No. 17 Men's Ice Hockey Blanks Yale, 5-0

Saturday, February 29

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

21-11-2, 14-6-2ECAC

Yale

13-14-2,10-10-2ECAC

Yale

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

2/29/2020 10:45:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Petruzzelli Tallies 29 Saves in Third Shutout of Season and Largest Shutout vs. Bulldogs

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Conn. – The No. 17 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team blanked the Yale Bulldogs, 5-0, Saturday night in the 18^th Annual Heroes' Hat Game and finish off the 2019-20 Regular Season with a three-game winning streak.

Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) was dominant from start to finish as he made 29 saves in his third shutout of the season and sixth of his career. Petruzzelli made 11 saves in both the first and third periods as he helped the Bobcats to their largest shutout of the Bulldogs in program history.

Nick Jermain (Norwalk, Connecticut) scored his 12^th goal of the season to get the Bobcats on the board in the first period and they never looked back, tacking on two goals in the second and third periods.

Wyatt Bongiovanni (Birmingham, Michigan) rocketed home a one-timer on the power-play early in the second period before Ethan Leyh (Anmore, British Columbia) buried his seventh goal of the season before Zach Metsa (Delafield, Wisconsin) and Skyler Brind'Amour (Raleigh, North Carolina) scored goals 1:08 apart in the third period.

Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey) led the Bobcats with three points on the night with a career-high three helpers in the winning effort.

The Bobcats finished the regular season with a 14-6-2 mark in ECAC Hockey play for the second straight season and are now 21-11-2 on the season.

2020 Heroes Hat with Katie and Chris Mascali

SCORE
Quinnipiac 5, Yale 0

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (21-11-2, 14-6-2 ECAC Hockey) | Yale (13-14-2, 10-10-2 ECAC Hockey)

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

SCORING SUMMARY

(13:55, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 1, Yale 0: Jermain got the scoring started with 6:05 remaining in the first period of play as Karlis Cukste (Riga, Latvia) corralled a pass from Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey) and threw the puck on net where Yale goaltender Corbin Kaczperski kicked a rebound into the slot for Jermain to one-time home.
(1:06, 2^nd period – PP) – Quinnipiac 2, Yale 0: The Bobcats worked the puck around the left side of the ice before Whelan worked the puck to Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) near the end line where he sent it through the slot to Bongiovanni waiting for the one-timer on the backdoor.
(12:34, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Yale 0: Leyh buried his seventh of the season off a beautiful saucer pass from PJ Fletcher (Dana Point, California) who avoided a broken stick on the ice before Leyh wristed the puck through Kaczperski's five-hole.
(7:30, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 4, Yale 0: Metsa scored the Bobcats fourth of the night as Whelan skated the puck up the far boards before slamming on the brakes and hitting Metsa at the point where his shot was too hot to handle and it ricocheted off Kaczperski and into the net.
(8:38, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 5, Yale 0: Brind'Amour scored the finest goal of the night as he brought the puck up the right side of the ice and held off a defender before spinning around and firing a no-look spin shot past Kaczperski to make it 5-0.

NOTES

Quinnipiac retained the Heroes' Hat for the eighth straight season with Saturday night's win as the Bobcats improved to 14-1-3 over the last 18 games against the Bulldogs
The Bobcats finished the 2019-20 ECAC Hockey regular season with a 14-6-2 record for the second straight year.
Petruzzelli was spectacular once again as he recorded his third shutout of the season and sixth of his career with a 29-save performance Saturday against Yale
He lowered his GAA on the season to 2.01 and raised his save percentage to .920 while his numbers are even better in ECAC Hockey play at 1.74 with a .930 save percentage
Quinnipiac's shutout was its largest shutout margin against Yale in program history
Whelan tallied three assists in a game for the first time in his career after never recording more than one in a game.
Whelan's three-point game was the fourth of his career and 16^th multi-point game
He now has 11 assists on the season to go with 13 goals, pulling within one point of his career-high from last season.
Jermain continued his scoring surge as he buried his 12^th goal of the season to give him 21 points, tied for the fourth most on the team.
He now has scored six goals and tallied eight points against Yale in his career.
Bongiovanni's goal was his team-leading 15^th of the season and he now has 25 points on the season, both figures good for career-highs after a 14-goal season last year
He is tied with Yale's Curtis Hall for third in ECAC Hockey
Metsa tallied his third multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist Saturday night.
His goal was his fifth of the season as he now has 17 points in a stellar sophomore year
Leyh netted his seventh goal of the season and reached the 10-point mark with his tally
Tufto added another assist for his 31^st of the season as he pulled within one of his career-high from his first season with the Bobcats in 2017-18.
Tufto's assist was also the 90^th of his career, just the 10^th player in program history with 90 career assists
Cukste picked up his 14^th assist of the season and 18^th point with the primary helper on Jermain's goal, pulling within two of his career-high in points.
DiLiberatore also picked up an assist for his 15^th of the season, one shy of his tying his career-high for assists in a season while he is one of seven ECAC Hockey defensemen with 20-plus points
Fletcher's helper was his sixth of the season while Logan Britt (Crystal Lake, Illinois) notched the first assist of his career

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats earned a first round bye in the 2020 ECAC Hockey Tournament and will resume action with the quarterfinals set to begin Friday, March 13 at 7 p.m. with the opponent to be determined.
For more information on Quinnipiac men's ice hockey, visit gobobcats.com/mih and follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram, @QU_MIH.