It was as cold and bitter outside as it was on the ice for the matinee rematch between the Quinnipiac Bobcats (3-2-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) and Northeastern Huskies (0-6-0, 0-2-0 HE) on Sunday.
Northeastern sprinted right from the opening face-off, netting their first goal at 7:45 in the first. Though the Bobcats were buzzing after a boarding penalty by sophomore Tim Clifton was killed off, the Huskies were able to bring the puck into the offensive zone, with Mike Szmatula putting in his own rebound in the slot to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Szmatula would score again at 11:52 in the period on a 4-on-3 where he was wide open backdoor. The Huskies took a 2-0 lead heading in to the first intermission.
Huskies head coach Jim Madigan talked about the need for discipline for his team going into the intermission with the lead.
“It’s tough when we get up there, 2-0, that we’ve been struggling to score goals, that gave us a little bit of a lift,” he said.
“After the first we just talked about playing with a little more discipline through the second, and we let some discipline get away from us in the second period, and they capitalized early,” Madigan said.
Early the first goal was for Quinnipiac; freshman Landon Smith scored his third of the season 23 seconds into the period on the power play. He snapped a feed from sophomore Sam Anas over the shoulder of Northeastern net minder Derick Roy to make it 2-1.
Smith would score again ten minutes later, tying the game at two.
The draw would only last 30 seconds, as Ryan Rosenthal would give Northeastern the lead after throwing in a rebound after junior goalie Michael Garteig was pulled too far out of position.
Freshman Andrew Taverner would tie the game again with just over a minute left in the second period. Smith found his name on the score sheet for the third time in the period as he found Taverner who was able to bang the pass home to knot the game up at three.
The goals were only a part of the period, which was halted by a flurry of penalties. Northeastern had 14 penalty minutes and Quinnipiac 20 in the second stanza alone.
Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold did not see the time in the box as an issue.
“I think there was a lot of matching stuff because it got chippy and it kind of escalated, and that’s what the officials should do,” he said. “When it gets like that you start matching up guys and try to contain it, so I thought the officials did a pretty good job tonight.”
The third period saw much of the same with both teams taking their fair share of penalties. The lone goal of the period came off a pass from senior Alex Barron right to the tape of junior Soren Jonzzon who put it home for his first of the season, ultimately clinching the weekend sweep for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats look to build off their winning ways as they begin conference play. They host Colgate on Nov. 7 and Cornell on Nov. 8 in Hamden.
