No. 5/5 Men's Ice Hockey Set for North Country Weekend Series

Friday, February 1

Potsdam, N.Y. / Cheel Arena

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Clarkson

Tickets

Men's Ice Hockey Goal Celebration vs. Holy Cross

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

No. 5/5 Men's Ice Hockey Set for North Country Weekend Series

1/31/2019 10:36:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Open Weekend with Top 10 Showdown at No. 10/10 Clarkson, Face St. Lawrence Saturday

By: QU Athletic Communications

#5/5 Quinnipiac Bobcats (18-5-1, 7-4-1 ECAC Hockey) at
#10/10 Clarkson Golden Knights (17-7-0, 8-4-0 ECAC Hockey)
Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 | 7:00 PM
Cheel Arena | Potsdam, N.Y.
All-Time vs. Clarkson: 15-11-3 (Lost last meeting, 4-2, at Clarkson on Feb. 24, 2018)

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#5/5 Quinnipiac Bobcats (18-5-1, 7-4-1 ECAC Hockey) at
St. Lawrence Saints (3-20-1, 1-10-1 ECAC Hockey)
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 | 7:00 PM
Appleton Arena | Canton, N.Y.
All-Time vs. St. Lawrence: 13-15-4 (Won last meeting, 3-2, at St. Lawrence on Feb. 23, 2018)

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HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team is set to return to the ice after 10 days off as the Bobcats travel to the North Country to take on the No. 10/10 Clarkson Golden Knights and St. Lawrence Saints in an ECAC Hockey weekend series.

Last Time Out
Quinnipiac skated past the Holy Cross Crusaders, 4-1, in the final non-conference game of the 2018-19 regular season on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Desi Burgart put the Bobcats on the board before Alex Whelan, William Fällström and Brandon Fortunato added goals in the win. Andrew Shortridge continued his solid play in net, making 25 saves in his 10^th win.

Scouting Clarkson
The Golden Knights are among the hottest teams in the nation at the moment as they are winnings of nine of their last 10 games heading into the weekend. Clarkson's only loss in that span came this past weekend, a 4-3 overtime loss at Harvard. Overall, Clarkson comes into the weekend with a 17-7-0 record and are tied for third in ECAC Hockey with an 8-4-0 league record. Nico Sturm is having a phenomenal season with 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points, all tops on the team, while Haralds Egle is second on the team with 11 goals, 15 assists and 26 points. Once again, Jake Kielly is among the best ECAC Hockey goaltenders as he sports a 1.83 GAA and .932 save percentage along with five shutouts and his 17-7-0 record. Clarkson is also dangerous on special teams as it is 20.7 percent on the power play while the penalty kill is at 85.1 percent.

All-Time vs. Clarkson
Quinnipiac is 15-11-3 all-time against Clarkson as the two teams head into their 30^th all-time meeting. The two teams split the season series last year in 2017-18 with the home team winning each game. No team has swept the season series since the 2012-13 season when the Bobcats recorded both wins on the way to their first national championship game appearance.

Scouting St. Lawrence
The Saints have struggled this season to the tune of a 3-20-1 record and 1-10-1 mark in league play. St. Lawrence heads into the weekend with a nine-game losing streak and its last win coming at home against Clarkson on Dec. 7. Junior Carson Gicewicz leads the Saints with eight assists and 11 points on the season while freshman David Jankowski is tied with sophomore Cade Gleekel for the team lead with five goals. Gicewicz is the lone Saint with double-digit points this season but four players have nine and three more have eight. Goaltender Arthur Brey has seen the bulk of the starts this season, but has a 4.13 GAA and .896 save percentage. St. Lawrence comes into the weekend at 16.5 percent on the power play while the penalty kill has struggled at 78.7 percent.

All-Time vs. St. Lawrence
Quinnipiac is 13-15-4 in its 32 all-time meetings with St. Lawrence but have held the upper hand of late, winning four consecutive games against the Saints are a 4-2-1 since the beginning of the 2016-17 season. The Saints have not swept the season series since the 2011-12 season.

National Polls
The Bobcats moved back into the top five of the USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll on Monday. In addition to moving into the Top Five, the Bobcats also received a first-place vote in the USCHO Poll, it's first first-place vote since the Sept. 26, 2016 poll after the Bobcats reached the national championship game in the 2015-16 season.

Top Plays
Brogan Rafferty and Desi Burgart combined for the No. 1 Play of the Week in the NCAA Ice Hockey Plays of the Week after a fantastic goal against Holy Cross. Rafferty hit Burgart with a no-look pass before Burgart lifted the shot top shelf past Holy Cross goaltender Tommy Nixon's glove. To watch the play, CLICK HERE.

Priskie Business
Priskie is on the cusp of one of the best seasons in program history as he is tied for first in the nation with eight power-play goals and five game-winning goals, second with 16 power-play points, 13th in the nation with 13 goals and eighth with 28 points. He ranks first in the nation among defensemen in power-play goals, power-play points, and game-winning goals while he is second with 13 goals and 29 points. Priskie is looking to become the first Quinnipiac defensemen since Devon Toews in 2015-16 to record 30 points in a season and just the fourth defensemen to have a 30-point season in the program's Division I era.

Priskie Power
After recording the 100^th point of his career on Dec. 29, Priskie continues to put home the points as he has points in back-to-back games. He now has 35 career goals, which is just three back from tying the program record for goals by a defensemen. Priskie is also second among defensemen in program history with 106 points and his 71 assists are tied for third. Nationally, Priskie leads all defensemen in their careers with 35 goals, 22 power-play goals and 106 points.

B40
Brandon Fortunato has been tearing it up for the Bobcats as of late as he rides a four-game point streak into the weekend, recording six points on three goals and three assists in that span. Fortunato scored a power-play goal his last time out in Quinnipiac's 4-1 win over Holy Cross. Through 24 games, Fortunato has set career-highs already with 19 assists and 24 points and is tied for his career-high with five goals.

Dynamic Duo
Heading into the weekend, Quinnipiac is one of three teams in the nation and the only team in ECAC Hockey with two defensemen to record at least 20 points this season but is the only team with two defensemen to record 24-plus points.

Top Offensive Defense
Quinnipiac's defense continues to put up impressive numbers offensively, still leading the nation in nearly every offensive category with 31 goals, 69 assists, 100 points, 1.29 goals per game, 2.88 assists per game, 4.17 points per game, 14 power-play goals, 33 power-play assists and 47 power-play point and 10 game-winning goals while their 292 shots and 12.17 shots per game are second. Quinnipiac defenders have 10 more goals than the next closest defensive core (Lake Superior State and Niagara) and 23 more points than UMass at 77.

Top Rookie Scoring
As a class, the Quinnipiac freshmen are among the best in the nation in scoring as they are tied for first in the nation with 34 goals, 1.42 goals per games and eight game-winning goals. Quinnipiac freshmen also rank second in the nation with nine power-play goals and 282 shots while they are third with 80 points, 46 assists, 1.92 assists per game, 3.33 points per game, 23 power-play points and 11.79 shots per game.