QU Men’s Hockey Concludes Regular-Season With 4-1 Win At Dartmouth

The nationally-ranked No. 1 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team defeated No. 18 Dartmouth, 4-1, in its final regular-season game of the 2012-13 season. Quinnipiac improves to 24-5-5 overall and will finish the ECAC Hockey regular season at 17-2-3. The Bobcats also improve to 11-0-0 against ranked opponents for the year. Dartmouth drops to 13-11-5 overall and 9-9-4 in league play. 

Mike Dalhuisen had three assists on the night, setting up each of Quinnipiac’s first three goals. Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored twice to push his goal total to a team-best 13 for the season while Jeremy Langlois and Kellen Jones also scored for the Bobcats. Eric Hartzell improved to 24-4-5 on the year.

Langlois’ 12^th goal came on the power play, just 3:37 into the second period. After Dartmouth’s Mike Keenan was called for a cross-check on Connor Jones, Quinnipiac found itself with a man-advantage. Dalhuisen took a pass from Zach Davies at the point and fired on goal. The puck was stopped by a player in front of the Big Green’s net and knocked down in the crease. Russell Goodman poked at the puck but it was denied by Dartmouth goalie Charles Grant. Langlois was able to crash the net and push the puck inside the post to give Quinnipiac its first lead.

With 9:01 left in the period, Samuels-Thomas was released after serving a penalty just as Clay Harvey tipped the puck over to Dalhuisen in the Bobcats’ defensive zone. Dalhuisen zipped the puck up-ice to Samuels-Thomas who skated in on Grant, slammed on the brakes and blasted a shot near-side to beat Grant over his left shoulder to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead.

With less than a minute to play in the second period, Dartmouth cut Quinnipiac’s lead in half when Jesse Beamish won a draw in the Bobcats’ defensive zone back to Rick Pinkston. Pinkston one-timed a shot through traffic that found space between Eric Hartzell’s pads and beat him five-hole. Quinnipiac head into the second intermission with a 2-1 lead.

With 8:33 to play, Kellen Jones scored his eighth goal of the year, with assists going to Connor Jones and Dalhuisen. Dalhuisen held the puck at the point and fired a pass across Dartmouth’s zone to Connor Jones, who one-timed a shot on goal. The shot caromed off of Grant’s pads and bounced out to the slot where Kellen Jones cleaned up the loose puck and wristed a shot top-shelf to give Quinnipiac a two-goal lead, 3-1.

With 3:33 remaining in the game, Samuels-Thomas scored his second goal of the game to give Quinnipiac a 4-1 lead. Samuels-Thomas took a pass from Ben Arnt and one-timed a shot on Dartmouth’s Grant that found daylight between the goalies pads to give Quinnipiac a three-goal lead.

After winning its first Cleary Cup, for the ECAC Hockey Regular-Season Championship, two weeks ago, Quinnipiac earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey Tournament. The Bobcats will host an ECAC Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals series on Mar. 15-17.