The Quinnipiac University Bobcats (10-12-0, 4-10-0 ECACHL) took a 6-0 lost at the hands of the Cornell Big Red (11-3-2, 6-2-1 ECACHL) at Yale’s Ingalls Rink Friday night.
The last time these two teams met in December, the Bobcats almost skated away with a victory, but were upended in the final seconds, 2-1. It was a different story in this match up.
Cornell was the dominant, composed, physical team out of the gate, scoring three first-period goals.
The Big Red got on the board at 4:55 of the first on a Mitch Carefoot tally. Doug Krantz sent a pass to Matt Moulson who rifled the shot on Bobcats netminder Wes Russell. Russell made the initial save, but left the rebound in the crease that Carefoot put in for the one goal lead.
Less then two minutes later, Cornell doubled its lead on a one-timer goal. Ryan O’Byrne sent a backdoor pass to Dan Glover, where he put the puck in the back of the open net.
The Bobcats’ head coach Rand Pecknold then called timeout after the goal to regroup his team, hoping to mount a comeback.
It didn’t help.
Moulson made it a three-goal advantage, with his team leading 12th goal of the season with just under four minutes remaining in the first.
“Cornell had the momentum and we wanted to try and swing it,” said Pecknold. “It didn’t work.”
After the period, Quinnipiac pulled Russell in favor of senior Josh Siembida.
Carefoot recorded his second goal of the game, this time on Siembida, at 14:35 of the second, with assists to Cam Abbott and Jon Gleed.
Some sloppy play by the Bobcats and high pressure by Cornell helped in creating turnovers for the Big Red. They capitalzed with goals from Byron Bitz and Mark McCutcheon to complete the 6-0 win.
“There is good leadership in the locker room,” said Pecknold. “The kids will respond.”
The Bobcats best opportunity of the night came on a 5-on-3 power play in the third, but the Big Red and David McKee held strong preserving the shutout.
The teams went a combined 0-for-11 on the power play. Siembida and Russell combined for 16 saves with Russell taking the loss, while McKee made 21 saves in the shutout win.
The Bobcats will play host to the Colgate Raiders at Ingalls Rink tomorrow at 7 p.m., while Cornell travels to face Princeton.
