 "Photo: Brendan Rimetz/The Quad News")
It was a game of grit between Quinnipiac and Dartmouth as both teams faced elimination heading into Sunday night’s Eastern College Athletic Conference playoff game. With the teams splitting the opening two games, it all came down to a decisive game three to decide who would move on and who would go home.
It was the Bobcats who refused to flinch and walked away with a 2-1 victory and securing an appearance in the second round of the ECAC playoffs.
“We’re excited to move on,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold. “I thought it wasn’t the prettiest game in the world tonight, but my guys were gritty and Clarke was very good.”
The win was also Pecknold’s 300th career win at Quinnipiac.
With the victory, the Bobcats advanced to the ECAC tournament quarterfinals, where they will face nationally ranked Union. Union is ranked No. 18 in the Mar. 1 USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. The Bobcats also improved their season record to 19-16-2 (11-11-0 ECAC) with the win, while Dartmouth finished at 10-19-3 overall (7-12-3 ECAC).
After a lackluster performance the previous night, Quinnipiac came out with more intensity and was more prepared for whatever the Big Green threw its way.
“From an intensity standpoint, I thought we prepared better for the game,” Pecknold said. “I thought we were grittier, I thought when we made mistakes we competed to save somebody. I thought we bailed each other out much better than we did in the first two nights.”
With the new found intensity, Quinnipiac notched the first goal of the game at the 16:36 mark in the first period. Senior forward Eric Lampe was able to corral a pass at center ice from senior captain Jean-Marc Beaudoin and broke away with it. He flew down the ice and beat Big Green sophomore goaltender James Mello with a shot high to the glove side. Beaudoin picked up the assist on the goal.
“It was just a quick shot and it just went in,” Lampe said. “It was a huge momentum [changer] for us to get one right away.”
After the goal, it appeared as though Mello may have been injured on the play as he was seen grimacing as Dartmouth’s trainer came onto the ice. Mello stayed in the game, but looked to be in pain when he went to cover a shot a few minutes later. He managed to finish out the first period. He would not make it any further, however, as sophomore Jody O’Neill stepped in to take his place to start the second period.
The Bobcats took advantage of the goalie change as freshman forward Ben Ketchum notched his first career collegiate goal less than two minutes into the period. Ketchum was able to collect a pass from freshman forward Russell Goodman in the front of the net and backhand it between O’Neill’s pads. Both Goodman and fellow freshman forward Ben Arnt were credited with assists on the play.
Quinnipiac continued to get solid play from sophomore goalie Dan Clarke as he blocked all 22 Big Green shots on goal during the first two periods and finished with 26 saves overall. Clarke made two spectacular saves with about six minutes to play in the middle period to preserve the 2-0 Quinnipiac lead.
Dartmouth would not let the Bobcats walk away with the shutout, however, as the Big Green managed to score at the 13:57 mark in the third period on a slapshot from junior defender Joe Stejskal. Stejskal received a pass from junior forward Scott Fleming near the right faceoff circle and was able to fire a shot past Clarke.
With the win, Quinnipiac will go on the road to face the No. 3 seed, Union. During the upcoming week, the Bobcats will focus on getting healthy and renergizing for what will be a tough test.
“We’re pretty beat up; we’re exhausted,” Pecknold said. “We [have] kids out of the lineup that are hurt and we have kids in the lineup that are hurt.”
Quinnipiac travels to Troy, N.Y. next to take on Union Friday, March 12 in a three game series. Faceoff will be at 7 p.m.
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