The No.11 Quinnipiac Bobcats (22-9-4, 16-3-3 ECAC) took on the Union Dutchmen (18-17-2, 8-13-1 ECAC hockey) at the High Point Solutions Arena in Hamden, on Saturday for game two of the ECAC quarterfinals.
Late in the third period with time dwindling down the score was tied 2-2. Union’s hope of staying alive in the playoffs was dimming. That was until Nick Cruice skated to the front of the net and found Mike Pontarelli wide open to left of junior goaltender Michael Garteig, where he made no mistake and buried the puck for the go ahead goal. The Bobcats would pull the goalie for an extra attacker with two minutes left but could not muster up a goal. Union would go on to win the game to force a game three on Sunday.
The goals did not come easy in this game as both goalies played great. At first it seemed as if last nights triple overtime thriller had no effect on the players of both teams. The Bobcats and Dutchmen came out flying. The Bobcats would strike first as junior Travis St. Denis fed sophomore Sam Anas with a between the legs drop pass where Anas would take to the net and slide it under the pad of Union’s Colin Stevens. The lead did not last long as less than a minute later as J.C. Bassard delivered a wrist shot from the point that was initially saved by Garteig but Ryan Scarfo was there to bat home the rebound to tie the game at one.
The game slowed down after the two early goals as both teams struggled to maintain possession and get any scoring chances.
“Your legs are tired and you got to be mentally tough,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We needed to have more urgency and play with more intensity and you want to end someone’s season, you have to be better than that.”
The second period was identical to the first as both teams would come out with more jump in the beginning of the period. The Bobcats would strike first yet again as freshman Kevin McKernan shot a wrister on net that was deflected by fellow freshman Bo Pieper to the stick of senior co-captain Matthew Peca who made no mistake and hit the open net.
The Dutchmen would strike back from a great individual effort from Max Novak who came flying down the wing and wristed the puck at Garteig who made the initial save but Novak, sliding down the ice, smacked his own rebound to tie the game at two.
Late in the second it looked like Quinnipiac was about to take the lead, putting a lot of pressure on Union’s defense, until Stevens made a highlight reel save on junior Soren Jonzzon. Jonzzon took a nice feed from Peca in front of the goal where he had a lot of net open but Stevens dove out and stretched his arm to glove Jonzzon’s back hander. Everyone at the High Point Solutions arena was in awe as they thought the Bobcats were about to take the lead.
“Our goalie kind of bailed us out again,” Union head coach Rick Bennett said. “Colin Stevens is a senior and obviously the last time I checked he’s a national champ from last year and he certainly played like one tonight.”
The save by Stevens proved to be the game-changer as the Dutchmen would go on to win the game in the third period. The Dutchmen were able to overcome two different one goal leads by the Bobcats to win by the final score of 3-2.
“This is playoff hockey and you have to keep battling back and stay with it because you’re never out of it as Quinnipiac proved last night,“ Bennett said.
What do the Bobcats have to improve on for tomorrow?
“A, we need to cover people. B, we need to compete harder and just get more in battle mode, very sluggish tonight,” Pecknold said.
Game three of the ECAC Quarterfinals will be at the High Point Solutions arena tomorrow in Hamden at 4 p.m.
