By: Taylor Massey, QBSN Staff Writer
The first-game battle against Brown was not the way the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team wanted to start its post-season. The Bobcats looked tired as Brown skated away with the 4-1 victory. Game two was crucial to keep Quinnipiac in the playoffs and the team delivered, taking a 3-0 victory. Junior Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) posted his fifth career shutout to seal the win and send the Bobcats into a third deciding game.
The Bobcats appeared to be a whole new team tonight with renewed energy. Seconds into the game the crowd was on their its as Reese Rolheiser (Edmonton, Alberta) narrowly missed getting the first goal of the game. Even though it didn’t result in a goal, it gave a spark to the crowd and the team that carried throughout the game.
The first goal came at just two minutes and 11-seconds into the first period from the seemingly unstoppable line of Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) and Connor and Kellen Jones (Montrose, British Columbia). Excellent, on-target passing set Connor up for a perfect power play goal as he easily sent the puck around Brown goalie Michael Clemente. This was the eighth consecutive goal on which Peca tallied an assist and he wasn’t done yet.
“He’s on a little bit of a roll right now” said head coach Rand Pecknold of Peca’s success, “It’s pretty impressive for an 18-year-old to be this good and consistent.”
Quinnipiac achieved its next goal halfway through the first period off the stick of Loren Barron (Glendora, Calif.), his ninth goal of the season. Barron found the puck outside the left face-off circle and fired away. His shot ricocheted off a Brown defenseman and hit the back of the net to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead. Peca collected his ninth consecutive assist and Kellen nabbed his second of the game.
The second period saw a bit of a lull in scoring as Brown fought back against the aggressive Bobcat offense. Despite the extra pressure, Hartzell continued to make key saves to keep Brown off the board. He made a total of 16 saves throughout the game for the shutout, which was a drastic change from last night.
“Our season was on the line tonight, and so we didn’t really have a choice but to come out full power, and we did that and got the job done” said Hartzell.
Into the third period, Peca finally grabbed his own goal on the power-play. His goal was another result of a Brown defender being in the right place for the Bobcats. Peca took a pass from Zack Currie (Victoria, British Columbia) and went straight to the net. His shot bounced off a Brown defender and popped into the goal. Kellen Jones had his third straight assist.
Peca attributed much of his success to his talented line.
“Even when Barron and Currie are on the ice with us, all five of us read off each other well,” Peca said.
The Bobcats also upheld their nationally ranked penalty kill as they shut down both of Brown’s power-play opportunities. They even had a repeat from Friday night’s game by killing a Brown five-on-three advantage. Along with killing Brown’s power-plays, the Bobcats capitalized on two of their four power play opportunities.
Quinnipiac and Brown will fight in the deciding game on Sunday at 7 p.m.
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