A year after backstopping the Penticton Vees to a Canadian junior A hockey championship, Prince George product Michael Garteig is part of another title chase.
Garteig is part of the Quinnipiac Bobcats team which has qualified for the NCAA men's Frozen Four next week in Pittsburgh. The freshman goaltender and his teammates made school history by making it to the national semifinals, but Garteig said the team still has a lot to accomplish when it plays St. Cloud State on April 11.
"Our goal from the beginning of the year was to win a national championship and obviously getting to the Frozen Four is one step closer," Garteig said. "We're not finished yet. We're not going to go there just to be in the Frozen Four, we're going to go there to win."
The Bobcats made the national playoffs for only the second time in school history and advanced to the Frozen Four by winning the east regional on the weekend. A 4-3 win over Canisius on Saturday and a 5-1 victory over conference rival Union on Sunday pushed Quinnipiac further than its ever gone before in the post-season.
"People might call us a Cinderella story, but we've been ranked No. 1 in the later part of the year and I don't think it's any surprise," Garteig said.
As a first-year player on a veteran heavy team, Garteig hasn't played as much as he might have expected. Starting goalie Eric Hartzell has carried the load between the pipes and is expected to sign with an NHL team once the season sends.
In five games Garteig has a 2.03 goals against average and a .895 save percentage. He's seen action in a pair of playoff games.
"It's a good character builder," he said adjusting to his role as a backup. "I think I handled it really well this year. I've worked on lot of areas of my game and I've worked hard off the ice to get better."
With Hartzell leaving after this year, Garteig hopes to apply what he's learned watching and win the starter's job as a sophomore.
Off the ice, Garteig also needed to re-adjust to the academic life but he said he's enjoying his studies majoring in business marketing and minoring in psychology.
"It's something I didn't know what to expect, I was a little nervous, playing juniors for three or four years and taking time off school," he said. "The first month or two it was an adjustment and it definitely took some time to get used to it again. Right now I'm going great and I've taken more pride in my schooling than I used to in high school."
The Bobcats won the ECAC Hockey regular season title this year, but lost in the league semifinals to Brown. The depth of the conference has been on display in the playoffs with Yale also making the Frozen Four. The Bulldogs will play UMass Lowell in the other semifinal final on April 11.
"I think it gets overlooked a lot," Garteig said of the division which includes a handful of Ivy League schools. "Some people might call it the Easy AC, it has some nicknames, but any team can beat any team at any time."
This year's playoff run could prove to be a boon for the Bobcats in future recruiting. In the past Garteig said the school has gone after "diamonds in the rough" but the Frozen Four appearance has already raised the Hamden, Conn. school's profile with potential recruits.
"It's nice to see that our program that we have now, we're beating the big name teams that people might choose over Quinnipiac when you're playing junior or high school," he said. "Hopefully it helps build our program for future years."
