Burgart Scores Twice as #16 Bobcats Down Holy Cross, 6-1

Tuesday, December 22

Hamden, Conn.

5:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

3-2-0

Holy Cross

4-3-0

Holy Cross

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

Burgart Scores Twice as #16 Bobcats Down Holy Cross, 6-1

12/22/2020 8:54:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Men's Ice Hockey Special Teams Shine in Dominant Win Tuesday Night

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Conn. – Desi Burgart (North Vancouver, British Columbia) scored two goals to lead the No. 16 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team Tuesday night as the Bobcats dominated the Holy Cross Crusaders, 6-1, at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena.

Burgart got the scoring started early in the first period and capped off the scoring early in the third period as he became the first Bobcat to record two goals in a game this season.

Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) led the Bobcats with three points on a goal and two assists while both Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and Ty Smilanic (Denver, Colorado) posted a goal and an assist. Peter DiLiberatore (Bedford, Nova Scotia) and Guus van Nes (Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands) each chipped in a pair of assists for their own two-point games.

The Bobcats were particularly impressive on special teams as they went 2 for 5 on the power play and Wyatt Bongiovanni (Birmingham, Michigan) tallied an impressive unassisted shorthanded goal near the mid-point of the second period.

Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) kept Holy Cross off the board for much of the game as he made 11 saves in his third win of the season before Josh Mayanja (Framingham, Massachusetts) came off the bench and made seven saves over the final 6:27 to close out the win.

SCORE
#16 Quinnipiac 6, Holy Cross 1

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (3-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) | Holy Cross (4-3-0, 3-1-0 Atlantic Hockey)

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

SCORING SUMMARY

(5:58, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 1, Holy Cross 0: Burgart put the Bobcats up in the early stages of the first period as van Nes skated with the puck behind the Holy Cross net after some nice skating where he found Burgart low in the right faceoff circle for the one-timer past Radomsky.
(12:24, 1^st period – PP) – Quinnipiac 2, Holy Cross 0: Tufto doubled the Bobcats lead just past the midway point of the first period as Smilanic skated the puck into the neutral zone and shifted the puck to Tufto on his right who promptly found de Jong to his right. de Jong flung a centering feed that was deflected by a Holy Cross defenseman right to Tufto in the slot where he buried the shot past Radomsky's glove.
(1:21, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 3, Holy Cross 0: The Bobcats tripled their lead early in the third period with their second power-play goal of the night as DiLiberatore and Tufto exchanged a pair of passes before Tufto rifled a one-timer on net. Radomsky made the initial save but de Jong was on the doorstep to shovel home the rebound.
(8:52, 2^nd period – SH) – Quinnipiac 4, Holy Cross 0: Quinnipiac scored its fourth unanswered goal to start the game as Bongiovanni picked off a pass at his own blue line and skated the puck the length of the ice and faked a backhand with impressive puck control to beat Radomsky with the forehand on a shorthanded breakaway.
(19:28.3, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 4, Holy Cross 1: The Crusaders got on the board in the final minute of the second on a tough break as a clear attempt by the Bobcats ricocheted off a helmet right to Jake Pappalardo in the slot to beat Petruzzelli.
(19:58.2, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 5, Holy Cross 1: Smilanic ended the period with a bang with just 1.8 seconds remaining as DiLiberatore fired a shot from the right point that Tufto kicked the rebound across the crease and Smilanic controlled the puck from behind the end line to slide it across the goal line in the waning seconds.
(2:11, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 6, Holy Cross 1: Burgart buried his second of the night early in the third period as Metsa fired a shot from the right point that was knocked down and van Nes attempted to put the puck home. van Nes tried to put the puck down to his backhand but the puck slid to Burgart who rocketed home the rebound.

NOTES

Burgart recorded his first career two-goal and two-point night for the Bobcats in Tuesday's win.
He has already equaled his career-high for goals in a season with three and has tied last season's point total with four points through five games in 2020-21.
Tufto picked up his first three-point night of the season with a goal and two assists against Holy Cross
He now has 39 multi-point games and 26 multi-assist games in his career, as well as seven games with at least three points.
Tufto moved into a tie with Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) for the team lead with eight points and is now tied for 11^th in Division I program history and 16^th overall with 129 career points.
de Jong tallied his first two-point game of the season with a goal and an assist, and now has eight multi-point games in his career.
He has points in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Bongiovanni recorded his first career shorthanded goal, and the first shorthanded goal by a Bobcat since de Jong scored one last season at Arizona State on Nov. 1, 2019.
Bongiovanni is now tied for first on the team with three goals
Smilanic tallied the first two-point night of his collegiate career as he had a goal and an assist
Smilanic recorded the helper on Tufto's power-play goal for the first assist of his career before scoring his second goal with 1.8 seconds left in the second period.
van Nes picked up a pair of assists for his first career two-assist game and third career two-point night
He now has a career-high four assists and tied his career-high with five points in just his fifth game of the 2020-21 season.
DiLiberatore also recorded a pair of helpers for the Bobcats as he picked up his sixth career two-assist game and eighth two-point game
DiLiberatore is tied for third on the team with four assists and is second among Bobcat defensemen in assists and points.
Metsa extended his point streak to six games dating back to Feb. 29, 2020, as he recorded an assist Tuesday night to give him assists in all five games this season.
Metsa is now tied with all defensemen nationally with seven assists and is tied for third with eight points.
Petruzzelli lowered his GAA to 1.89 on the season as he made 11 saves on 12 shots that he faced, and maintained his save percentage at .926.
Mayanja came off the bench to make a career-high seven saves in the final 6:27 of the game, the second-most minutes he's seen in a game in his career

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Worcester, Mass., Wednesday night to finish off the home-and-home series with the Holy Cross Crusaders.
Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. from the Hart Center with the action streaming live on FloHockey.
For more information on Quinnipiac men's ice hockey, visit gobobcats.com/mih and follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram, @QU_MIH.