QU Men's Ice Hockey Blanks RIT, 4-0, To Advance To NCAA East Regional Final

Saturday, March 26

Times Union Center // Albany, NY

4 PM

Quinnipiac University

30-3-7

RIT

18-15-6

RIT

Quinnipiac

QU Men's Ice Hockey Blanks RIT, 4-0, To Advance To NCAA East Regional Final

3/26/2016 6:42:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

ALBANY, New York – Nationally-ranked No. 1/1 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey defeated RIT, 4-0, in the first game of the NCAA Tournament East Regional at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 30-3-7 on the year, matching its 2012-13 win total for the most in Bobcats' history. The Bobcats also improve to 4-4 in the NCAA Tournament all-time.

"I thought RIT was excellent. I was really impressed with how they came out," Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. "I thought Michael Garteig was our best player. Great battle mode. It was a nice, resilient win. Probably not our best game but I thought we were resilient as we've been all year."

Michael Garteig (Prince George, British Columbia) turned back everything that RIT threw at him to become just the fourth goalie in NCAA Division I history to record 19 shutouts for his career. Garteig also picks up his 76^th career victory for a tie of 15^th place in career wins all-time. Garteig finished the game with 27 saves in the win.

Soren Jonzzon (Mountain View, California) scored two goals to lead the Bobcats to their 4-0 win. Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) and Scott Davidson (Trail, British Columbia) each added one goal for the Bobcats. Devon Toews (Abbotsford, British Columbia) led the Bobcats with three points on three assists while Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) passed out two assists. Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) set-up Jonzzon's goal to give him a NCAA-leading nine assists and 10 points in the postseason.

The Bobcats broke through with a power-play goal with just over five minutes to play in the first period. After RIT's Caleb Cameron was whistled for interference, Devon Toews (Abbotsford, British Columbia) carried the puck into the RIT zone before and Travis St. Denis (Trail, British Columbia) moved the puck from point-to-point. Toews gave the puck to St. Denis, who fed the puck to Sam Anas (Potomac, Maryland) in the slot. Anas turned and sent it back out to St. Denis who one-timed a shot from the point past RIT goalie Mike Rotolo to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.

"Our power play is one of our strengths as a team and we knew early on that if we were going to get a power play we had to respond," St. Denis said. "I got lucky enough that my shot went in."

After a scoreless second period, Bobcats freshman Scott Davidson (Trail, British Columbia) gave Quinnipiac a two-goal lead less than three minutes into the third period. Toews handled the puck at the point before walking between the face-off circles and firing a shot on goal. RIT's Rotolo steered the puck to his left where Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) chased it down, spun and found Davidson streaking through the slot. Davidson stepped across the crease before popping the puck over Rotolo's glove to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.

"Getting that second goal was obviously huge for us," Jonzzon said. "We had a lot of momentum in the game at times and carried the play at times. We were happy to go into the third with a lead and we knew if we got one more it would give us a buffer and take some of the wind out of their sails."

Late in the third, Tim Clifton won a draw in his own zone back to Connor Clifton, who carried it the length of the ice. Connor then maneuvered around a RIT skater in the Tigers zone before sliding the puck to Jonzzon on a behind-the-back pass in the slot for the one-timer to give Quinnipiac a 3-0 lead. Minutes later, Jonzzon sent home his second goal of the game into the empty net to secure the win.

Quinnipiac will await the results of the 7:30 p.m. game between UMass Lowell and Yale to see who its opponent will be on Sunday, Mar. 27.