By Marc Schwartz, QBSN Co-Director
Atlantic City, N.J. – With the Heroes Hat already clinched for Quinnipiac, the Bobcats finished off a season sweep of the Yale Bulldogs in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win in the ECAC Championship consolation game.
After a disappointing loss to seventh-seed Brown in the ECAC semifinals, the Bobcats responded with what head coach Rand Pecknold called a hard-fought win.
“It was not our best game today, and we were gritty at times, but I thought [Eric] Hartzell was excellent,” Pecknold said. “He was the best player on the ice and showed why he is deserving of the Hobey Baker.”
The shutout for Hartzell was his fifth of the season, and first since Dec. 8 against Princeton. The shutout was also the 10th of his career, giving him the program record.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and battle,” said Hartzell, a Hobey Baker finalist. “Last night I had a hard time finding the pucks through traffic, so we talked about it and watched video, and made adjustments.”
A beautiful kick save in the first period off a drive from Yale’s Colin Dueck highlighted Hartzell’s impressive 30 save performance.
Quinnipiac opened up the scoring early in the second period when Bryce Van Brabant collected a turnover in the high slot and with nobody near him, wristed the puck past a sprawled-out Jeff Malcolm. It was Van Brabant’s fifth goal of the year.
The second period was not without controversy however, as a potential game-tying goal for Yale from Stu Wilson was reviewed and waved off minutes after Van Brabant’s tally. The ruling on the ice was that the net came off its moorings before the puck crossed the plain, which held-up due to “inconclusive” evidence upon review. It was the second potential goal that was reviewed and waved off in the game for Yale.
The Bobcats added onto their lead in the third period 2:42 thanks to Cory Hibbeler’s sixth goal of the year. Hibbeler cleaned up a strong rebound from Malcolm on a Kevin Bui shot, spun around and slid the puck past the Yale goaltender from outside the left circle.
Quinnipiac added a third goal with 53 seconds remaining in the period when Bui deflected a failed Malcolm clearance into the net.
With the win, Quinnipiac finishes third in the ECAC tournament after earning the programs first Cleary Cup for winning the ECAC regular season.
The Bobcats will enter the NCAA tournament next week as the number one overall seed in the nation. Their location and opponent will officially be announced in the NCAA tournament selection show, which will air Sunday night at 9 p.m. on ESPNU. It is expected that Quinnipiac will play in either Providence, R.I. or Manchester, N.H., depending on the outcome of the ECAC Hockey Championship between Union and Brown.
