#10/11 Bobcats Fall in Overtime to #5/6 Minnesota State, 4-3

Saturday, March 27

Loveland, Colo. / Budweiser Events Center

5:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM MT

Quinnipiac University

17-8-4

Minnesota State

21-4-1

OT 1

Quinnipiac

Minnesota St.

Photo by: Ashley Potts

#10/11 Bobcats Fall in Overtime to #5/6 Minnesota State, 4-3

3/27/2021 10:10:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Tufto Leads the Way with Two Points, McGee Scores First Goal but Come Up Short

By: QU Athletic Communications

LOVELAND, Colo. – The No. 10/11 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team's season came to an end Saturday evening as the Bobcats fell to the No. 5/6 Minnesota State Mavericks, 4-3, in overtime in the NCAA Tournament West Regional First Round.

Minnesota State's Ryan Sandelin scored the game-winning goal 11:13 into the overtime period as he jammed at a puck in the crease and managed to sneak it past Quinnipiac goaltender Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts).

The Bobcats got off to a hot start Saturday, scoring two goals in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Odeen Tufto (Chaska, Minnesota) scored the Bobcats' first goal as he cleaned up the rebound from an Iivari Räsänen (Tampere, Finland) shot from the point.

Peter DiLiberatore (Bedford, Nova Scotia) doubled the Bobcats lead as Christophe Fillion (Sherbrooke, Quebec) led an odd-man rush and fed a perfect pass to Guus van Nes (Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands) who found DiLiberatore streaking down the back door for the tap-in goal.

Minnesota State finally broke through late in the second period Jake Jaremko tipped a shot from Julian Napravnik. Petruzzelli made 13 saves on the 14 shots in made in the period as he withstood the hard push for much of the period.

Petruzzelli finished the game with 34 saves, his second-most in a game in 2020-21.

CJ McGee (Pearl River, New York) scored his first career goal with 11:06 to go in the third period as Tufto tipped a pass from Michael Lombardi (Barrington, Rhode Island) to McGee who ripped a wrister from the left point.

Minnesota State scored two goals in the final 5:06 of regulation to force overtime before Sandelin scored the game-winner in overtime.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 3, Minnesota State 4

RECORDS
#10/11 Quinnipiac (17-8-4)| Minnesota State (21-4-1)

LOCATION
Budweiser Events Center | Loveland, Colo.

SCORING SUMMARY

(3:00, 1st period) – Quinnipiac 1, Minnesota State 0: Räsänen picked off a Minnesota State clear attempt on the blue line and fired the puck on net where it was stopped by Dryden McKay. Tufto was right on the doorstep to take the rebound, bring it to his backhand and chip in the goal to take a 1-0 lead.
(15:35, 1^st period) – Quinnipiac 2, Minnesota State 0: Quinnipiac doubled its lead toward the end of the second period on an odd-man rush as Fillion carried the puck up the left wing and fed van Nes on the right wing. van Nes immediately passed it back to a streaking DiLiberatore who tapped home the goal on the back door.
(18:09, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 2, Minnesota State 1: The Mavericks got a goal back late in the second period as Julian Napravnik flung the puck from near the blue line and Jake Jaremko tipped the puck passed Petruzzelli for Minnesota State's first goal.
(8:54, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Minnesota State 1: McGee put the Bobcats back on top with his first career goal as the Bobcats won a battle in the left corner and Lombardi fed it from behind the goal off Tufto to McGee at the left point where he bombed home the goal to take a 3-1 lead.
(14:54, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Minnesota State 2: Nathan Smith blasted a shot from the point that somehow found its way past Petruzzelli to make it a one-goal game with just over five minutes left in the third period.
(18:58, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Minnesota State 3: Minnesota State tied the game with 1:02 remaining in the third period as Jake Livingstone carried the puck all the way up the ice to the left corner before backhanding the puck to Cade Borchardt for the goal just to the left of the crease.
(11:13, Overtime) – Quinnipiac 3, Minnesota State 4: Brendan Furry attempted a wraparound goal that was stopped by Petruzzelli. After the initial save, the puck came loose and Sandelin crashed the net to jam home the game-winning goal.

NOTES

Tufto led the Bobcats with a goal and an assist for a two-point effort.
It was his 51^st career multi-point game, and 15^th of his career to tie his multi-point efforts from his rookie season in 2017-18.
Tufto concluded his career with the most assists in program history with 129 and his 168 points ranks just one point behind the Division I program record of 169 held by Bryan Leitch '09 and Brian Herbert '03.
Tufto's 39 assists in 2020-21 are the second-most in a season in Division I program history while his 47 points are tied for the eighth-most in a single-season in Division I program history.
He is the first Bobcat since Sam Anas '17 (50) and Travis St. Denis '16 (49) in 2015-16 to record at least 47 points in a single season
Tufto finished the season with points in eight consecutive games.
Petruzzelli made 34 saves, his second-most in a game this season
He ends the year with a 1.89 GAA and .926 save percentage, with his GAA good for the third-best in a season in Division I program history while his save percentage was fifth.
Petruzzelli also ranks fourth in program history with a 2.17 GAA and fifth with a .915 save percentage
He also ranks fifth with 2,051 saves, 51 wins and is tied for second with 10 career shutouts.
DiLiberatore scored his sixth goal of the season to tie his career-high from a season ago.
With his goal, he also reached the 20-point mark for the second straight season.
He now has 60 career points, the 13^th most by a defenseman in Division I program history while his 16 goals are tied for ninth.
McGee scored the first goal of his collegiate career that gave the Bobcats a 3-1 lead in the third period.
He is the 22^nd different skater to score a goal this season of the 23 to take the ice, and seventh different to score the first goal of their career.
Lombardi notched his 11^th assist of the season and finished the year with a career-high 16 points, two more than he had in his first two seasons combined.
Fillion recorded his fifth assist of the season and ended the year with 11 points in 25 games after joining the team after the first semester.
van Nes had assists in two of the final three games and ended the season with 15 points for the Bobcats
He had career-highs with 13 assists and 15 points
Räsänen ended his rookie season with seven assists and eight points in 25 games for the Bobcats.

NEXT GAME

Quinnipiac men's ice hockey's season has concluded.
For more information on Quinnipiac men's ice hockey, visit gobobcats.com/mih and follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram, @QU_MIH.