Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Falls To Union, 3-2; Bobcats and Dutchmen Meet In Deciding Third Game Of ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals On Sunday, Mar. 15

Saturday, March 14

7 pm

Quinnipiac University

Union

Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Falls To Union, 3-2; Bobcats and Dutchmen Meet In Deciding Third Game Of ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals On Sunday, Mar. 15

3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

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HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team lost to Union, 3-2, in the second game of its best-of-three ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals Series at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. Quinnipiac drops to 22-10-4 while Union improves to 19-17-2.

Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) and Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) scored for Quinnipiac while Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia), Derek Smith (Apple Valley, Minnesota), Bo Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota) and Kevin McKernan (Millbury, Massachusetts) had assists for the Bobcats. In goal, Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) stopped 25 shots.

Anas picked up where he left off from the previous night, scoring his third goal of the series to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead early in the game. Smith made the initial play, winning a battle in the corner to get the puck to St. Denis. St. Denis and Anas played the puck back and forth before St. Denis finished with a drop-passbetween his legs on the goall. The Bobcats' leading goal-scorer's 23rd marker of the year came three minutes and 46 seconds into the game.

Union responded twenty-seven seconds later when Dan Ciampini started the play by wrapping the puck around the boards where it was picked up by J.C. Brassard. Brassard threw the puck on goal, which Garteig turned away before Ryan Scarfo grabbed the rebound and deposited his 11th goal of the year to tie the game at 1-1.

Quinnipiac regained the lead on Peca's sixth goal of the season early in the second period. Peca held the puck in the left face-off cirlce and fed it to McKernan along the boards. As Peca skated to the front of the Union net, McKernan wristed a shot on goal that Pieper was able to get a stick on. With the puck resting just above the crease, Peca picked it up, walked across the goal mouth and flipped the puck past Union goalie Colin Stevens' blocker to give Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead.

Union tied the game for the second time on Max Novak's 10th goal of the year. Scarfo assisted on the goal after carrying it into the Bobcats' defensive zone and handing it off to Novak. Novak one-timed the puck but it was his second effort to swipe at the puck off the rebound that gave Union the neutralizer with less than seven minutes to play in the period.

With four minutes to play Michael Pontarelli scored his second goal of the weekend after he took a pass from Nick Cruice in front of the Bobcats' goal and one-timed it past Garteig. Cruice carried the puck deep in the Bobcats defensive zone, below the goal line and centered a pass out in front to Pontarelli for the go-ahead goal.

The series, now tied at 1-1, resumes on Sunday, Mar. 15 with the deciding Game 3 set for a 4 p.m. start. Quinnipiac is 1-5 all-time in ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals Game 3's, with his lone win coming in double overtime against Cornell on Mar. 17, 2013.