#16 Bobcats to Face #19 AIC in Home-and-Home Series

Saturday, December 26

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

AIC

Men's Ice Hockey Pre-Game Huddle vs. Sacred Heart

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

#16 Bobcats to Face #19 AIC in Home-and-Home Series

12/24/2020 7:26:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey Hosts AIC Saturday Night, Travels to Springfield Sunday

By: QU Athletic Communications

#16 Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) vs.
#19 AIC Yellow Jackets (5-0-0, 5-0-0 Atlantic Hockey)
Saturday, Dec. 26 | 7 PM
Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena at the People's United Center | Hamden, Conn.
All-Time Series vs. AIC: 27-13-2 (Won last meeting, 3-2, on Oct. 12, 2019)

WATCH (U.S.) | WATCH (INTERNATIONAL) | LISTEN | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @QU_MIH

#16 Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) vs.
#19 AIC Yellow Jackets (5-0-0, 5-0-0 Atlantic Hockey)
Sunday, Dec. 27 | 3 PM
MassMutual Center | Springfield, Mass.
All-Time Series vs. AIC: 27-13-2 (Won last meeting, 3-2, on Oct. 12, 2019)

WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @QU_MIH

HAMDEN, Conn. – The No. 16 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team wraps up its challenging eight-game in 14-day stretch to open the 2020-21 season as the Bobcats take on the No. 19 AIC Yellow Jackets in a home-and-home series beginning on Saturday, Dec. 26 at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena before heading to Springfield for a Sunday matinee.

Last Time Out
Quinnipiac took on the Holy Cross Crusaders in a home-and-home series just before Christmas as the Bobcats picked up a 6-1 win Tuesday night before shutting out the Crusaders in the first road game of the season, 3-0, on Wednesday night. Desi Burgart and Ethan de Jong scored in each game of the weekend while Petruzzelli held the Crusaders to just one goal.

Scouting AIC
The Yellow Jackets enter the weekend series ranked No. 19 in the USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll and are unbeaten in the 2020-21 season with a 5-0-0 record. AIC swept Air Force to open the season back on Nov. 27-28 before soundly defeating Army West Point on Dec. 15 and sweeping a home-and-home series with Bentley last weekend. The Yellow Jackets have allowed one goal in each of their first five games while averaging just over three goals per game. Tobias Fladeby leads AIC with five goals and seven points on the season while Chris Dodero, Elijiah Barriga and Brennan Kapcheck each have four assists. Five different Yellow Jackets have scored at least two goals this season. Stefano Durante has backstopped the Yellow Jackets for the majority of the season, posting a 4-0-0 record with a 1.00 GAA and .957 save percentage.

All-Time vs. AIC
Quinnipiac and AIC have met 42 times prior to the 2020-21 season with the Bobcats owning a four-game winning streak over the Yellow Jackets over the past two seasons. Last year, the Bobcats won both sets of the home-and-home series, 3-2, to open the year. The Bobcats are 27-13-2 all-time against the Yellow Jackets and now own a 27-5-1 record against AIC since jumping to the Division I level in 1998-99.

Stars of the Week
Zach Metsa was named the ECAC Hockey First Star of the Week and Keith Petruzzelli earned the league's Second Star of the Week honors after spectacular starts to the 2020 season. Metsa's honor was the first weekly honor of his career from the league office while Petruzzelli was honored for a fourth time after securing three goaltender of the week awards in 2019-20.

National Rankings
Quinnipiac fell in the national rankings after a couple tough losses to Bowling Green as the Bobcats dropped to No. 16 in the USCHO.com Poll and are receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

Petro's Power
Keith Petruzzelli has been dominant throughout the first six games of the 2020-21 season as he has allowed two goals or fewer in five games. Petruzzelli allowed just one goal in the Bobcats' home-and-home series with the Crusaders and recorded his first shutout of the season. Petruzzelli recorded 26 saves Wednesday night to blank Holy Cross and now has 138 saves on the season to go with a 1.56 GAA and .939 save percentage.

In his career, Petruzzelli is now tied for fifth in program history with Jamie Holden '05 with seven shutouts.

At Home on the Road
Petruzzelli and the Bobcats recorded the first road shutout by a Quinnipiac team since Nov. 24, 2018 when the Bobcats blanked the Maine Black Bears, 2-0. Petruzzelli's 3-0 shutout of Holy Cross Wednesday night was his third career road shutout.

Scoring in Bunches
Desi Burgart had an impressive series with Holy Cross as he scored three goals to lead the Bobcats in scoring. Burgart has now scored a goal in three straight games and has a career-high four goals through the first six games. He is also tied for the most goals in the nation since the Bobcats started the season last Monday while his five points are tied for sixth in that span.

Donger's on a Roll
Ethan de Jong also extended his goal streak to three games as he score power-play goals in all three games. de Jong's three power-play goals are the most in the nation since Quinnipiac's season started on Dec. 14 and tied for second in the nation overall. He has now scored 20 goals in his Quinnipiac career.

TufTo Beat
Odeen Tufto also is in the midst of a three-game point streak and has points in five of six games this season. Tufto had a season-high one goal, two assists and three points in the 6-1 win against Holy Cross. Since the Bobcats season started, Tufto leads the nation with seven assists, nine points as well as 89 faceoff wins.

Tufto is now tied with Rick Ciardiello '87 for eighth in program history with 97 assists and moved into sole possession of 16^th in program history, and 11^th in Division I program history, with 130 points.

Ringing in the Help
Peter DiLiberatore recorded back-to-back multi-assist games Tuesday and Wednesday to give him six assists on the season. DiLiberatore now has seven career multi-assist games and nine multi-point games. He is third in the nation since Dec. 14 with six assists, and has recorded three two-assist games this season.

Career Year
Guus van Nes has gotten off to a solid start to his second season as a Bobcat as he has career-highs with five assists and six points already through six games after tallying three assists and three points against Holy Cross. Tuesday night was van Nes' third career two-point game and second of the season as he picked up two assists in a game for the first time in his career.

TYSM
Ty Smilanic recorded his first career two-point game with a goal and an assist in the Bobcats' 6-1 win against Holy Cross Tuesday night. Smilanic's goal was the second of his career as he put home a goal with less than two seconds left in the second period. Smilanic is the only first year for the Bobcats to record a two-point game this season.

Not in Short Supply
Wyatt Bongiovanni found the back of the net with his first career shorthanded goal Tuesday night against Holy Cross and is now second on the team with three goals on the season. Bongiovanni has the second-most goals since the Bobcats' started the 2020-21 season last Monday while his shorthanded tally was the Bobcats' first shorthanded goal since Nov. 1, 2019 at Arizona State.

Britter Likes Worcester
Logan Britt recorded his second career goal Wednesday night with a key insurance goal at Holy Cross for the Bobcats. Both of Britt's goals in his career have come at the Hart Center against the Crusaders after tallying his first goal there last season. He is the fourth Bobcat defensemen to score a goal this season.

Meet the Mets
Zach Metsa picked up an assist Tuesday night to extend his point streak to six games at the team before being held off the scoresheet for the first time this season Wednesday night. Metsa is tied for the team lead with seven assists and is second with eight points. Nationally, Metsa is tied for the most assists in the nation and is second in points since Quinnipiac started playing last Monday. He is tied for fifth overall in points among defensemen this season.

Welcome to the sQUad
The newest Bobcat on the team, Christophe Fillion recorded his first career point with an assist Tuesday night in just his second career game since joining the Bobcats a few days before the start to the season. Fillion has played in three straight games since entering the lineup Saturday against Bowling Green.

He's the Manny
Josh Mayanja made his third appearance of the season Tuesday night for the Bobcats to close out the 6-1 win over Holy Cross. Mayanja came in and made a career-high seven saves in 6:27 of work to give him five straight relief appearances without allowing a goal. Mayanja has made five or more saves in three of his six career appearances.