The competition for the starting goaltender job may have gotten a little clearer after the Bobcats’ weekend series against Robert Morris in Moon Township, Penn. Eric Hartzell shined on Friday, while Dan Clarke couldn’t keep his momentum on Saturday coming off his win over Ohio State University.
“A long term, three-goalie rotation is unlikely,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We eventually will settle on one or two. Right now, the job is wide open.”
Hartzell continued the strong start to his season by shutting out Robert Morris 5-0 on Friday. The freshman goalie stopped all 20 shots the Colonials fired at him en route to his first career shutout.
The Bobcats gave Hartzell plenty of support, and it didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard. Three minutes into the game, Yuri Bouharevich received a pass from Mike Atkinson and fired the puck past Colonial goalie Brooks Ostergard.
The Bobcats extended their lead to two halfway through the first period. Senior captain Jean-Marc Beaudoin scored 46 seconds later to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
After a quiet second period, the Bobcats scored twice in the third to seal the win. Brett Dickinson scored just under four minutes into the period and Zurevinski added a goal in the 11th minute to give the Bobcats a 5-0 lead and put the game out of reach.
On Saturday, Clarke was looking to lead the Bobcats to a sweep of Robert Morris, but couldn’t contain the Colonial offense, letting up four goals in an 8-5 loss – their first of the season.
The Bobcats scored first with a goal from freshman Zach Davies just under six minutes into the game. It was Davies’s first goal of his career, but the celebration didn’t last long.
Midway through the first period the Colonials tied the game, and then took the lead on a pair of goals from Nathan Longpre.
Zurevinski, Quinnipiac’s co-scoring leader, responded with a goal after stealing a pass just over five minutes left in the period.
The teams entered the locker rooms tied at 2, but Robert Morris took control in the second period. The Colonials scored a power play goal 53 seconds into the period to take the lead.
Longpre completed his hat trick halfway through the second period, making it 5-2 just under eight minutes left in the period, ending Clarke’s night.
The Bobcats got going quickly in the third with a goal from Eric Lampe just 24 seconds in. But even Hartzell couldn’t stop the Colonials attack like he did on Friday.
With the series split, the Bobcats’ record stands at 4-1 entering conference play this weekend with home matchups against ECAC Hockey foes Clarkson on Friday, and St. Lawrence on Saturday.
