Bobcats charge on, move to Quarterfinals

Bobcats charge on, move to Quarterfinals

By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Publishing Editor

After a three-game, up and down series, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team (19-12-6) eliminated Brown University (9-18-5) in a 4-2 victory, sending the Bobcats to Colgate next week for the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals.  The Bobcats remain the only team in ECAC Hockey to win a post-season series every year since Quinnipiac joined seven years ago.

The Bobcats showed no hesitations to continue the momentum started in game two.  The line of seemingly endless scoring of Kellen and Connor Jones (Montrose, British Columbia) and freshman Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) carried on what it does best – put the puck in the net.  This time, Kellen earned the primary point and his 14^th goal of the season on a power play only one minute and 16 seconds in to the opening frame, taking a shot from beyond the faceoff circles.  Peca earned his 27^th assist of the year, tying Connor Jones for the team’s lead.

Bobcat senior Kevin Bui (Edmonton, Alberta) earned his third goal of the season halfway through the first period.  After a quick succession of passes from Bryce Van Brabant (Morinville, Alberta) and Mike Dalhuisen (Nymegen, Holland), Bui shot from close-range between the legs of Brown keeper, Michael Clemente.  The assists were Van Brabant and Dalhuisen’s third and sixth respectively.   

In the name of spreading the wealth, junior Clay Harvey (Gull Lake, Saskatchewan) landed his second of the season after Zack Currie (Victoria, British Columbia) intercepted a pass, gave it off quickly to Spencer Heichman (Yorba Linda, Calif.), leaving Brown’s end of the ice completely unattended.  Heichman drew Clemente out to the keeper’s left and sent a quick pass to Harvey who skated to the right, ripping the puck for Quinnipiac’s third of the game. 

“It was a nice break for us,” Harvey said of the goal.  “We’ve been working hard all weekend.”

Despite having a 3-0 advantage going into the third period, the Bobcats felt pressure from the Bears whose desperate offensive pressure paid dividends to the tune of two goals in a little over a minute. 

In the opening minutes of the third period, Brown came out with strong willed on a power play goal by Bobby Farnham.  Jeff Buvinow laced a shot from between the faceoff circles and Farnham knocked it by Bobcat netminder Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.). 

Matt Harlow, in similar fashion, sent the puck by Hartzell from the same area to bring the score to 3-2, putting pressure on the Bobcat bench.

“As we scored those two goals, we went in a little bit of a lull thinking it is going to be easier than it is,” head coach Rand Pecknold said.  “Brown kept coming.  I give them credit.”

Regardless, the Bobcat defense came through on the stick and knee-pads of Hartzell who earned 35 saves in the game.

“Hartzy is one of the best goalies in the league, so if he sees the puck, he’s going to stop it,” Harvey said.

While the road to the final game victory may not have been the smoothest for the Bobcats, they managed to pull the lesson out of the moments of chaos.

“We can use that to learn how to close teams out when we have them down,” Harvey said.

Even though the game “wasn’t they way [they] drew it on the board,” according to Pecknold, when it comes down to it, the team recognizes that a victory is just that.

“It doesn’t really matter how pretty the wins are as long as they come,” Heichman said.

With the Raiders staring in the eyes of the Bobcats as they look to the next round, Quinnipiac can only hope that the less-than-pretty win is either enough or a thing of the past.