Quinnipiac University
23-14-2
St. Lawrence
17-13-7
Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Advances To ECAC Hockey Semifinals With 3-2 Win At No. 19 St. Lawrence
3/12/2017 9:01:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
CANTON, New York – Quinnipiac men's ice hockey defeated No. 19 St. Lawrence, 3-2, in the third and deciding game of the Bobcats' three-game ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series in Canton, New York. With the win, the Bobcats advance to the ECAC Hockey Championship Semifinals at the 1980 Rink at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York on Mar. 17 where they'll face tournament top-seed Harvard. This marks the fifth consecutive trip to the league semifinals for the Bobcats who improve to 23-14-2 overall while St. Lawrence drops to 17-13-7.
Thomas Aldworth (Keller, Texas), Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) and Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey) all scored for the Bobcats while Bo Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota) had two assists in the Bobcats' win. Andrew Shortridge (Anchorage, Alaska) stopped 20 of St. Lawrence's 22 shots on goal to improve to 4-1 in the ECAC Hockey Championship tournament.
Aldworth broke a scoreless tie midway through the first period with his ninth goal of the season coming on the power play. Luke Shiplo (Oakville, Ontario) held the puck between the face-off circles before sending pass to Pieper (Roseville, Minnesota). Pieper dropped a pass to Aldworth on the goal line who wheeled and sent a shot on goal. The puck sailed wide of St. Lawrence goalie Kyle Hayton but caromed off a defenseman's skate in the crease and into the net to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
Both team's played back-and-forth through the end of the first period and for most of the second period before Quinnipiac struck twice in less than three-and-a-half minutes with just under eight minutes to play in the middle frame.
The first goal came after Karlis Cukste (Riga, Latvia) took control of the puck behind the Quinnipiac net and fed Pieper along the boards. Pieper made a brilliant cross-ice pass to Connor Clifton in the neutral zone, who took off down-ice. Clifton skated in on Hayton and ripped a pass across the slot to Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) before ducking behind the net. Smith was tied up in front but managed to direct the puck on Hayton. Clifton then popped out from behind the net and batted the rebound past St. Lawrence's goalie to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later, Whelan picked a player clean at the Saints' blue line and took off down-ice. All alone, Whelan blasted a shot on Whelan, beating the St. Lawrence goalie glove-side to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
Heading into Friday night's game, Quinnipiac was held scoreless on 94 shots over 200-plus minutes. Following Friday night's loss, the Bobcats have now scored six goals on their last 51 shots through the last 120 minutes of play.
St. Lawrence got on the board with a power-play goal late in the second period. Ben Finkelstein fed Eric Sweetman in the slot who wristed a shot from point blank range and tucked his third goal of the year just under the cross bar to cut Quinnipiac's lead to two goals, 3-1, heading into the second intermission. Mike Marnell added another goal midway through the final period to move the Saints within a goal down the stretch. Frantic play ensued over the closing minutes before the Bobcats were able to hold-off the late Saints' charge.
