QU Men's Hockey Tops Yale

The nationally-ranked No.2 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team dug themselves out of a two-goal deficit to score six unanswered goals in a 6-2 win against No. 7 at Ingalls Rink.

With the win, Quinnipiac extends its NCAA-leading unbeaten streak to 19 games, 16-0-3, while it also stays undefeated in ECAC Hockey play at 12-0-2. The Bobcats also improve to 19-3-4 overall while Yale drops to 13-6-3 overall and 9-5-1 in league play. Quinnipiac also improves to 9-0-0 against ranked opponents and 8-0-2 on the road.

Quinnipiac goalie Eric Hartzell stopped 30 shots in goal for the second straight night to improve to 19-2-4 on the year. Six different Bobcats scored while three Quinnipiac players turned in multiple-point nights. Zach Davies had a goal and an assist while Jeremy Langlois and Dan Federico had two assists apiece.

Yale’s took advantage of a pair of Quinnipiac penalties in the first seven minutes of play as Trent Ruffolo and Stu Wilson both scored on the power play to give Yale a 2-0 lead. Ruffolo’s goal came off a rebound that he picked up just above the crease and punched under Hartzell for the game’s first goal less than three minutes into the game. Four minutes later, Wilson took a pass from Gus Young just above the face-off circle to the left of Hartzell. He skated wide and then fired a shot over the opposite shoulder of Quinnipiac’s goalie to give the Bulldogs a two-goal lead.

With a little more than eight minutes to play in the period, it was Quinnipiac with a power-play goal. Jordan Samuels-Thomas carried the puck deep and skated behind the Bulldogs’ goal before giving it up to Jeremy Langlois, who ripped a pass up to Dan Federico, who touch-passed the puck across ice to Mike Dalhuisen. Dalhuisen ripped a one-timer through traffic that beat Yale goalie Nick Maricic glove side  to put the Bobcats on the board.

With just under two minutes to play, it was Federico again with the assist, this time on a Cory Hibbeler goal. Federico stepped in front of a cross-ice pass in front of Hartzell and tipped it up-ice to Hibbeler who split a pair of Bulldog defenders and took off down ice. Hibbeler’s shot found the top right corner of the goal to tie the game, 2-2.

Midway through the second period, Matthew Peca extended his team-best point streak to six games with his eighth goal of the year. Zack Currie handled the puck on the opposite blue line before finding Langlois’ tape. Langlois carried the puck into the Bulldogs’ defensive zone before dropping the puck off to Peca along the boards. Peca wired a shot over the left shoulder of Maricic that rang off the cross bar and in to give Quinnipiac a one-goal lead.

With under five minutes to play in the second frame, Ben Arnt cleaned up a loose puck off a shot by Samuels-Thomas and converted on his fifth goal of the year. Samuels-Thomas took a pass from Zach Davies behind the Bulldogs’ goal and carried it out to Maricic’s left before spinning and firing a shot on goal. The puck dribbled between Maricic’s pads where Arnt was able to get a stick on it and drive it home to give Quinnipiac a two-goal lead heading into the third period.

Yale sophomore goalie Connor Wilson entered the game to start the third period in relief of Maricic, who gave up four goals on 25 shots on goal. Quinnipiac scored twice in the period – a short-handed tally from Kellen Jones and a goal by Davies on a pass from Zach Tolkinen.

Quinnipiac returns to action on Friday, Feb. 8 when it travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell at Lynah Rink at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will then head to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on Colgate at Starr Rink at 7 p.m.