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[/media-credit]The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team defeated St. Lawrence 5-2 on Saturday to earn a sweep on the weekend after beating No. 3 Clarkson on Friday.
Quinnipiac (11-13-4 overall, 6-8-2 ECAC) has now won two straight home games after not winning one in over two months.
After being disappointed with his team on Tuesday in a loss to Princeton, Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold was pleased with the effort the team showed during the weekend, but still feels they need to bring it on a consistent basis.
“Even though we were down 1-0, the guys were ready and they showed a lot of passion and care,” Pecknold said. “It’s nice to get the sweep at home this weekend.”
The first period of play had five goals, started off by St. Lawrence sophomore forward Alex Gilmour. At 9:30 in the first period, Quinnipiac sophomore defenseman Brogan Rafferty scored his second goal of the season on a deflection. Rafferty scored again in the second period on a power play.
Despite scoring the two goals, Rafferty credited his teammates for Saturday’s game.
“I try to keep to the same preparation towards every game and put pucks in net,” Rafferty said. “John Furgele made a really nice pass and I think it hit something, but I’ll take it.”
Rafferty wasn’t the only Bobcat to light the lamp twice. Senior forward Bo Pieper scored his ninth and 10th goals at the tail end of the first period to extend the lead to 4-1.
The weekend’s games has really made Pieper reflect to his freshman and sophomore years and thinks that the team has really hit their stride going into the home stretch of the season.
“We have a lot of good guys on this team on and off the ice,” Pieper said. “This first part of the season hasn’t been what we wanted, but now I think we’re really getting going and it’s exciting.”
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[/media-credit]At 14:17 in the first period, freshman forward Odeen Tufto scored his seventh goal of the season to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. Tufto skated past a defender to slide a shot past the goaltender.
The weekend was split in goal by sophomore Andrew Shortridge and freshman Keith Petruzzelli. Petruzelli made 25 saves on Friday, only allowing one goal. Shortridge made 20 saves on Saturday, only allowing two goals.
Despite both having strong outings, Pecknold stated that this is how he planned to manage the weekend.
“This is how it worked out,” Pecknold said. “We were going to have [Petruzzelli] play on Friday and [Shortridge] play on Saturday.”
Quinnipiac will next play at its ECAC Hockey rival Yale on Friday, Feb. 9, to try to get its 12th win of the season.
