The No. 1 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team scored 80 seconds into game three against the No. 8 Cornell Big Red and never looked back. Quinnipiac defeated Cornell by a score of 6-3 on Sunday afternoon to punch their ticket to Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals.
The Bobcats scored 15 goals from 11 different skaters in a weekend that saw back-and-forth action from the teams.
“I think it shows the strength of our team which is depth and the ability to roll four lines,” Quinnipiac associate head coach Bill Riga said. “I think in a series like this rolling those four lines is huge for us, especially in a three-game series.”
The Bobcats’ 15 goals in the series ties a Quinnipiac program record for goals scored in a postseason series.
Quinnipiac freshman Scott Davidson got the scoring started for the Bobcats when he corralled the puck and swung from behind the net to get in front of Cornell goaltender Mitch Gillam, who he beat for his sixth goal of the season to put Quinnipiac on the board early.
Thirty-one seconds after Davidson’s goal, Quinnipiac junior defenseman Connor Clifton rocketed a slap shot off the back of a Cornell defensemen that dropped right onto Bo Pieper’s tape which the sophomore put past Gillam to move the Bobcats lead to two.
After a quick answer from the Big Red, the Bobcats jumped back out to a two-goal lead with some good passing in the offensive zone. Junior K.J. Tiefenwerth worked the puck from behind the net out in front to sophomore Tanner MacMaster who passed it across the crease on a one-time pass to Bo Pieper who finished for his second goal of the game.
After the first two games saw the Bobcats not as successful on the power play as they have been in the regular season, Quinnipiac returned to use the power play to its advantage as they scored twice on the man advantage in the second period to put the game out of reach.
Quinnipiac junior defenseman Derek Smith found freshman Chase Priskie at the point where Priskie quickly rifled a pass to sophomore Andrew Taverner for his fifth goal of the season to put the Bobcats up, 4-1.
The Bobcats wasted little time extending their lead to four when they found themselves back on the power play with under a minute to play in the middle period. Junior Sam Anas connected for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season to send Quinnipiac into the second intermission up 5-1. The goal was just the Maryland native’s first of the series.
“Some games (Anas) is all over the ice and all over the puck and some games he’s a little quiet, but he always finds himself on the score sheet,” Riga said. “And that’s why he is special. Even when he doesn’t even have his A-game, he still finds a way to help us win.”
Quinnipiac will now travel Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals for the fourth year in a row for a showdown next Friday with Dartmouth. The Bobcats are looking for their first ever Whitelaw Cup.
“We are a confident team, no doubt. We have come from behind and have put together a pretty nice season,” Quinnipiac captain Soren Jonzzon said. “So I think the confidence is pretty high and we like our chances.”
