The Quinnipiac men’s hockey team came away with two big home wins this weekend at Northford Ice Pavilion. On Fri., Feb. 2, Quinnipiac beat Canisius (10-9-3) 7-2 with strong play from the offense, defense and in goal.
The player of the game was Chris Cerrella. Cerrella’s second period goal gave him 93 career goals, passing Bill Vernis (92) to make him Quinnipiac’s all time leading scorer. Freshman goaltender Justin Eddy also had a big night for the Braves. Eddy turned away 58 shots to give him his ninth 30+ save game. Eddy only needs two more 30+ save games to break a Quinnipiac University record.
Quinnipiac scored six of their seven goals off of power play advantages. Scoring for the Braves were Brian Herbert, Jed Holtzman, and Chris Cerrella in the first period. Shawn Mansoff scored along with Cerrella and Herbert again in the second period and Ryan Olson scored the lone goal in the third period. Quinnipiac also successfully killed 15 power play advantages for Canisius, who were scoreless on all their power play attempts. Canisius got their two goals from David Deeves and Matt Shewchuck while goaltenders Stephen Fabiili and Sean Weaver combined for a total of 24 saves.
On Sat., Feb. 3, the Braves beat MAAC leader Mercyhurst (14-8-2), 4-1. After an early first period goal from Mercyhurst’s Tom McMonagle, Anthony Dipalma scored on a slap shot from the blue line to tie the score.
In the second period Shawn Mansoff knocked home a rebound off Herbert’s shot to make it 2-1. QU lit the lamp two more times in the third period with another goal from Mansoff and one for Cerrella who now has 94 career goals and a team leading 16 goals on the season. Eddy again was solid in net making 31 saves while the Quinnipiac defense shut down Mercyhurst’s seven power play opportunities. Mercyhurst goalie Peter Aubry made 29 saves in the contest. The victory over Mercyhurst was a big one for the Brave’s who got redemption for their 6-0 loss on Jan. 12. Quinnipac’s record is now 14-9-3 overall and 11-6-1 in the MAAC.
Eddy said, ” This weekend was a big turn around from our three game loosing streak. I think that our focus on defense was a key to our two wins. The team played great defensively despite the 58 shots in the Canisius game and that helped our offense score goals.” Eddy also mentioned the work of the penalty kill unit who did not give up a goal in all 22 disadvantage situations. The Braves will face off against Sacred Heart at Milford Ice Pavilion this Friday (2/09/01, 7:00) and Fairfield at Northford Ice Pavilion on Saturday (2/10/01, 7:00).