Kevin McKernan's Game-Winner Extends Winning Streak to Seven, No. 5 QU Men's Ice Hockey Downs Colgate, 3-2

Friday, November 6

Starr Rink // Hamilton, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

1-0-07-0-0; ECAC

Colgate University

0-1-03-5-0; ECAC

Quinnipiac

Colgate

Kevin McKernan's Game-Winner Extends Winning Streak to Seven, No. 5 QU Men's Ice Hockey Downs Colgate, 3-2

11/6/2015 9:16:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMILTON, New York – Kevin McKernan (Millbury, Massachusetts) scored the game-winning goal with 14:48 remaining in the third period to propel the nationally-ranked No. 5 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team to a 3-2 victory over the Colgate Raiders on Friday night at Starr Rink.

The victory was the Bobcats (7-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC Hockey) seventh straight win to open up the 2015-16 season, the longest winning streak to start a season in the program's Division I history. The Bobcats are three wins from tying the overall program record for consecutive wins to start a season, set during the Bobcats final season at the Division II level in 1997-98 when they started the season 10-0-0.

McKernan's game-winner was his first goal of the season and the second of his career as he gave the Bobcats the win over the Raiders (3-5-0, 0-1-0 ECAC Hockey) in the ECAC Hockey opener for both teams.

Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) passed the puck from the red line to Bo Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota) skating over the blue line into the offensive zone. Pieper turned his body to face the slot, where he found McKernan with pass to the top of the left faceoff circle. McKernan fired a shot high past Colgate goaltender Charlie Finn's blocker for the game-winning goal.

Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) scored his fourth goal of the season and 49^th of his career with a second period goal while Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) scored his third goal of the season after missing four games this season.

Thomas Aldworth (Keller, Texas), Soren Jonzzon (Mountain View, California), Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado), Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia), Clifton and Pieper all picked up assists in the win for the Bobcats.

Michael Garteig was solid in net for the Bobcats as he won his 53^rd career game between the pipes, stopping 24 of 26 shots he faced for his seventh win to start the season. The Bobcats outshot the Raiders 34-26 in the victory, including an impressive 21-5 performance in the second period.

Tim Clifton didn't miss a beat after missing the last four games as he gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead with 2:31 left in the first period. Jonzzon battled behind the goal to free the puck and send it into the corner. Clifton chased down the puck in the corner and popped it off the boards on angle to Aldworth at the outside of the left faceoff circle. Aldworth backhanded a centering feed to Clifton on top of the crease from behind the end line and Clifton tapped it past Finn's glove side to give the Bobcats the lead.

Anas doubled the Bobcats lead to 2-0 with 13:10 remaining in the second period for his 49^th career goal. St. Denis used his body to create a turnover as Colgate tried to clear the puck. Smith gathered the loose puck in the neutral zone where he backhanded a pass to Anas. Anas then skated the puck into the slot before wristing a shot over Finn's glove, off the post and in for the goal.

The Raiders stormed back five minutes later with two goals in a 26-second span to tie the game 2-2. Colgate initially cut Quinnipiac's lead in half with 8:12 to play in the second period after Evan Peterson skated the puck into the neutral zone and down the slot before ripping a shot. Peterson's shot was saved by Garteig but the rebound kicked out to Sebastian Weberg on the backdoor where he tapped home the rebound to cut the Bobcats' lead to 2-1.

Colgate tied the game 26 seconds later with Tim Harrison's unassisted goal. After a Quinnipiac turnover in the neutral zone, Harrison skated the puck from the red line into the offensive zone where he deked Garteig on top of the crease and slid the puck into the net past a sliding Garteig.

The Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team returns to action on Saturday night when they travel to Lynah Rink in Ithaca, New York to face the Cornell Big Red at 7 P.M.