Quinnipiac University
Harvard
No. 7 Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey's Falls To No. 17 Harvard, 5-2, In ECAC Hockey Semifinals
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
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LAKE PLACID, New York – Nationally-ranked No. 7 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey lost to Harvard, 5-2, in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York. With the loss, the Bobcats await the results from around NCAA Division I hockey to learn their fate in the upcoming national tournament. Quinnipiac drops to 23-11-4 this season while Harvard improves to 20-12-3 and advances to the ECAC Hockey Championship game on Saturday night.
With the Bobcats trailing 3-0 to the Crimson to start the second period, Soren Jonzzon (Mountain View, California) and Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) both scored in the second period to close the gap after trailing by three goals after the first period.
The Crimson jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 30 seconds into the game, eventually taking a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period. St. Denis and Jonzzon scored in the second period but the Bobcats could not complete the comeback after trailing early.
Jonzzon's goal was his third goal of the postseason and eighth goal overall this season as he continues to raise his career-high numbers with his 20th career point. St. Denis found the back of the net for the 15th time this season with a shorthanded goal early in the second period. It was St. Denis' first goal and third point of the postseason, as well as his first career shorthanded goal.
Matthew Peca (Petawawa, Ontario) recorded his team-leading 29th assist of the season and 101st of his career on Jonzzon's goal, while Alex Barron (Glendora, California) tallied his seventh assist of the season and Justin Agosta (East Meadow, New York) picked up his 19th assist of the season on St. Denis' goal.
Jimmy Vesey scored two goals to lead the Crimson offensively while Alexander Kerfoot tied for the team lead in points with two assists. Colin Blackwell, Tyler Moy and Sean Malone each also scored goals for Harvard in their 5-2 victory.
Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) made 23 saves on 26 shots and backup goaltender Sean Lawrence (Granite Bay, California) made three saves in 4:32 of game action. Harvard netminder Steve Michalek made 20 saves on 22 shots between the pipes for the Crimson.
30 seconds into the contest, Vesey circled around the backside of the net and came out around the right side. Vesey flung the puck towards the slot with a centering feed where it banked off a Quinnipiac defenseman and past Garteig to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.
Blackwell took advantage of a Quinnipiac turnover while the Bobcats were on the penalty kill to make it 2-0 in favor of the Crimson. The Bobcats tried to clear the puck up the left boards, but the puck came back, directed to Blackwell at the left point. Blackwell stepped into a shot and rifled the puck past Garteig's right shoulder for the goal.
Only 33 seconds later, the Crimson extended their lead to 3-0 as Moy got into the scoring action. Clay Anderson fired a pass from the Harvard defensive zone to Moy on the opposite blue line. Moy streaked in between both Bobcats defenders where he skated one-on-one with Garteig and poked it past the Bobcats' netminder.
St. Denis put the first Bobcat goal on the board with a shorthanded goal with 9:05 remaining in the second period. Agosta skated the puck up two-on-one with Barron after a Harvard turnover in the neutral zone. Barron spun to tap the puck to St. Denis on a pass from Agosta, where St. Denis fired a shot wide. The rebound kicked off the end boards back towards the net where St. Denis was positioned to corral the puck to his backhand and slide it into the back of the net.
The Bobcats nearly made it 3-2 with 5:34 left in the second period as Andrew Taverner (Edmonton, Alberta) skated the puck into the left faceoff circle where he set up a centering feed to Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) in the slot. Clifton tipped the puck into Michalek where after a few seconds the puck jostled into the net when Michelak could not recover it. The officials ruled that the whistled had sounded before the puck slid over the goalline, which was confirmed on replay.
34 seconds later, the Bobcats did cut Harvard's lead to 3-2 as Jonzzon converted on a one-timer. Michalek played the puck behind the Harvard net after Quinnipiac dumped the puck in and backhanded the puck along the left boards. Peca intercepted the pass and redirected it to Jonzzon in the left faceoff circle where he one-timed a shot through Michalek's legs as he was returning to the net.
Harvard added a pair of empty-netters in the third period as Vesey scored one with 1:36 remaining and Malone added the other with 59.4 seconds left to make it 5-2.
The Bobcats will await the completion of conference tournament games to find out if they will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Hockey Championship Selection Show will take place on Sunday, March 22 at 12 P.M. The selection show will be hosted by John Buccigross on ESPNU.
