Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey (16-8-2, 11-2-1 ECAC) skated to a 2-2 tie against Yale (12-6-3, 7-5-2 ECAC) at Ingalls Rink in New Haven on Saturday night.
“We had some bumps and we had a few kids that struggled tonight,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “But we had probably 12, 13, or 14 guys who were absolute warriors and played great and carried us and I’m really proud of those guys. For those who struggled, it’s a good learning experience.”
Travis St. Denis added two assists and Michael Garteig stopped 29 shots in the game and now holds a 14-6-1 record on the season.
“I thought [Garteig] was great. He made some big saves but I thought both goalies were great. It was a great exhibition of goaltending tonight.”
Carson Cooper and Ryan Obuchowski scored for the Bulldogs. Alex Lyon also stopped 29 shots and now holds a 11-6-3 record.
Yale came out strong in the first period outshooting Quinnipiac 12-6. Despite being outshot, the Bobcats scored the only goal of the period.
St. Denis hit Anas with a pass in the neutral zone as Anas skated towards the Yale zone. After he gained the blue line, Anas deked around a Yale defender and cut across the slot area. With Lyons out of position, Anas patiently held the puck on his backhand and lifted it past the sprawling Yale goaltender and into the net.
Yale upped its offensive pressure in the second period and tied the game just under the halfway mark of the period. Frankie DiChiara centered the puck to Cooper who was positioned alone in the slot area in front of Garteig. After he received the pass, Cooper quickly shot the puck past Garteig’s low glove side for the goal.
The Bobcats regained the lead at 2-1 just over five and a half minutes into the third period. With John Hayden in the box for elbowing, Quinnipiac held the puck in the Yale zone. Matt Peca moved the puck to St. Denis who was positioned in the faceoff circle to the left of the Yale net. Just as the penalty expired, St. Denis found Anas in the slot. Anas then one-timed a shot high past the glove of Lyon for his second of the game and 16th of the season.
“I think our lines been really clicking,” said Anas. “[St. Denis], [Tiefenwerth], and I we have a good offensive mindset, we like to get pucks to the net and no one is selfish. We all look for each other.”
Yale tied the game three minutes later. After gaining the Quinnipiac blue line the Bulldogs quickly moved the puck around the zone. Mike Doherty dumped the puck around the boards where it was picked up by Ryan Hitchcock and moved to Obuchowski at the left point. Obuchowski quickly shot the puck towards goal and beat Garteig to the blocker side for his third goal of the season.
Quinnipiac outshot Yale 4-0 in a scoreless overtime period.
“That felt like a playoff game for us,” said Anas. “That and Cornell were the two most playoff-like atmospheres we’ve played in this year. Its good to see that we can have guys battle like that. Our mindset heading into that third period was play this 20 minutes like it was the last of the year. So we played desperate and were able to have a good third period.”
The Bobcats return to action next Friday when they travel to Ithaca, NY to take on the Cornell Big Red at 7 pm.
