By: MJ Baird
Two wins stood in the way of the Quinnipiac Bobcats advancing to their fourth straight ECAC championship weekend.
In a game full of hard hits and post whistle scrums, the Quinnipiac Bobcats (26-2-7, 16-1-5 ECAC) defeated the Cornell Big Red by a final score of 5-2.
However the beginning of the game did not foreshadow the result.
Nearly three-and-half minutes into the game the Big Red (15-10-7, 8-8-6 ECAC) took their only lead of the game. Jake Weidner notched his fourth goal of the season tucking a shot near side on Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig.
Cornell scored on only its third shot of the night, and Garteig felt this was a result of the team’s first round bye.
“I don’t think it was quite as easy to hop into it considering we had a little bit of a break,” Garteig said, “but you have to find ways to kind of work around that and be mentally tough”.
The Cornell lead did not last long, as Landon Smith put the Bobcats on the board. Smith beat Cornell goalkeeper Mitch Gillam on an off-angle shot to the near side. The goal was Smith’s first career postseason goal.
The second period may have been the story of the game. An offensive outburst from the Bobcats turned the game in their favor.
“Our forwards were really good as a unit. They were willing to pay the price and go to the net,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “They knew they were going to get wacked and hit and they were tough and went in there and got rewarded.
Travis St. Denis got the second period scoring started on a hard-nosed goal just 30 seconds into the frame. St. Denis crashed the crease and buried a rebound into the back of the net.
“I was wide open in front of the net there and Cliffy (Connor Clifton) made a nice shot from the point. I kind of gave it a whack,” St. Denis said. “I got cross-checked and it ended up in the net.”
Bobcat defender Connor Clifton said, “Gillam is a small goalie. We were getting our bodies in front of him, taking away his eyes. He is aggressive so we were putting away our rebounds.”
A pair of power play goals ensued, one for each team.
Jeff Kubiak finished off an odd-man-rush to cut the Bid Red’s deficit to one, but the Quinnipiac defense stifled the Big Red for the remainder of the period.
The third Bobcat goal of the period came from Sam Anas. Anas scored his team leading 22nd goal of the season on the power play, where nine of his goals have come this season. Anas got a one-time pass from St. Denis in the high slot and found the twine through a Landon Smith screen.
The third period brought momentary shock for many Bobcat fans, as defenseman Devon Toews went down the tunnel holding his arm after taking a hit in the corner. Toews returned a few shifts later, and played in the rest of the game. But during the time he was out, even the bench knew things needed to change.
“Obviously he is one of our best players,” Clifton said. “So we needed others to step up to do the job when he is not out there.”
“I told our forwards we got to go play offense. We got to commit to giving our defense enough rest,” Pecknold said.
More of the same in terms of physical play followed in the third period, but neither team was able to get any sustainable scoring opportunities.
A Soren Jonzzon empty-net goal clinched the win for the Bobcats.
Now only one win stands between Quinnipiac’s fourth straight ECAC championship weekend appearance.
Game two of the series between the teams will be played tomorrow, March 12. Puck drop is set for 7pm.
Extras:
Thomas Aldworth
The freshman scored the third goal for Quinnipiac. Aldworth crashed the crease to try to create confusion, and did just that. Mitch Gillam got caught out of his crease and Aldworth tucked the puck in the open net. This was Aldworth’s first goal since Jan. 19. Aldworth was able to use his speed to his advantage over the big bodies of Cornell.
Penalties
In the regular season these two teams combined for 31 penalties in two games. That statistic held partially true tonight, as the teams combined for 10 total. Each team took five penalties, and each scored one power play goal.
