Mavericks too much for Bobcats to handle

Mavericks too much for Bobcats to handle

By Kevin Noonan, QBSN Staff Writer

The undefeated month of December is over for the Quinnipiac Bobcats.  The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team lost to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks 4-1 in the series finale.  This marks the Mavericks first ever victory against the Bobcats.  Quinnipiac drops its record to 11-7-4 overall while Nebraska-Omaha improves to 10-8-4.

Quinnipiac had not lost since Nov. 19 at Cornell before the loss in front of a crowd of 6,034 at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha. 

The Bobcats played from behind for most of the afternoon while struggling to get many shots on goal for the second time in as many days.  Although they outshot the Mavericks 26-23, it is still tied for their second lowest shot total of the season.  The previous night Quinnipiac recorded its lowest number of shots in a game with 22.

Nebraska-Omaha took its first lead of the series 1:54 into the game on the power play goal by Jayson Megna, his seventh goal of the season.  Megna’s one-timer came off a cross-ice pass from teammate Bryce Aneloski, who was credited with his ninth assist of the season.  Terry Broadhurst also received his ninth assist of the season

Quinnipiac tied the game in the latter stages of the first period.  Junior Zack Currie (Victoria, British Columbia) also recorded a power play goal of his own at the 15:47 mark.  Currie received a pass from sophomore Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) off the face-off for his fifth goal of the season.  Jones got his 14^th assist of the season on the goal

The Mavericks took the lead for good with one minute remaining in the first period when Brent Gwidt one-timed a shot passed Quinnipiac junior goaltender Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) for his fifth goal.  Johnnie Searfoss notched his eighth assist on the goal when he took the puck down the right side of the ice and passed it across the ice to Gwidt.

Nebraska-Omaha added insurance to their lead in the second period with a short-handed goal off the stick of Matt White.  Jayson Megna recorded his 13^th assist by stealing the puck from Quinnipiac and passing up the ice to White.  White beat Hartzell in the one-on-one situation for his 10^th goal of the season

With Quinnipiac trailing 3-1 in the final stages of the game, the Bobcats pulled their netminder to try a quick offensive attack.  Johnnie Searfoss scored an empty net goal 18:50 into the period for his second of the season.  Brent Gwidt and Jayson Megna were each credited with assists, their fifth and 14^th, respectively.

Eric Hartzell stopped 20 of 23 shots in the losing effort, while Maverick goaltender Ryan Massa recorded 25 saves on 26 shots to earn the victory. 

Both teams spent plenty of time on the power play throughout the game.  Quinnipiac recorded 10 penalties, tallying 34 minutes while Nebraska-Omaha got nine penalties for 26 penalty minutes.

The Bobcats return to action next Friday, Jan. 6 with an ECAC rivalry game vs. the Yale Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m.