Quinnipiac didn’t capture the first-ever Governor’s Cup, but it did take three out of four points in the tournament played over the weekend at Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y. The Bobcats tied Colgate, 2-2, on Saturday, but lost in the shootout that determined which team would advance to the championship game. In the consolation game Sunday, the Bobcats outlasted Union, 8-5.
Although all four teams at the tournament were from the ECAC, the results don’t count toward the ECAC standings. RPI won the tournament by defeating Colgate, 2-1, in the championship game. Quinnipiac (3-2-1) opens its ECAC schedule this weekend at Union on Friday and at RPI on Saturday.
Bryan Leitch tied the game against Colgate for Quinnipiac at 1-1 with a power play goal at 14:46 of the first period. Dan Henningon’s shot from the point went wide, but Leitch picked up the rebound off the back boards and scored his first goal of the season.
In the second period, Eric Lampe scored on a shorthanded breakaway to put the Bobcats in front 2-1, but Colgate tied the game 8:48 into the third with the only even-strength goal of the game. Quinnipiac didn’t score in the shootout, while Colgate went 2-for-4.
“You have to take the shootout out of it. It’s a tie on our record,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We just tied a top 20 team in the country. For an early season game, I was pleased with how we played.”
Eight different players scored for Quinnipiac in the 8-5 victory over Union. With the game tied at 5-5 in the third period, Lampe took advantage of a turnover and scored the game-winning goal at 13:46. Ben Nelson scored a power-play goal with three minutes left and Michael Bordieri added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
“You have to give Union credit. We had three two-goal leads and they came back each time,” Pecknold said. “But you have to turn around and give our guys credit for getting it going again. After it was 5-5 we could have shut it down, but we got a little hungry and went out and took it.”