As the old saying goes, the farther you are away from the NHL, the more systems and coaching matter.

You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have a coach who directs those players effectively, those teams are going to underperform. Conversely, you don’t need to stock up on highly regarded prospects to bully the NCAA if you find guys who are, perhaps, a bit older and able to play in your system.

The latter is why the Quinnipiac Bobcats have routinely been one of the best possession teams in college hockey for years now. 

Coach Rand Pecknold has every player so dialed in to what they’re supposed to do that they haven’t been ranked lower than 12th in the nation in percentage of shot attempts in all situations since the stat became available in college hockey in 2013-14. In those seasons, they’ve never had a CF% lower than 54.