Quinnipiac clinches series win against St. Lawrence in double overtime
HAMDEN, Conn. (BVM) 鈥� The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team punched their ticket to the 听Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey semifinals after defeating St. Lawrence 4-3 in double overtime.听
In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Bobcats came out with tons of energy. Their offense was attacking early, pushing the pace and getting multiple shots on goal. Despite getting an array of scoring chances early, St. Lawrence goaltender Emil Zetterquist refused to let anything get by him.
As Quinnipiac opportunities continue to be missed, St Lawrence would use that as fuel to get on the board first. Forward Aleksi Peltonen was just able to squeak the puck by standout goaltender Yaniv Perets鈥� pad with 14:09 left in the first period on a rebound.听
At the 14:37 mark in the second period, as defenseman Griffin Mendel got the puck off the draw and sniped it past Zetterquist to tie the game at 1-1. This was Mendel鈥檚 third goal of the series after scoring two the night before.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of surreal, I’m not very used to it,鈥� Mendel said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always nice to get the contribution and help the team win.鈥澨�
Just as Quinnipiac was gaining momentum at the end of the second period, St. Lawrence struck twice with a pair of goals three minutes as the game headed into the third period. Both of St. Lawrence鈥檚 goals were scored on breakaways to go up 3-1.
Although, the third goal, scored by forward Josh Boyer, was called into question because it seemed blatant that the Saints had six men on the ice. However, Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold elected not to challenge that play.听
鈥淎t the time we didn鈥檛 know,鈥� Pecknold said. 鈥淥bviously that’s on us as a staff. We need to challenge that and it鈥檚 on the referees to see it. The goal would have been overturned. Luckily the players bailed the coaching staff out.鈥�
Quinnipiac buckled up and persevered being down 3-1 late in the third period and the Bobcats weren鈥檛 going down without a fight. Defenseman Brendan Less cut the lead to one after a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the point.
Just four minutes later, forward Skylar Brind鈥橝mour scored a beautiful redirect goal off a wrist shot from defenseman Jayden Lee to tie the game up at three. The momentum was in favor of the Bobcats as regulation drew to a close.听
Both squads competed fiercely to the final whistle, but the game would head to overtime. That stalemate would last the first overtime period and the Bobcats and Sains were heading to a second overtime.
Just as it seemed like St. Lawrence could potentially pull off the unthinkable in double overtime, Quinnipiac laid the hammer down. Nine minutes into double overtime, forward Desi Burgart sent the Bobcats to Lake Placid with his fourth game-winning goal of the season.听
鈥淔or me and especially our class personally, we鈥檝e never been to Lake Placid before,鈥� Burgart said. 鈥淭hat was our motivation for everything tonight. Down 3-1, we came back. All we want to do is go to Lake Placid to win the Whitelaw Cup.鈥�
With the 4-3 win over the Saints, the Bobcats face Colgate in the ECAC Hockey semifinals on March 18. This is the Bobcats鈥� first berth to the ECAC Hockey semifinals since 2017.听
