For the second time in three games, the Quinnipiac Bobcats came back from down multiple goals to win. The visiting Clarkson Golden Knights played a solid 65 minutes in what was a 2-2 tie, but the Bobcats snagged the extra point in the ECAC standings in the shootout. 

The Golden Knights played a perfect road period of hockey in the first, allowing just six shots on goal against in the first twenty minutes. Alex Campbell cashed in on a rebound at the 5:14 mark of the first period on the power play for his fifth goal of the season. Noah Beck and Jack Jacome got the assists on the early tally, and Clarkson carried a 1-0 lead over Quinnipiac after the first. 

“I thought we were gliding too much,” said Quinnipiac Coach Rand Pecknold. “We just didn’t have a lot of energy early on.” 

The middle frame told a similar story.  Captain Jordan Power struck for Clarkson with a potent wrister from the point to make it 2-0 for the Golden Knights at the 1:23 mark. 

Quinnipiac didn’t take too long to respond, as defenseman Griffin Mendel scored his first of the season off of a point shot himself, with Marcus Chorney and Ethan de Young recording assists to cut the Clarkson lead in half. 

“The energy was up,” said Mendel as he discussed the team’s energy after his tally. “We knew we were never out of the game… it gave us a little bit of extra jump.” 

Clarkson held on to the 2-1 lead after the second, and played solid hockey while doing so. At around the halfway point of the period, the Golden Knights spent a copious amount of time in the Bobcats’ end, urging Pecknold to use his timeout with 6:27 left in the period after an icing. 

“We got guys stuck out there a long time,” said Pecknold. “I thought a couple kids were exhausted… we didn’t want to give up another goal. You hate to burn your timeout like that.” 

Things changed in the final frame. 

It took seven and a half minutes for the Bobcats to get a shot on goal in the third period, but Guus Van Nes made it count as he cut across the crease and finished on his backhand for his first of the year, with his linemate Oliver Chau, picking up an assist to tie the contest. 

The score remained even at two heading into overtime with the Bobcats having a slight edge in shots, 18-17 in what was a defensive and physical affair. 

Overtime was played like a chess match. Both teams were ultra-cautious of not turning the puck over, and it didn’t lead to many chances in overtime with the exception of a Campbell breakaway in the dying seconds which was turned aside by Yaniv Perets, as he angled the surging Campbell away. 

For ECAC hockey, the shootout determines who gets an extra point in the standings, so the clubs stayed on the ice for it. 

Perets put on a clinic in the shootout, denying all three Golden Knight attempts, while captain Wyatt Bongiovanni scored five hole on Ethan Haider for the lone shootout goal. 

In non-conference action, the game counts as a tie for both schools. In the ECAC standings, the game counts as a tie as well but, since Quinnipiac took it in the shootout, they grabbed an extra point in the standings. The Bobcats moved their ECAC record to an almost perfect 2-0-1. 

The Bobcats will be back in action Saturday night against St. Lawrence, while Clarkson will truck down to Princeton for a battle tomorrow night.