The Quinnipiac Men’s Hockey team lost both of their games at Northford Ice Pavilion this weekend, which extended their losing streak to three games. The Brave’s three game slide is the longest losing streak the Braves have had since the December 13- January 13 season, (1995-1996) in which they lost five straight games.
Despite the pair of losses, Quinnipiac put forth a great effort in both match ups. Friday’s game can be described as a heartbreaker, with the Braves losing to AIC (American International College) in the final two minutes of play, 4-3. The Braves and Yellowjackets were tied 1-1 after the first period with Aaron Arnett scoring for AIC (9:10) and Matt Erhart scoring for Quinnipiac (16:07).
QU forged ahead in the second period when Chris Maniatis banged home the rebound from a Mike LaRocca slap shot. Quinnipiac unfortunately broke down in the third period giving up 3 goals. Alex Walsh netted two of the AIC goals (3:58, 13:20) while Wade Winkler scored his third goal of the season (4:52) for Quinnipiac. Despite turning away 36 shots, goalie J.C. Wells could not stop Andy Luhovy’s one timer from Walsh with 1:33 left to play. AIC’s goalie Chance Thede made 40 saves helping AIC to improve to 7-14-1 overall and 7-9-1 in the MACC. Quinnipiac fell to 12-8-3 overall and 9-5-1 in the MACC.
Saturday January 27, 2001 the Braves hosted the University of Conneticut Huskies at Northford Ice Pavilion. The third period again proved to be the Braves downfall. The Huskies scored two goals to lift them to a 4-2 win. Scoring goals for Connecticut were Eric Nelson (1st period, 4:33), Matt Herhal (2nd period, 18:46), Kurt Kamienski (3rd period, 6:57), and Charles Ridolf (3rd period, 17:21). Quinnipiac got both their goals off power play (2-4) advantages. The Braves first goal came when Terry Harris tipped home a Brian Hebert slap shot from the point (1st period, 11:39). Matt Erhart added a third period goal for the Braves with his power play slap shot from the point. QU freshman goalie Justin Eddy once again had a big night making 42 saves while UConn goalie John Carry turned away 29 shots.
When asked about the loosing streak freshman forward Kevin Murray said, ” We’re just not scoring goals. We need to get back to shooting the puck more and crashing the net to put away rebounds. We also need to make a stronger commitment to defense in order to start winning again.” Murray also commented that in the UConn game “defensive breakdowns and penalties” were big factors in the loss. Quinnipiac Men’s Hockey has two big games next week when the face MACC rivals Canisius (Friday) and Mercyhurst (Saturday).