New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Bobcats Top Notch
Quinnipiac tops Yale to win ECAC regular-season title
NEW HAVEN — Expectations were a bit on the low side for perennial the ECAC championship contending Quinnipiac men’s hockey team.
The Bobcats lost some offensive firepower off a sub .500 team so it was not a surprise to see the Bobcats only picked to finish eighth in the ECAC’s preseason poll. A freshmen laden Quinnipiac team had no plans on finishing in the middle of the pack as the Bobcats headed into Saturday’s regularseason finale with a chance to win the ECAC title.
Nick Jermain, a junior from Norwalk, had two goals and classmate Andrew Shortridge stopped 24 shots as the visiting Bobcats rolled to a 4-1 win over Yale at Ingalls Rink. Needing a tie or loss by Cornell, the Bobcats got some help seven hours away when Clarkson’s Josh Dunn forced overtime with 43 seconds remaining in the third period. After finishing with the customary handshakes with the Yale players, the Bobcats got word of the Cornell-Clarkson game ending in a 2-2 tie to give Quinnipiac the No. 1 seed in the ECAC tournament.
Things got a little feisty in the third period with three ejections and a pair of 10-minute misconducts as the rivals mixed it up after nearly after whistle.
Quinnipiac came out buzzing around the Yale net with Tyler Welsh, Justin Pearson and Andrew Gaus had shots on Yale goalie Sam Tucker in the first
two minutes. After offsetting roughing penalties had the teams with four skaters aside, Ethan de Jong had some extra room and his wrist shot from the left faceoff circle beat Tucker at 4:09. It was the freshman’s 10th goal of the season.
The Bobcats had the first 12 shots but the Bulldogs began to get more physical as the first period went on and got some momentum on a penalty kill. The period ended with the Bulldogs having nine of the last 10 shots in the first period including a couple off the stick of dangerous senior Joe Snively.
Yale’s best scoring chance in the first period came when a drop pass was left for Justin Pearson with 4:30 left in the period but the freshman was unable to get to the puck before the Quinnipiac defense closed in before Pearson could poke the puck inside the left post.
The second period started much like the first as Quinnipiac had the first eight shots. Half of them came in a wild flurry ending with Nick Jermain, a junior winger from Norwalk, shooting the puck from behind the net off of Tucker and into the net for his fourth goal of the season at 1:59.
At the 9:30 mark a scrum behind the Quinnipiac resulted with Yale’s Welsh leaving the ice after being cut. After review, senior defenseman and captain Chase Priskie was issued a 5-minute major for kicking and thrown out of the game. Priskie was held out of the scoring column in the game preventing him from being the 18th Division I defenseman since the 2004-05 to record 40 points in a season, a number he has a chance to reach in the upcoming ECAC tournament. Welch was able to return to the ice during the ensuing power play.
Yale (13-13-3, 11-10-1 in the ECAC) did manage a pair of shots on the extended power play but couldn’t cut into the Quinnipiac lead.
Joe O’Connor, a freshman from Hamden, knocked a puck out of the air in the high slot and fed to pass to freshman TJ Friedmann. Friedmann’s third goal of the season at 17:14 pushed the lead to 3-0 and 1:52 later Jermain scored on a breakaway to give the Bobcats the 4-0 advantage.
Shortridge got help from junior defenseman Brogan Rafferty who blocked a shot from Palecco after making the initial save. With the left side of the goal empty with Yale on a power play, Palecco’s shot likely would have given the Bulldogs their first goal against Quinnipiac in two games this season. Shortridge took care of matters himself robbing Kyle Johnson on a glorious scoring opportunity a couple minutes later.
Midway through the third both Yale defenseman and captain and Quinnipiac defenseman Luke Shipio were ejected for fighting.
Quinnipiac (25-7-2, 146-2) was picked to finish eighth in the ECAC preseason poll, one spot behind Yale. With the dynamic Andrew Shortridge, who came into the game leading the nation with a 1.41 goals against average and the highest scoring freshman class in the country the Bobcats have put together a championship run.
Yale senior Ted Hart got the Bulldogs on the board at 17:38.