Photo credits: Caiti Kaminski
For the second straight season, the Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey season ended in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Hockey Tournament. Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Union ended the Bobcats’ dream of being conference champions.
“We had some good chances,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “Unfortunately, we had zero power plays. We weren’t allowed to utilize that tonight. I’m proud of my team – I thought our seniors played great. We dressed 11 freshmen tonight and came a goal from the final four teams in the league.”
The Dutchmen scored early and never looked backed. Wayne Simpson’s one-timer from the faceoff dot beat sophomore goaltender Dan Clarke two minutes into the game. Union added to its lead a little over a minute into the third period, which proved to be the difference in the game.
That was enough for Dutchmen netminder Corey Milan, who stopped 30 shots to secure the victory. Clarke finished with 33 saves, and averaged 44 for the series thanks to his tournament record 73 saves on Friday.
“I thought Dan Clarke was good tonight,” Pecknold said. “I give Union a lot of credit, and Corey Milan was great.”
Reese Rolheiser gave the Bobcats life when he redirected Jeremy Langlois’ shot into the net to cut the lead in half with less than five minutes to play. But Milan stoned the Bobcats the rest of the way and preserved the Dutchmen’s win that advances them to the ECAC Hockey Semifinals.
The Bobcats finished the season with a record of 20-18-2 and 14-13 in ECAC play.
