Quinnipiac’s first major penalty came at the 8:02 mark of the second period as Zurevinski belted Buckeyes forward Danny Dries into boards behind the Bobcats’ net. Zurevinski was called for a game misconduct on the play.
The Bobcats second major proved to be more costly as Van Brabant was called for contact to the head major and a game misconduct 6:10 into the third period, which ended up leading to the Buckeyes’ game-winner.
“The two majors and the one where they go on the 5-on-3 and then they score, that is the hockey game,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Even the first one we killed off, we lose our best player and our captain. That killed us. We expended a lot of energy killing that one off.”
Ohio State went on 5-on-3 man advantage 21 seconds after Van Brabant’s penalty, as Zach Davies was called for a slash on a breakaway attempt by Darik Angeli. On the ensuing opportunity, Ohio State’s Max McCormick found Ryan Dzingel skating through the slot and he was able to score on a backhand, with the tally coming with 7:44 left in the game.
“I don’t know how we gave up that breakaway but that was unacceptable,” Pecknold said. “I thought we had a few d-men who struggled tonight.”
“We handled the first five-minute major well,” Pecknold said. “We did not handle the second one as well. We got lazy and gave up a breakaway, which is unacceptable. Then we took a slashing penalty to go down 5-on-3, and they scored. Luckily [Eric] Hartzell played well tonight. He made several big saves for us.”
Despite outshooting Ohio State 36-16 for the game, it was the Buckeyes who capitalized on the Bobcats’ mistakes.
The Buckeyes notched their first goal 3:20 into the game. Angeli found Alex Carlson, who slid the puck across the crease behind the Bobcats’ defense to Chris Crane. Crane blasted a one-timer past Hartzell for a 1-0 lead.
Quinnipiac’s aggressive shooting paid off in the second period as Spencer Heichman knotted the game at 1 with less than four minutes left scoring on the doorstep glove side of Ohio State goalie Cal Heeter. Defenseman Mike Dalhuisen sent the puck in the offensive zone, then Heichman gathered the puck along the boards and found junior forward Jeremy Langlois in front of the Buckeye’s net. Langlois’ shot was denied, but Heichman was able to pick up the puck and put the rebound past Heeter.
Hartzell stopped 14 of 16 shots faced, while his counterpart Heeter stopped 35 of 36 for the victory.
The Bobcats were blanked on the power play, going 0-4 on chances, while the Buckeyes capitalized on two of their four opportunities. Quinnipiac tallied 34 penalty minutes compared to Ohio State’s 10.
The Bobcats continue their two-game series against Ohio State tomorrow at 7 p.m.
