No. 15 Quinnipiac Opens Season With 5-3 Win Against Bentley In Front Of Sell-Out Crowd of 3, 420 At High Point Solutions Arena

Saturday, October 11

High Point Solutions Arena - Hamden, Conn.

7 pm

Quinnipiac University

Bentley

No. 15 Quinnipiac Opens Season With 5-3 Win Against Bentley In Front Of Sell-Out Crowd of 3, 420 At High Point Solutions Arena

10/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

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HAMDEN, Conn. – The nationally-ranked No. 15 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team defeated Bentley, 5-3, in its home-opener in front of a sell-out crowd of 3,420 at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. The Bobcats open the year at 1-0-0 while Bentley starts at 0-1-0 on the season.

Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) scored twice to lead Quinnipiac, while Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) had a goal and an assist. Bo Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota) scored the Bobcats' first goal of the season, and the first of his career, while senior co-captain Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) had a goal and an assist in the Bobcats win. Freshman Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) and Andrew Taverner (Edmonton, Alberta) had assists for their first career points. Quinnipiac goalie Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) picked up his 25th career victory in the Bobcats' season-opening win.

Fresham Pieper gave Quinnipiac the early lead when he scored just 7:38 into the first period. Pieper fired on Bentley goalie Gabe Antoni from the slot and skated to the face-off circle to the left of the Falcons' goalie. Soren Jonzzon (Grand View, California) crashed the net and tipped it to Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) who fed it to Pieper. Pieper's one-timer beat Antoni glove-side to give Quinnipiac the 1-0 lead.

Bentley responded moments later when Max French won a face-off to the right of Bobcats' goalie Garteig, back to Steve Weinstein along the boards. Weinstein gave it back to French who crept along the goalline, stepped out in front of Garteig and wrapped it around the Bobcats' goalie to the opposite post.

With less than a minute to play in the period, it was another second-effort that resulted in a Bobcats' goal. Taverner zipped a pass to Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) who bombed a puck from the point that was stopped by Antoni. St. Denis rushed Antoni, climbing over the Falcons' goalie and re-directing the loose puck into the Bentley goal to give Quinnipiac a one-goal lead at the end of the first period.

Eight minutes into the second period, Chris Buchanan picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone in front of the Bobcats bench and centered a pass to French. French took off down-ice, two-on-one with teammate Andrew Gladiuk. Gladiuk took a pass from French in the face-off circle to Garteig's right and roofed a shot over the Bobcats' goalie right shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.

Midway through the second period, Bentley had numbers deep in Quinnipiac's zone, and it appeared that Steve Weinstein's shot on Garteig found the back of the net, but Gladiuk crashed into the Bobcats' goalie as the puck crossed. After Bentley's go-ahead goal was waved off, Peca won the ensuing face-off on the other end of the ice, back to Devon Toews (Abbotsford, British Columbia). Toews gave the puck back to Peca who turned and fired on Antoni. Peca found space over Antoni's right shoulder for his 35^th career goal.

Quinnipiac started the third period on the power play, and just 29 seconds into the final frame, the Bobcats capitalized with Anas scoring off a rebound to give Quinnipiac a 4-2 lead. Smith handled the puck at the point and fired on Bentley, but the puck was knocked down and picked up by St. Denis. St. Denis was denied but Anas grabbed the puck and snuck it past Antoni to give Quinnipiac the two-goal lead.

After back-to-back Quinnipiac penalties late in the third period, French converted his second goal of the night on the 5-on-3 power play. The Falcons moved the puck around the zone before French received the puck on the goal line and snuck one under the bar to make the score 4-3 with just under three minutes to play.

With less than a minute to play, Anas added his second goal of the night - this one coming on an empty net. Peca broke up a Bentley pass, which was picked up by Tommy Schutt (Chanhassen, Minnesota) who fed Anas all alone up-ice with the empty goal.

Quinnipiac returns to action when it takes on UMass Lowell on Friday, Oct. 17 at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts before hosting the River Hawks on Saturday, Oct. 18 at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center.