By Mark Spillane, QBSN Staff Writer
Jeremy Langlois (Sr. Tempe, Ariz.) scored twice and Matthew Peca (So. Petawawa, Ontario) scored one of his own to lead the No. 20 Quinnipiac Bobcats to a 3-1 victory versus the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Arena.
The first period was an uneventful one in which both teams traded shots without generating a solid scoring chance.
The second stanza opened with similar play until the ECAC’s active leading goal scorer broke the ice.
Langlois buried the game’s first goal on a one-timer to put the Bobcats in front. He slid to the slot in the center of the ice and took the pass from senior Clay Harvey (Gull Lake, Saskatewan) and rocketed the puck high over Buckeye freshman goaltender, Collin Olson.
“That was a great play,” Langlois said. “Clay Harvey kind of swung around, I was right out in the slot and he passed it to me, and I got the short side goal.”
Then with less than two minutes to play in the period, senior Zach Tolkinen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) was called for an elbowing penalty. He was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for the blow to the head.
After the game, coach Rand Pecknold noted that having seven defensemen playing helped, as Quinnipiac shifted freshman Alex Barron (Glendora, Calif.) back on defense for the rest of the game to help replace Tolkinen.
The penalty carried through the second intermission and early into the third frame, Peca picked off an Ohio State pass and blew past the defense. He skated in through the right circle, cut toward the front of the net, and popped a quick shot past Olson for the unassisted goal.
“He didn’t see me coming, so I figured I’d shoot for it. I had a lot of speed so I went for it,” Peca said.
The goal highlighted the penalty kill of the five-minute major by the Bobcats.
“That’s probably the key to the game. We kill that off and score to go up two to nothing,” Pecknold said.
After killing the penalty, the Bobcats looked to be in the clear, but Ohio State would not go down quietly.
As the game wound down, the Buckeyes tallied their own shorthanded goal, when a Sam Jardine slap shot was redirected in front of the net by Max McCormick and squeaked past Eric Hartzell (Sr. White Bear Lake, Minn.) to cut the Quinnipiac lead to one.
The Bobcats were able to kill of most of the remaining time when Langlois gathered a loose puck in the Buckeye defensive zone and fired it into the empty net with 11 seconds to play.
Hartzell notched his third win of the season with 21 saves on the day.
“He’s been unbelievable for us. He’s a big guy and he’s probably got the quickest reflexes I’ve ever seen,” Langlois said.
His saves helped Quinnipiac keep their penalty killing percentage perfect, pushing their season total numbers to 21-for-21.
However, Quinnipiac finished another contest without a power play goal, as they went 0-for-6 in the game despite managing 10 shots during man advantage time. Pecknold spoke about the power play struggles after the game.
“I think we held the puck too long and were a little sluggish,” Pecknold said. “We need to do a better job getting the puck to the net.”
The Bobcats get back out on the ice next Saturday, Oct. 27 against Colgate at Cape Cod Rink.
Langlois capped the night by saying, “Those are the guys that knocked us out of the playoffs last year, so in the summer all the guys have been thinking about that.”
