket, an uninspiring showing if this program wants to make its first Frozen Four since 2016.

Saturday’s effort against Sacred Heart was poor. For the first 58 minutes against the Pioneers, the Bobcats struggled

in almost all phases of the game. Physically, they were outmatched. Mentally, they were not fully invested in the game.

But the semifinal match was a classic example of good teams finding ways to win, and a showcase of how deep this roster is.

The final against UConn the next day was a better game, but not by much. First-year goaltender Yaniv Perets stopped all 29 shots he faced, and the two goals from senior forwards Desi Burgart and Ethan de Jong were the only scores from either team. A good bounce-back game against a solid Huskies’ team gave a glimmer of solace from the tournament, but it’s hard to view the weekend as a success.

The Bobcats have been led by Perets, whose elite play landed the Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, native a Hobey Baker Award nomination. His program-record ninth shutout of the season has given head coach Rand Pecknold’s defense a brick wall in net. In addition, Sunday’s shutout was also Quinnipiac’s 12th of the year, tying an NCAA Division I record, set by Niagara in the 1999-2000 season. As the strongest unit on the squad, the defense will need to play more physically to set the tone for the rest of the program.

Coming up next is a three-game homestand where the Bobcats host Union, Rensselaer and Brown in a five-day stretch. Currently at 21-2-3, Quinnipiac is in control of its destiny when it comes down to the ECAC Hockey playoffs and can use these final few weeks as a starting point to prepare for the conference playoffs.

Ten games are left on the docket for Quinnipiac, all of them within the conference, which will be a good test for Pecknold’s team. If the season ended now, the Bobcats would win their sixth Cleary Cup, awarded to the conference’s best regular season team, including their second straight. A second trophy heading into the playoffs would go a long way for the morale of the program going into tournament time.

Pecknold detailed how “special” this team was in his postgame interview with SNY’s Michelle Margaux, but for the Bobcats, the season will only be special if they can be on top of the mountain. With the ECAC Hockey playoffs in the future, Quinnipiac still has a few points of weakness, but like this past weekend showed, until the clock hits triple zeros, the game is not over.

See CT ICE Page 10