With the Cleary Cup Trophy and the ECAC regular season title locked up the No. 1 Quinnipiac men’s hockey team ended the regular season with a 4-1 victory over No. 18 Dartmouth College on Saturday night in Hanover, N. H. at Thompson Arena.
Mike Dalhuisen had three assists for Quinnipiac (24-5-5, 17-2-3) who are now 11-0-0 against ranked opponents this season. Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored two goals for a team-high 13 this season and has four goals and six points in his last three games. Jeremy Langlois and Kellen Jones also netted goals while Eric Hartzell stopped 16 shots in net and earned his 24th win.
After a scoreless first period, Langlois netted his 12th goal of the season on the power play. After Dartmouth’s Mike Keenan was whistled for a cross-check on Connor Jones, the Bobcats went to work on the man-advantage.
Dalhuisen received pass from Zach Davies at the point and fired a shot on Dartmouth’s Charles Grant. The puck was blocked by a Dartmouth player in front of the Big Green’s net and knocked down in the crease. Russell Goodman poked at the puck but it was denied by Grant. Langlois crashed the net and pushed the puck inside the post to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
With 9:01 left in the period, Samuels-Thomas was released after serving a penalty just as Clay Harvey tipped the puck over to Dalhuisen in the Bobcats’ defensive zone. Dalhuisen fired the puck up ice to Samuels-Thomas who skated in on Grant, stopped and blasted a shot near-side to beat Grant over his left shoulder to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead.
The Big Green (13-10-5, 9-8-4) cut the deficit to 2-1 with less than a minute to play in the second period. Jesse Beamish won a draw in the Bobcats’ defensive zone and fed Rick Pinkston. Pinkston one-timed a shot through traffic that trickled through Hartzell’s five hole.
Kellen Jones scored his eighth goal of the season with 8:33 left in regulation, with assists going to Connor Jones and Dalhuisen. Dalhuisen held the puck at the point and fired a pass to Connor Jones, who one-timed a shot on goal. The shot caromed off of Grant’s pads and bounced out to the slot where Kellen corralled the rebound and wristed a shot top-shelf to give Quinnipiac a two-goal lead, 3-1.
With less than four minutes left, at 3:33 mark Samuels-Thomas scored his second goal of the game to give Quinnipiac a 4-1 lead. Samuels-Thomas took a pass from Ben Arnt and one-timed a shot through Grant’s pads to ice the game.
After winning its first ECAC Hockey Regular Season Title, the Cleary Cup, Quinnipiac has earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey postseason tournament. The Bobcats will host an ECAC Hockey Tournament Quarterfinals series the weekend of Mar. 15-17.
