Bobcats fight through tough ECAC weekend

Bobcats fight through tough ECAC weekend

By Pete Rossi, QBSN Staff Writer

         

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s ice hockey team (7-3-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) suffered a harsh 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Dartmouth Big Green (2-1-0, 1-0-0 ECAC) Friday night. The Bobcats held a lead for much of the game but lost it in a last minute lapse of defensive play, despite being 2-2 on the power-play in the game.   

         

 Senior forward Spencer Heichman (Yorba Linda, Calif.) got the Bobcats on the board at the 11:42 mark of the first period on a power play with assists to sophomore Kellen Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) and senior Yuri Bouharevich (Montreal, Quebec).

         

Quinnipiac did not let up on the attack, and just twenty-six seconds later, sophomore John Dunbar (Calgary, Alberta) crashed the net for his first of the season, putting the Bobcats up 2-0. Freshman Bryce Van Brabant (Morrinville, Alberta) picked up the only assist on the play.

        

With just under four minutes to play, the Big Green cut the Bobcats’ lead in half when Dustin Walsh found the back of the net for his first of the season, making the score 2-1. The goal was assisted by Brandon McNally and Tyler Sikura.

        

Seven minutes into the second period during four-on-four play, the Big Green were whistled for a hooking penalty, putting the Bobcats on the power-play for the second time on the night. Sophomore Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) won the face-off, sending the puck back to freshman phenom Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Alberta) along the boards just above the right face-off circle. Peca shot his pass across the ice to Kellen Jones who wandered between the face-off circles and blasted the puck past Mello to give Quinnipiac a 3-1 lead. The assist increased Peca's team-best point streak to nine games, a Quinnipiac freshman record.  He would add another point later in the weekend, pushing the streak to 10 games.

         

At the 5:40 mark of the second period, Dartmouth cut the lead in half yet again when Jesse Beamish scored a short-handed tally for his first on the year, assisted by Eric Robinson. The period would end 3-2 as the score.

         

At the 8:24 mark of the third period, Dartmouth knotted the score at 3-3 when Mark Goggin scored his first of the year during a scrum in the crease. Then with under eight minutes to play, Quinnipiac junior defenseman Loren Barron (Glendora, Calif.) fired a shot past Dartmouth’s netminder off a rebound from a Connor Jones shot, giving the Bobcats the 4-3 lead. Kellen Jones also had an assist. But the Bobcats could not hold to the lead when with 1:47 remaining in the third, Matt Walsh found the puck from passes off of Robinson and Beamish and went top shelf on Dan Clarke (Bellville, Ontario) to knot the score up at 4-4. Then 19-seconds later, a Connor Goggin slapshot from the blueline was deflected past Clarke by Sikura, giving Dartmouth the 5-4 lead with 1:29 left to play in the third.

On Saturday, the Bobcats hoped to end the weekend on a high note with their third ECAC matchup against the Harvard Crimson (0-1-1, 0-1-1 ECAC).  Although the Bobcats couldn’t pull off a win, they walked away with a 2-2 tie.

          

Junior forward Jeremy Langlois (Tempe, Arizona) put the Bobcats up 1-0 just two minutes into action in the first off of a beautiful passing play between Peca and Captain Scott Zurevinski (Saskatoon, Sask.). Peca moved his point streak to 10 games with the assist.

         

Harvard found themselves on the board 1:19 into the second period to tie the game 1-1. Alex Killhorn put a shot on goal that junior goalie Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) initially stopped, but the rebound was put home by Conor Morrison, all on the power-play. It appeared moments later that Harvard took the lead 2-1, but the goal was waved off after an official review.

        

At the 12:32 mark of the period sophomore defender Corey Hibbeler (St. Charles, Mo.) put home his third of the year. Junior Ben Arnt (Oakdale, Minn.) skated into the zone before passing to Baron. Baron’s shot was sent on goal, where it was deflected by Hibbeler to give the Bobcats the 2-1 lead.

         

With 6:57 remaining in the second period, the Bobcats were hurt again by a net-mouth scramble as Harvard tied it 2-2, where the score would stay, when David Valek pushed the puck past a lying Hartzell.  

         

Quinnipiac will return home to High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center on Friday, Nov. 11 for an ECAC Hockey match-up against Clarkson at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will also host St. Lawrence on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.