Clifton Brothers Combine for Six Points, No. 2/3 QU Men's Ice Hockey Routs Princeton, 6-0

Tuesday, December 29

Hobey Baker Rink // Princeton, NJ

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

16-1-2, 7-0-2

Princeton University

4-10, 3-6

Quinnipiac

Princeton

Clifton Brothers Combine for Six Points, No. 2/3 QU Men's Ice Hockey Routs Princeton, 6-0

12/29/2015 10:04:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

PRINCETON, New Jersey – The nationally-ranked No. 2/3 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team throttled home five goals in the first period and never looked back Tuesday night on their way to a 6-0 shutout of the Princeton Tigers at Hobey Baker Rink.

The Bobcats five-goal first period was their first five-goal period since Nov. 1, 2013 and first time they netted five first period goals since beating American International on Feb. 13, 2007 in an 8-1 win. In that win over American International, the Bobcats scored five goals in the first 10:47 while the Bobcats scored five goals on Tuesday night in 16:34.

Quinnipiac got back in the win column after falling to Boston University on Dec. 12, improving to 16-1-2 and remaining unbeaten in ECAC Hockey play with a 7-0-2 record. Princeton dropped its 10^th game of the season, falling to 4-10-0 (3-6-0 ECAC Hockey).

Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) and Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) enjoyed their homecoming game in their home state of New Jersey as Tim tallied four points on one goal and three assists and Connor picked up a multiple-point night with one goal and one assist. Tim's four-point night was the first of his career, setting new single-game career-highs in points and assists. Tim claimed sole possession of the team-lead with 11 goals on the season while he picked up his eighth assist for his 19th point. The last four-point game for the Bobcats was Andrew Taverner (Edmonton, Alberta) at Cornell on Nov. 7, 2015. Connor Clifton recorded his second career multiple-point game, as he picked up his fourth goal and eighth assist of the season.

Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) tallied his sixth multiple-point game of the season with a pair of power play points, after picking up his ninth goal of the season and 10^th assist for 19 points. St. Denis remains tied with Tim Clifton for the most power play goals on the team with six each.

With a pair of assists, Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) extended his team-leading point total to 21 points as he picked up his 10^th and 11^th assists of the season. Anas assisted both power play goals for the Bobcats to give him 10 power play points on the season, tied with St. Denis for the most in ECAC Hockey.

KJ Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) netted his fourth goal of the season and sixth of his career in the win for the Bobcats while Tanner MacMaster (Calgary, Alberta) scored his first goal of the season.

Chase Priskie (Pembroke Pines, Florida), Kevin McKernan (Millbury, Massachusetts) and Soren Jonzzon (Mountain View, California) each tallied assists in the win. With the assist, Priskie reclaimed in the ECAC Hockey lead with 13 assists on the season.

Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) continued to dominate between the pipes as he picked up his nation-leading 16^th win of the season with 21 saves in the contest. Jacob Meyers (Chanhassen, Minnesota) played the final 8:28 of the third period, picking up three saves in his first game since Feb. 7, 2014 against Clarkson.

Connor Clifton got the scoring started for the Bobcats just 1:34 into the first period with his fourth goal of the season to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. Clifton's goal is the second time this month the Bobcats scored a goal in the first two minutes of the game, with Tim Clifton scoring 1:12 into the game at Brown on Dec. 5. McKernan dumped the puck down low from the half boards to Tim Clifton skating behind the net. After taking the puck out of traffic, he sent a pass to the right point for his brother, Connor, who sniped a shot past Princeton goaltender Colton Phinney's glove side.

Under four minutes later, Tiefenwerth doubled the Bobcats lead to 2-0 with 14:47 to play in the second period. Priskie popped the puck up along the boards to center ice for Tiefenwerth, who skated the puck from the right side of the offensive zone, deking through the defense before backhanding a shot for the goal.

Just 1:39 later, the Bobcats took a 3-0 lead on Derek Smith first goal since the second game of his career in the 2013-14 season. Tim Clifton fired a shot wide from the right faceoff circle and the rebound was collected by Connor Clifton at the left boards. Clifton tapped a pass to Smith at the point where he blasted a shot through traffic.

The Bobcats capped off one of their best starts in program history on Tim Clifton's power play goal with 11:55 to play in the first period. Anas gathered the puck on the left wall and zipped a pass across the zone to St. Denis at the top of the right faceoff circle. St. Denis fired a shot on Phinney where he made a pad save, but the rebound trickled to Tim Clifton who quickly shifted the puck to his forehand and buried home the rebound.

St. Denis finished off the Bobcats prolific first period with the Bobcats' second power play goal to make it 5-0 with just 3:26 to play in the period. Once again, Anas worked with the puck on the left half wall before shifting the puck to Clifton on the end line. Clifton fired a pass across the crease to St. Denis on the weak side, who ripped the puck past a sliding Phinney.

MacMaster picked up the second period where the Bobcats left off in the first period with a tally 2:03 into the second period. Jonzzon snagged a pass along the left boards at the red line before dumping off a pass for MacMaster on his left. MacMaster skated with speed into the offensive zone where he blasted a shot high past Phinney's glove.

The Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team and Princeton Tigers will wrap up the home and home trip Wednesday night in Hamden, Connecticut where the Bobcats and Tigers will battle at High Point Solutions Arena with puck drop set for 7 P.M.