Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Victoria Rutigliano
LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK – In the rink where anything’s possible, the 1980 Olympic Hockey Herb Brooks Arena, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will battle for its first ECAC postseason championship in team history Saturday night against Harvard. The Bobcats have been taken down in the semifinals the past three years and haven’t been in the finals since 2007, when the team fell to Clarkson 4-2.
Quinnipiac defeated Dartmouth in the first semifinal game Friday night 3-1 off goals from Connor Clifton, Sam Anas and Craig Martin. Clifton has seven points in the postseason, which is the most on the Bobcats squad.
It took overtime to decide the other semifinal matchup between Harvard and St. Lawrence. Jimmy Vesey scored the first goal for the Crimson and took the winning shot in overtime with the puck deflecting in off linemate Kyle Criscuolo. Vesey has two goals and three assists in the Crimson’s postseason run.
Quinnipiac’s depth has proven to be the leading factor in the team’s success in the post season. The Bobcats have seen 13 players score a goal in the postseason and 18 different players register a point. Goals are coming from all four offensive lines and two defensemen have also netted goals for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac’s defense also leads the country with 31 goals this season and is third in the country with 112 points. Devon Toews and Chase Priskie lead the defensemen with 28 and 27 points respectively.
Sam Anas is atop the ECAC with 48 points and is second in the ECAC with 23 goals and 25 assists.
Harvard’s top line of Jimmy Vesey, Alex Kerfoot and Kyle Criscuolo is an electric force on offense. The line has accumulated 110 of the team’s 305 points this season and the players have played a part in six out of the team’s 15 goals in the postseason. Vesey is the top scorer in the ECAC with 24 goals to date.
Merrick Madsen is eighth in the NCAA boasting a 1.89 goals against average (GAA) and a .934 save percentage. Quinnipiac’s Michael Garteig’s 1.92 GAA and .923 save percentage comes in close behind him, giving the goaltender a 12th place spot on the goaltending leaderboard.
Harvard and Quinnipiac have faced off twice during the regular season, with the Bobcats taking home the victory in both matchups. The teams first met in November, when Quinnipiac ousted Harvard 4-1 netting three goals in the second period to seal the victory.
The second meeting came at Madison Square Garden in early January when the Bobcats sealed the victory in overtime off a goal by Derek Smith. Quinnipiac scored four goals in the first period and Harvard had to gravel back the rest of the game to get its team a point.
“I think the second game we played them at Madison Square Garden was almost a tail of three games,” Harvard head coach Ted Donato said yesterday in the semifinal press conference. “You know, the first period they jumped on us and then the rest of the game we climbed back out of the hole and they were able to get us in overtime.”
Harvard ended Quinnipiac’s ECAC postseason run last year in the semifinals, winning by a definitive 5-2 score. Sam Anas, the Bobcats top goal-scorer at the time, was missing from the lineup with a knee injury.
The Crimson have won nine ECAC championships dating back to 1963, the most recent coming last year in a 4-2 victory over Colgate.
The puck will drop for the final game of ECAC tournament at 7:36 p.m. at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York.
