Derek Smith Scores OT Game-Winner As No. 1/2 Bobcats Top No. 4/5 Harvard, 5-4, At MSG

Saturday, January 9

Madison Square Garden // New York, N.Y.

7:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

19-1-3, 10-0-2

Harvard University

8-3-3, 4-3-3

OT 1

Quinnipiac

Harvard

Derek Smith Scores OT Game-Winner As No. 1/2 Bobcats Top No. 4/5 Harvard, 5-4, At MSG

1/9/2016 9:49:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

NEW YORK, New York – Quinnipiac men's ice hockey junior Derek Smith (Apple Valley, Minnesota) scored the overtime game-winner two-minutes-and-five seconds into overtime to give the No. 1/2 Bobcats a 5-4 win against No. 4/5 Harvard in front of 12,016 at Madison Square Garden. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 19-1-3 overall and 10-0-2 in ECAC Hockey while Harvard drops to 9-2-3 and 4-2-3 in league play.

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The play developed midway throught the overtime period when Quinnipiac junior Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) took the puck off a Harvard skater's stick and dropped the puck back to Scott Davidson (Trail, British Columbia). Davidson attempted to jam the puck on Harvard goalie, but was denied. The puck slid out to the opposite face-off circle where Smith pcked it up and one-timed it past Harvard's goalie to give the Bobcats the win.

Quinnipiac controlled the puck for a majority of the first period, which was highlighted by three goals in thirty-six seconds in what ended up being a four-goal period. The Bobcats' offensive explosion signaled the ninth time this season that Quinnipiac scored three or more goals in a period, and the fourth time it scored four times in a single frame. Alex Miner-Barron (Glendora, California), K.J. Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) and Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) provided the offensive rush before Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) scored moments later to give Quinnipiac a 4-0 lead through the first period.

Miner-Barron's goal came after he broke up a play in the neutral zone, skated to the face-off circle to the right of Harvard goalie Michael Lackey and wristed a shot over the Crimson goalie's shoulder to put Quinnipiac in front, 1-0. Twenty-three seconds later, Tommy Schutt (Chanhassan, Minnesota) fired the puck off of Lackey's pad, leaving a rebound on the doorstep for Tiefenwerth. Anas' 13^th goal of the year came thirteen seconds later off a pass from St. Denis, who added his 12^th goal of the year less than four minutes later.

Coming out of the first intermission, Harvard's Alexander Kerfoot took a pass from Jimmy Vesey and beat Garteig to make it 4-1, just seven minutes into the period. Less than four minutes later, Tyler Moy scored on the power play, walking into the Bobcats' defensive zone and dancing around a pair of Quinnipiac players before wristing the puck past Garteig to cut Quinnipiac's lead to 4-2. With less than three minutes to play in the period, Ryan Donato scored to pull the Crimson within a goal, 4-3.
Midway through the third period, Colin Blackwell – who also assisted on goals by Kerfoot and Donato – scored his third goal of the year when he wristed a shot past Garteig to tie the game at 4-4.

Quinnipiac is back in action when it travels to Orono, Maine to take on the University of Maine on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.

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