HAMDEN — As senior defenseman Cooper Moore put it, “anytime you have a big game like senior night, everyone plays a little harder.”

And boy, did Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey play hard Saturday night, running the Saints straight out of M&T Bank Arena, 8-1.

“It was a good win tonight,” head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We stubbed our toe a little last night, Clarskon did a really good job against us, but we didn’t play our best. I knew we needed to be good tonight and that’s how we responded.”

And what better way to open the night, than senior defenseman Iivarii Rasanen shooting one past Saints’ freshman goaltender Mason Kucenski — who made his college debut Saturday — barely four minutes into the first period.

Rasanen was one of the seven different Bobcats that got their name up on the scoreboard. His fellow senior forward Travis Treloar capitalized on the five minute major Quinnipiac got in the second period. 

Another senior to shine was Moore, who noted a three point night, one of three Bobcats to do so. 

Sophomore defenseman Charles Alexis Legault notched two assists and a goal to open the second period — the first three-point game of his collegiate career. 

“I’ve got more comfortable with the pace, just how fast the game is,” Legault said. “It’s easy when you’re on the ice with Collin Graf, you give him the puck and he scores.”

Speaking of the junior forward, Graf netted his 20th of the season — and the second goal of the game — along with two assists, to round out the trio of three-pointers.

Alongside them, freshman forward Andon Cerbone and junior forward Cristophe Tellier scored in the final period, Tellier’s goal coming in with only 30 seconds left in regulation, just to sweeten the deal.

The last Bobcat to raise the score was sophomore forward Sam Lipkin, who netted two goals on the night. 

“Play fast and go north and things will go your way and that’s what happened tonight for the group,” Legault said. “You wanna win it for (the seniors).” 

Senior goaltender Vinny Duplessis almost got his senior night shutout, but was bested by Saints junior defenseman Mason Waite shorthanded. Still, he noted 24 saves. 

He wasn’t the only Bobcat in the net, though. In fact, all three goaltenders on the roster made an appearance.

Freshman Matej Marinov got switched in 10 minutes before the end of the third frame, followed by junior Noah Altman who made his fourth appearance with two minutes left. 

“It was obviously a very fun night,” Moore said. 

After the game, Rasanen, Treloar, senior forward Christophe Fillion, graduate forward Zach Tupker, Moore and Duplessis were honored on the ice. 

“(Senior night) is almost awkward now, because you don’t know if the kids (a) fourth year or fifth year,” Pecknold said. “(Graduate defenseman CJ) McGee and (graduate defenseman Jayden) Lee did theirs last year and I had to ask them, ‘do you wanna do it again?’ They were like ‘No, we already did it’.”

Rasanen and Fillion are the only ones who have spent their whole careers in navy and gold. But that didn’t make this night for others any less tearful. 

“I’ve only been here for a couple of months, but everyone here has treated me like family from the get go,” Moore said. “What we’ve been through as a team… I’m just really excited for the postseason.”

Even though tonight marked the last home game of the regular season for the Bobcats, they are set to return back to The Bank on March 15 for the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals, after securing a first round bye. 

“That’s the big bonus of the bye, you get healthy,” Pecknold said. “Right now we’ll just focus on what’s in front of us, the couple of days off.”