The Quinnipiac Bobcats tied the the No. 9 Union College Dutchman 2-2 Friday night at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in the Bobcats’ return to ECAC Hockey action.
Quinnipiac (8-6-3, 1-4-3 ECAC Hockey) came into the game after a six-day break last beating UMass 4-2 to snap a six-game winless streak. Quinnipiac, who was ranked earlier in the year, has not yet beaten another ranked team this season.
Union (7-3-4, 3-2-1 ECAC Hockey) outshot Quinnipiac 37-33 and was the first team this season to outshoot the Bobcats. Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said he knew that the two goals were not going to be enough to beat this talented union team.
“We need to get at least three, if not four,” Pecknold said. Quinnipiac has not won a game yet this season where they have scored less than four goals.
Quinnipiac and Union remained scoreless until four minutes into the second period on a Quinnipiac power play. Quinnipiac defenseman Zach Tolkinen scored his second goal of the season off a rocket from the top of the left faceoff circle that flew by Union goalie Colin Stevens and into the back of the net. The shot was assisted by Yuri Bouharevich and Loren Barron giving them both seven on the season.
Quinnipiac scored again less than two minutes later on another power play this time after some jousting on front of the yet until defenseman Zach Davies knocked it in for the score. The shot was assisted by Scott Zurevinski and Jeremy Langlois. It was Davies second goal on the season his first came six days ago in Quinnipiac’s previous game vs. UMass. Zurevinski’s assist put him into double digits in the assist column with 10 and gave Langlois eight on the season.
Union answered back with 9:34 remaining in the second with a goal scored from in front of the net by senior right wing Brian Yanovitch. The shot was assisted by Kevin Sullivan, and Greg Coburn. It was Yanovitch’s second goal on the season.
Union quickly tied the score at 2-2 less than three minutes into the third period off a shot by left wing Jeremy Welsh from a difficult angle a few feet from the left post. The shot was assisted by center Mark Bennett. The goal knocked Welsh into double digits for goals on the year giving him 10 which leads the Dutchman. The assist was Bennett’s second on the season.
Neither team could get off more than five shots in the overtime period.
Pecknold went on to say that Quinnipiac’s penalty kill was “very good,” as Union, which ranks third in the nation on the power play, had 3 power plays throughout the game, one of which was a 5-on-3, but the Dutchmen could not convert on any of them.
Union came into the game on a two-game win streak after beating ECAC rival Rensselaer 5-1 on Nov. 15 and then crushing #19 Michigan 6-3 on Nov.27
Coincidently, the last time Quinnipiac played Union, they tied 2-2. The Bobcats have not beaten Union since their five-overtime battle in the ECAC Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals in 2010.
Quinnipiac hosts Rensselaer Saturday at 4 p.m.
