“You better score,” said Robert Graf, who was joined in the stands by Collin’s mom, Terri.

The Grafs — and all of Bobcat Nation — got a lot more than they bargained for.

With just over five minutes left to play in the second period of the Sharks’ February 4 matchup with the Montreal Canadiens, Collin Graf collected the puck in the neutral zone with nothing but open ice in front of him. He zipped down the left side of the offensive zone and lofted a pinpoint wrist shot into the upper-right corner of the net for his first NHL goal.

The referee who signaled the milestone goal was none other than fellow Bobcats hockey alumnus Jordan Samuels-Thomas ’13, MS ’14, who became the NHL’s first African-American official in 2022 after playing six professional seasons in the American Hockey League, the ECHL and in European leagues.

Robert Graf said the two former Bobcats caught up during the second intermission, unaware that they were about to author a signature moment for Quinnipiac hockey on the sport’s grandest stage.

“We were just talking about Quinnipiac, like two alums would,” said Collin Graf. “A guy like Jordan, the guys who came before us, they paved the way for Quinnipiac to become such a great program. That first Frozen Four put us on the map.”

After signing a three-year contract with the Sharks on April 4, 2024, Collin Graf, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, registered his first assist three days later. He appeared in seven games last season, notching a pair of assists. As he shuttled back and forth between the Sharks and their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, Collin Graf added two more assists this year but was still trying to find the net himself.

“The first emotion was just relief that I finally got one,” said the former American Hockey Coaches Association All-American, whose 59 points in 2022-2023 matched a program record. “Then it was just pure joy. Once you get back to the bench, you start to think about what it means to have my parents there. It was just super exciting.”

Collin Graf, of course, was instrumental in the Bobcats’ 2023 Frozen Four triumph. He was unofficially credited with the third assist on Jacob Quillan’s game-winning goal in overtime of the national championship game against top-ranked Minnesota after scoring the tying goal with under five minutes left in regulation.

That little slice of Bobcats hockey history made the connection with Samuels-Thomas even more significant. In 2013, when Quinnipiac earned its first Frozen Four berth in Pittsburgh, Samuels-Thomas scored the opening goal against St. Cloud State and later assisted the game-winner in a 4-1 win that propelled the Bobcats into the title game against Yale.

A native of West Hartford, Connecticut, Samuels-Thomas was originally selected by the Atlanta Thrashers in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft before playing junior hockey and beginning his college hockey career at Bowling Green State University.

He led the 2012-2013 Bobcats with 17 goals and added 13 more in his final season to finish his college hockey career with 50 goals and 54 assists. He graduated from Quinnipiac with a master’s degree in journalism in 2014. After a long road that included stops in Florida, San Diego, New York, Canada, Croatia and Germany didn’t lead to the NHL for Samuels-Thomas as a player, he set his sights on a historic second act as a referee.

“I’m still chasing the dream but in a different way,” Samuels-Thomas told Hearst Connecticut Media in 2021.