#11/12 Bobcats Make Final Road Trip to St. Lawrence

Friday, February 26

Canton, N.Y. / Appleton Arena

4:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

St. Lawrence

Photo by: Kelly Shea

#11/12 Bobcats Make Final Road Trip to St. Lawrence

2/26/2021 9:15:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

First Shot at Clinching a Share of the Cleary Cup Is on the Line This Weekend

By: QU Athletic Communications

#11/12 Quinnipiac Bobcats (14-5-4, 7-3-4 ECAC Hockey) at
St. Lawrence Saints (4-6-3, 4-6-2 ECAC Hockey)
Friday, Feb. 26 | 4 PM
Appleton Arena | Canton, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. St. Lawrence: 19-16-6

WATCH (ESPN+) | WATCH (INTERNATIONAL) | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @QU_MIH

#11/12 Quinnipiac Bobcats (14-5-4, 7-3-4 ECAC Hockey) at
St. Lawrence Saints (4-6-3, 4-6-2 ECAC Hockey)
Saturday, Feb. 27 | 4 PM
Appleton Arena | Canton, N.Y.
All-Time Series vs. St. Lawrence: 19-16-6

WATCH (ESPN+) | WATCH (INTERNATIONAL) | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES | @QU_MIH

HAMDEN, Conn. – The No. 11/12 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team is on the road for the final time in the 2020-21 regular season as the Bobcats head to the North Country to face the St. Lawrence Saints at Appleton Arena.

Last Time Out
Quinnipiac routed LIU in a non-conference matchup, 7-1, Monday evening to extend its unbeaten streak to five games. The Bobcats have three unbeaten streaks of five or more games this season. Ty Smilanic had a goal and three assists and Odeen Tufto had four assists to lead the Bobcats while Christophe Fillion had two goals.

Scouting St. Lawrence.
The Saints are 1-5-1 in its last seven games and winless in their last four games, falling in three straight to Colgate and the Bobcats before tying Sacred Heart on Feb. 13. Cameron Buhl leads the team with 10 assists and 12 points while Kaden Pickering is first on the team with five goals and tied for second with David Jankowski with nine points. Greg Lapointe and Nicholas Trela each have four goals this season. Despite a 4-5-3 record, Emil Zetterquist has been one of the top goaltenders in ECAC Hockey with a 2.14 GAA and .935 save percentage.

All-Time vs. St. Lawrence
Quinnipiac enters the weekend with a 19-16-6 record all-time against St. Lawrence after starting the season 2-1-1 against the Saints. The Bobcats swept their weekend series in Hamden on Feb. 5-6 after a tie on Dec. 31 and loss on Jan. 3. Quinnipiac is 10-1-1 in its last 12 games and owns a 10-3-2 record against St. Lawrence since the start of the 2016-17 season.

Chasing the Cleary Cup
The Bobcats enter the weekend with a chance at clinching at least a share of its fifth Cleary Cup in the last nine seasons as ECAC Hockey Regular Season Champions. The Bobcats currently hold a nine point lead over Clarkson, 28-19, and are the only team above .500 in the league at 7-3-4. Quinnipiac can clinch at least a share of the Cleary Cup by earning three more points than Clarkson, and clinch it outright with four more points than the Golden Knights.

National Rankings
Quinnipiac is in its second straight week ranked No. 11 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll and No. 12 in the USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll. The Bobcats have been ranked in the Top 12 of at least one poll since Dec. 28 and in both polls since Jan. 4.

Hobey Baker Award
Odeen Tufto and Keith Petruzzelli have both been nominated for the 2021 Hobey Baker Award with the fan vote well underway. Fans are encouraged to vote daily for Odeen or Keith at hobeybaker.com/vote.

Mike Richter Award
Petruzzelli is also a nominee for the 2021 Mike Richter Award, presented annually to the nation's top goaltender. This is the first time Petruzzelli has been nominated for the Richter Award.

Senior CLASS Award
Senior captain Odeen Tufto continued his impressive string of award nominations as he was nominated for the Senior CLASS Award, presented to the top senior student-athlete. Tufto is one of 15 nominees this season, and two in program history have received All-American Status from the award: Chase Priskie '19 and Jean-Marc Beaudoin '10.

Rising in the Record Books
Tufto is chasing history in his senior season as the senior captain moved closer to the program record of 125 assists with four against LIU to give him 121 assists. He now only trails only Reid Cashman '07 with 125 assists on the all-time assists list.

Tufto's 156 points also keeps him ranked eighth in program history, and third in Division I program history behind only Leitch and Brian Herbert '03 with 169 points. Next up on the all-time points list for the Bobcats is Rick Ciardiello '87 with 158 points in seventh.

Odeen's Regime
With Tufto's four assists against LIU, he reached the four-assist mark in a game for the second time this season and third time in his career. He now has 31 assists this season, the most in the nation and the third time in his career he has eclipsed 30 assists. Tufto is one of four Bobcats in Division I program history to record four straight 30-point seasons, joining Matthew Peca '15, Leitch and Herbert as the only Bobcats to do so. Chris Cerrella '01 also had four straight 30-point seasons including his final season at Division II in 1997-98.

Tufto ranks second in the nation with his 35 points. Tufto recorded his 11th multi-point effort of the season, the 47th of his career and now has four straight seasons of double-digit multi-point games. He is one of four players in the nation with at least 10 multi-point games this season.

All Gas, No Breaks
Petruzzelli has been impressive this season as he ranks fifth in the nation with a 1.65 GAA and is 11th with a .932 save percentage. He also has 14 wins and four shutouts, which are both tied for third in the nation. Petruzzelli is just two wins from becoming the fifth goalie in program history to record 50 career wins.

All Smiles
Ty Smilanic got his groove back in the last two games as he had the first goal in a 9-0 win at Colgate along with a goal and career-highs of three assists and four points against LIU. Smilanic now has five multi-point games in his career. His 13 goals are the most by an NCAA Rookie this season while his 19 points are fifth, and overall he is fifth in the nation in goals among all skaters.

Filly Filly
Christophe Fillion recorded his first two-point game with a goal and an assist in the rout of the Raiders and followed that up with his first career two-goal games against LIU. Fillion has made an immediate impact since joining the Bobcats, ranking second among the first years with five goals, four assists and nine points.

Full Fawce
Matthew Fawcett has been on a tear as of late, recording back-to-back two-point games last weekend at Colgate for the first time in his career and now has six points in his last four games. Fawcett had a goal and an assist in the Bobcats' 2-2 tie to open the weekend at Colgate before picking up a pair of helpers in the 9-0 win en route to his first player of the week honors. Fawcett now has eight points on four goals and four assists in his sophomore season, with every game he's recorded a point resulting in a two-point game.

Cippy's Happy
Joey Cipollone is heating up at the right time for the Bobcats as he matched Fawcett with a goal and three assists for four points with back-to-back two-point games at Colgate. Cipollone entered the weekend with one point on the weekend before assisting both goals in the tie before scoring his first goal as a Bobcat and adding another assist the following night. Cipollone now has two two-assist games and three two-point games dating back to his first season-and-a-half at Vermont.

On Demand
Zach Metsa recorded a three-point weekend at Colgate, including his first second career two-goal game, at Colgate last weekend. Metsa was the first defenseman in 2020-21 to reach the 20-point mark and now has tthe national lead among defensemen with 21 points after the LIU game, while his five goals are tied for fifth. Metsa has now tied his career-high with five goals, while he marks the eighth straight season a Quinnipiac defenseman has recorded at least 20 points.

de Jong Guns
Ethan de Jong netted a goal and an assist against LIU to give him a career-high 11 goals this season and reach the 20-point mark for the season time in his career. He is tied for 14^th in the nation in goals and 35^th in points. He has points in back-to-back games, including two straight.

Dilly Dilly
Peter DiLiberatore returned to the scoresheet with an assist for his first point since Jan. 15 with an assist in the 9-0 rout of the Raiders and added a goal and an assist against the Sharks on Monday. DiLiberatore is up to 13 assists and 16 points this season, tied for fifth in assists among defensemen in the nation and tied for 10th in points.

Lombardi's Lighting it Up
Michael Lombardi is another Bobcat on a nice little run as he scored his third goals of the season against LIU to give him 10 points in a season for the first time on his career. Lombardi has points in two straight games and five points over his last five games.

Three's Company
Guus van Nes recorded the first three-point game of his career with a trio of assists in the 9-0 win at Colgate as he continues to impress as a sophomore. He had recorded a couple two-point games in his career before his three-assist game against the Raiders. van Nes now has his first double-digit assists season with 11 helpers and 13 points, good for fourth on the team in assists and tied sixth in points.

All the Razz
Iivari Räsänen had a weekend to remember at Colgate as he scored his first career goal and added an assist leading to his first ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week award. Räsänen fired home a shot from the point in the first game for his first tally before assisting a goal in the 9-0 win. He then added an assist against the Sharks to give him a point in three straight games.

Leyhser Show
Ethan Leyh is starting to heat up as he had a goal and an assist in the 9-0 shutout at Colgate for his third career multi-point game and second of the season. Leyh's goal was his first season the season-opener, and added a goal against LIU to give him goals in back-to-back games. With his goal against the Sharks, Leyh now has two straight seasons with 10 points.

Brindy's Back
Skyler Brind'Amour is also starting to heat up for the Bobcats as he picked up a pair of assists in the 9-0 win for his first multi-assist effort and second multi-point game of the season. He added another assist against LIU for points in two straight games and three of his last four. Brind'Amour now has eight assists and 10 points in 2020-21, approaching his career-highs of nine and 13 from a season ago.

Burgart King
Desi Burgart found the back of the net for the first time since Jan. 15 as he scored his ninth goal of the season against Colgate, good for the third-most on the team. He added an assist for his fifth of the season against LIU and now has points in four of his last five games as he continues to be one of the top offensive weapons for the Bobcats.

Leeding the Way
Jayden Lee scored his second goal of the season and third of his career with a power-play goal at Colgate. Lee now has a career-high two goals as he has upped his play in his sophomore campaign.

Frieds is Fired Up
TJ Friedmann rounded out the scoring in that 9-0 win with his second goal of the season, and first career power-play goal as well. He now has six goals and 12 points in his career.

No Boch About It
Nick Bochen assisted Jayden Lee's power-play goal for his first point since Jan. 17 against Colgate to up his season total to three assists and six points. The Bobcats are now 4-1-0 when Bochen tallies a point.

Perets Debuts
Yaniv Perets made his Quinnipiac debut in relief of Keith Petruzzelli at Colgate on Saturday night, playing the final 14:49 and stopping all eight saves he faced. He then added more itme against LIU, playing the first 17:20 of the third period with another four saves. Perets joined the team before the second semester and is the fourth Quinnipiac goaltender to see the ice this season, with all three backups playing perfect in relief of Petruzzelli.

Manny Being Manny
The Bobcats went viral after Monday night as Josh Mayanja subbed in for Perets on the fly and made two saves for the Bobcats as he made his sixth straight scoreless appearance. Mayanja has made 12 saves in four appearances this season without giving up a goal.