Men's Ice Hockey Takes Down Union, 2-1

Friday, November 15

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-4-1, 1-1-1ECAC

Union

2-11-0, 1-4-0ECAC

Union

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

11/15/2019 10:18:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

Bongiovanni Nets Game-Winning Goal in Third Period for Sixth of Season

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team overcame an early deficit Friday night against the Union Dutchmen and skated to its first ECAC Hockey win of the 2019-20 season with a 2-1 victory at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena.

Wyatt Bongiovanni (Birmingham, Michigan) scored the game-winning goal for the Bobcats midway through the third period after Karlis Cukste (Riga, Latvia) tied the game with a power-play tally midway through the second period.

The Bobcats came alive over the second and third periods to outshoot the Dutchmen 22-9 and dominate play before claiming the lead on Bongiovanni's goal in the third period.

Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) made several key saves Friday night on his way to a 17-save win. Petruzzelli stopped a shorthanded breakaway for Union in the second period just before Cukste's goal and added two key saves on a Dutchmen power play late in the second.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 2, Union 1

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (5-4-1, 1-1-1 ECAC Hockey) | Union (2-11-0, 1-4-0 ECAC Hockey)

LOCATION
Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena at the People's United Center | Hamden, Conn.,

SCORING SUMMARY

(3:37, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 0, Union 1: Sean Harrison put the Dutchmen on the board early in Friday night's game after some slick passing from Brandon Estes and Anthony Rinaldi, Harrison spun in the slot and fired a shot past Petruzzelli.
(11:13, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 1, Union 1: The Bobcats tied the game midway through the second period on a breakaway on the power play. Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey) received a pass on the right side and fed it into the faceoff circle for William Fällström (Stockholm, Sweden) who found Cukste crashing the back door for the tap-in goal.
10:14, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 2, Union 1: Bongiovanni took the lead for good midway through the third period as Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) sent a pass from the defensive zone to Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) skating into the offensive zone on the left side. Tufto tapped the puck to Bongiovanni and brought the puck to his backhand as he skated into the slot and beat Union goaltender Darion Hanson.

NOTES

Cukste's goal was his first of the season and first since the ECAC Hockey playoffs in 2018-19 when he scored against Brown on March 15.
He now has points in back-to-back games after an assist at Harvard on Saturday and 11 goals in his career.
Bongiovanni scored his ECAC Hockey leading sixth goal of the season with the game-winning tally Friday night.
His goal was the 20^th of his young career as he now has a goal in back-to-back games after a four-game streak earlier this season.
Tufto extended his point streak to a career-best eight games after recording his 12^th assist of the season to extend his ECAC Hockey lead.
Tufto now has 95 points in his Quinnipiac career, with 71 of those on assists.
Fällström extended his point streak to three games as he recorded his fourth assist of the season on Cukste's game-tying goal.
Whelan recorded his first point of the 2019-20 season with the secondary assist on Cukste's goal to give him 55 career points.
Metsa netted his fourth assist of the season and first since Nov. 1 at Arizona State.
Quinnipiac earned its first win against Union since Jan. 7, 2016, snapping a seven-game winless streak.
The Bobcats also snapped a four-game winless streak as they earned their first ECAC Hockey win to improve to 1-1-1 in league play.
Petruzzelli was solid in his fifth win of the season, making 19 saves including seven in the third period to preserve the victory.

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats continue their home weekend series Saturday when they host the Rensselaer Engineers at 7 p.m. at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena
Saturday is $1 Standing Room tickets by using the code ONE at checkout at qutickets.com