The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team defeated Cornell, 10-0, in the second game of its ECAC Hockey Championship Quarterfinals series to force a deciding Game three on Saturday, Mar. 17.
With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 25-6-5 while Cornell drops to 15-15-3. The winner of Game three, which is set for a 7:30 p.m. start, will advance to the ECAC Hockey Championship Semifinals on Friday, Mar. 22, 2013 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
The Bobcats' 10 goals are the most in the team's ECAC Hockey Tournament history and the most scored by one team in the tournament since Harvard scored 11 in a game, against Quinnipiac, on Mar. 14, 2008. In addition, Quinnipiac's seven goal second-period was also a tournament record for the most in a single period. The last time Quinnipiac scored 10 goals in a game was in a 10-0 win against Fairfield on Nov. 11, 2000.
Seven different Bobcats scored in the lopsided victory, led by two goals apiece from Travis St. Denis and Kellen Jones. The duo each had one assist, while Dan Federico handed out four assists on the night. Connor Jones had a goal and three assists while Ben Arnt and Matthew Peca both had a goal and two assists. Jordan Samuels-Thomas finished with a goal and an assist and Cory Hibbeler also scored for Quinnipiac.
Eric Hartzell won his 25th game of the season after stopping all nine shots he saw over the game's first two periods before exiting with a nine-goal lead. Freshman Michael Garteig played in the final 20 minutes of the game, turning aside all eight shots he faced.
Connor Jones put Quinnipiac on the board just 24 seconds into the game when he one-timed a pass from Peca and beat Iles five-hole. Zach Davies dropped the puck to Peca on the goal line to the left of Iles, who set Jones up in the slot for the game's first goal. Seven-minutes later it was St. Denis with his first goal of the game when he redirected a shot from the point by Zack Currie to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead.
Coming out of the first intermission, Quinnipiac put their foot down and scored three times in the first 6:27 of the period. St. Denis scored his second of the game, which was followed by tallies by Peca and Hibbeler. St. Denis received a centering pass from Arnt and tipped the puck past Iles for the Bobcats' third goal. Three minutes later, Peca got sandwiched between a Cornell defender and the boards behind the Big Red's goal.
Kellen Jones picked up the puck and turned away from the goal, where he dropped it back to Connor Jones who skated along the goal line and into the face-off circle. With room to move, Peca skated on goal and fired a shot over Iles left shoulder, beating the Cornell goalie, bar-down, to give Quinnipiac a four-goal lead.
Hibbeler got into the act at the 6:27 mark when he took a pass from the point from Dan Federico, spun and fired a shot on goal that beat Iles to the low post. The goal knocked Iles out of the game in favor of Omar Kanji. Kanji didn't fare much better, giving up four goals in the final 13-minutes of the second period, including two from Kellen Jones, as well as markers from Ben Arnt and Jordan Samuels-Thomas. The end of the period featured a flurry of penalties, as five Cornell skaters and four Quinnipiac players were assessed.
Only one goal was scored in the final period, as Zach Tolkinen sealed the deal with the team's 10th goal of the game. Between both teams, 34 penalties were served for a total of 184 minutes in the penalty box.
Quinnipiac and Cornell hit the ice at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 17 at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in the winner-take-all match.
