Quinnipiac wraps up regular season with 4-1 win over RPI, pushes win streak to 10

Cameron Levasseur

No. 2 Quinnipiac men’s hockey ended the regular season on a 10-game win streak.

Zack Hochberg, Staff Writer
February 26, 2023

The No. 2 Quinnipiac men’s hockey team pushed its win streak to 10, defeating RPI 4-1 in its final regular season game of the year Saturday.

RPI put Quinnipiac on its heels early, as freshman forward Victor Czerneckianair got called for tripping. However, the Bobcats were able to kill the penalty off.

The hosts continued to hunt for goals, and they were rewarded when RPI freshman forward Sutter Muzzatti tapped in a shot past sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets for the 1-0 advantage.

In Friday’s win over Union, the Bobcats got off to a slow start before taking over and securing the victory, and a similar situation played out again Saturday.

As the Bobcats continued to look for answers to the RPI goal, Perets made a beautiful save when Muzzatti came searching for his second goal of the night.

Quinnipiac got its first power play chance of the evening when junior defenseman Jack Agnew got called for a trip of his own.

The Bobcats thought they had tied it up as sophomore forward Christophe Fillion got his stick on a flying puck that rebounded off freshman goaltender Carson Cherepak. After a review, officials waved it off for a high stick.

The visitors’ intensity picked up after RPI took the lead, but they were forced to head into the first intermission trailing 1-0.

To open up the second period, senior defenseman Jayden Lee got the Bobcats on the board five minutes in, firing a shot through a screen to find the back of the net.

The No. 2 team in the country kept the momentum going, as they got another power-play opportunity after a holding call on Engineers junior forward James McIsaac.

Unlike RPI, the Bobcats converted on their power play when sophomore forward Jacob Quillian easily put in a loose puck after a rebound on a shot by Lee. In a flash Quinnipiac had erased its deficit and turned it into a lead.

Czerneckianair gave RPI another power-play opportunity after getting called for his second penalty of the game. Just like his first penalty, the Bobcats were up to the task and killed it off.

The Bobcats dominated the offensive zone all period, outshooting RPI 18-4, as they took a 2-1 advantage after two periods.

RPI started to get things going in the offensive end in the third, aided by a hooking call on junior defenseman Iivari Räsänen.

Perets, just like he had done in the Yale game, made another phenomenal diving save on a breakaway to keep the Engineers out of the net.

The Bobcats followed the huge Perets save by going end-to-end and taking a 3-1 lead. Sophomore forward Collin Graf made another great pass, this time to freshman forward Sam Lipkin, who finished it for his 12th goal of the season and the two-goal advantage.

Graf eventually got tired of dishing out assists, slinging a shot on an empty RPI net from center ice to finish it off.

The victory gave Quinnipiac its 20th conference win, as it wrapped up regular season play at an astounding 28-3-3.

The Bobcats will await the results of the first round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament, before hosting the quarterfinals on March 10, 11 and 12 if necessary against the lowest remaining seed.