Quinnipiac University
Colgate
No. 16 Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Defeats No. 20 Colgate, 4-2
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
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HAMILTON, New York – Nationally-ranked No. 16 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey clinched home ice advantage in the ECAC Hockey Tournament with a 4-2 win against No. 20 Colgate at Starr Rink in Hamilton, New York. Quinnipiac improves to 18-8-2 overall and 13-2-1 in ECAC Hockey play while Colgate drops to 15-10-3 overall and 7-6-3 in league play.
With the win, the Bobcats – currently in first place in the ECAC Hockey standings – can finish no lower than eighth place in the league standings. The Bobcats are now undefeated in their last eight league games (7-0-1) dating back to Dec. 27.
Junior Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) continued his strong play with Quinnipiac's first of four goals for his 12th of the year. St. Denis' goal was his second of the weekend after potting the game-winner in overtime at Cornell on Friday, Feb. 6. The Bobcats' top-line center now has six goals and six assists for 12 points in a nine-game point streak.
The Bobcats' victory at Starr Rink also featured three different freshmen finding the back of the net as Andrew Taverner (Edmonton, Alberta), Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) and Tanner MacMaster (Calgary, Alberta) all lit the lamp for Quinnipiac. The last time Quinnipiac had three different freshmen score was on Oct. 13, 2014 in a 4-1 win at Alaska when Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey), Derek Smith (Apple Valley, Minnesota) and Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) all scored.
In goal, Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) picked up his 17th win of the year after stopping 31 of Colgate's 33 shots on goal.
Colgate junior Tylor Spink gave the Raiders a 1-0 with his fifth goal of the year just 12 seconds into the game. Senior Joe Wilson carried the puck into the Bobcats zone and threw it on goal where Garteig steered it to his left. Spink was trailing the play and picked up the loose puck before wristing a shot to the opposite post.
Midway through the period, St. Denis scored his second of the weekend and 13th of the year to tie the game at 1-1. Derek Smith started the play deep in the Bobcats' zone, sending the puck up-ice to Bo Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota) just above the Bobcats blue line. Pieper centered a pass to St. Denis above the face-off circle to the left of Colgate goalie Charlie Finn. St. Denis walked across the zone, around the opposite face-off circle before firing a shot on goal from the goal line to Finn's right. The puck tucked in just over Finn's right shoulder to tie the game at 1-1.
With just under five minutes to play in the period, Taverner got on the board with his fourth goal of the season and his first in 17 games to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead. K.J. Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) held the puck along the boards next to Colgate's bench before zipping a pass to Justin Agosta (East Meadow, New York) at the point. Agosta's one-timer traveled through traffic before Taverner tipped it past Finn to give the Bobcats the lead, as Tiefenwerth and Agosta were credited with assists on the play.
In the second period, the Bobcats scored twice in a forty-two second clip. On the power play after a slashing call on Colgate's Anthony Sanniti, Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) held the puck behind Colgate's goal and fed Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) in the slot for the one-timer past Finn. Less than a minute later, freshman Tanner MacMaster (Calgary, Alberta) scored his third of the year to give Quinnipiac a 4-1 lead. Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) led the Bobcats' rush into Colgate's defensive zone, slid between the face-off circles and dropped a pass to Kevin McKernan (Millbury, Massachusetts) on the opposite post. After picking up two defenders, McKernan spun away from the Raiders' goal and dropped a no-look pass back to a blitzing MacMaster who one-timed the pass past Finn to pad Quinnipiac's lead. Freshman McKernan picked up his first career point on the play.
Late in the third, Colgate's John Lidgett cut Quinnipiac's lead to two goals with his fourth goal of the year, with assists credited to Tim Harrison and Anthony Sanniti.
Quinnipiac returns home next weekend to host St. Lawrence on Friday, Feb. 13 and Clarkson on Saturday, Feb. 14 for a pair of ECAC Hockey match-ups at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Connecticut.
