The Quinnipiac University Bobcats (16-15-1, 7-12-1 ECACHL) battled to a 4-4 tie with the Rensselaer Engineers (13-14-6, 7-7-6 ECACHL) with three third-period goals Saturday night at Ingalls Rink.
Coming off of a 3-1 win over Union Friday night, the Bobcats hoped to continue the momentum on Senior Night heading into the finals weeks of the season. Jamie Bates had two goals and Matt Sorteberg had one for the tie.
Quinnipiac, down 3-1, cut the deficit in half on a Bates power-play goal midway through the third. Brian Leitch cycled the puck to Reid Cashman, whose shot was deflected home by Bates. The assist for Cashman was his 100th point in a Bobcat uniform, becoming the 24th player in school history to record the achievement.
The Bobcats, in their Gold third jerseys, had a golden opportunity to tie the game up at three when RPI’s Andrei Uryadov was assessed a five-minute major for hitting from behind. Quinnipiac came through big with the tying goal by Sorteberg. Bates again was involved in the goal and fed Sorteberg for the one-timer goal.
Sorteberg, a few minutes after the goal, was assessed a penalty, and RPI took the lead back on the power play for what seemed to be the game winner. Oren Eizenman tallied his 12th of the season when he ripped a shot from the point. Kevin Croxton fed Farynuk, who blasted the shot; Eizenman picked up the puck and banged home the rebound.
Quinnipiac was not to go down lightly. Rensselaer took another penalty, and Bates came through with his second on the night with 5:33 remaining in regulation. Cashman and Leitch played pass and catch and found Bates on the backdoor for the game-tying goal.
Quinnipiac got the scoring started at 10:50 of the first when Ben Nelson redirected home a Leitch shot past Engineer goaltender Mathias Lange.
RPI answered back with two goals of its own in the period. The first was scored by Andrew Lord on a one-timer shot in the slot from Brad Farynuk. The second goal was scored by Matt Angers-Goulet. On a two-on-one, Angers-Goulet and Scott Romfo came down, and Angers-Goulet faked the shot and put the puck past Bobcat goaltender Bud Fisher. Fisher went to slide across in anticipation of the pass but was beat stick side.
The Engineers added their third goal of the night when the puck squeezed through the pads of Fisher. Jake Luthi had enough speed on the puck to put it five-hole on Fisher. An assist was credited to Dan Peace.
Fisher made 19 saves and Lange made 28 in the tie for both teams. Quinnipiac finished 3-8 on the power play. Neither team recorded a shot in the overtime period.
Quinnipiac will end the season on the road at Yale and Brown next weekend, while RPI hosts Cornell and Colgate.
