There was another shootout between Union and Quinnipiac on Friday night at Messa Rink. But, unlike Sunday’s 8-5 Governor’s Cup consolation game at Pepsi Arena, the Bobcats were the only team firing their shots on target.
After a scoreless first period, Quinnipiac erupted for six second-period goals and cruised to an 8-2 victory over the Dutchmen in the ECACHL openers for both teams.
Brandon Wong had two of his three goals in the second. The Bobcats (1-0 ECACHL, 4-2-1 overall) scored those goals in the first 12:39 of the period.
Wong was stunned that the Bobcats scored eight goals against the Dutchmen for the second straight game.
“We thought it was going to be a low-scoring game, and we were going to have to work hard,” Wong said.
The six goals allowed by the Dutchmen (0-1, 2-3-2) in the second tied a team record for most goals given up in a period. Union gave up six in a period against Brown on Feb. 5, 1993, and at Cornell on March 4, 1995.
“That performance is unacceptable at home,” Union coach Nate Leaman said. It was Union’s worst home loss since an 8-1 defeat to Harvard on Feb. 1, 2005. What was perplexing to Leaman was that the Dutchmen outshot the Bobcats (1-0, 4-2-1), 25-22.
“I don’t know what to say,” Leaman said. “I’ve never outshot a team and lost, 8-2. I thought our scoring chances were better than their scoring chances.”
Union did have some good chances in the first. The best one came when Mario Valery-Trabucco hit the crossbar with a shot from the left circle.
Wong opened the scoring at 1:49 when he put in the rebound of a Dan Henningson shot past goalie Justin Mrazek. David Marshall made it 2-0 41 seconds later when he banked a shot off the back of Mrazek’s right leg from behind the net.
Wong scored a power-play goal at 7:50, prompting Leaman to call a timeout. But that did nothing to stop Quinnipiac’s momentum. Greg Holt chase Mrazek from the game with the first of his two goals at 8:51.
“I don’t want to say they got some lucky bounces,” said Union defenseman Lane Caffaro, who assisted on both Dutchmen goals, which were scored by Chris Potts and T.J. Fox. “They got one, and it shouldn’t have crippled us like it did. We should have been able to bounce back, but we didn’t.”
Rich Sillery came in and faced two shots — and gave up goals to Ben Nelson and Jamie Bates.
“We were fortunate in that when we did get scoring opportunities, they were real quality scoring opportunities,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “It was one of those games where pucks seemed find a way to go in.”
Mrazek was pulled from a game for the second time this season. The other time was Oct. 21 at Northeastern, when he allowed three goals on five shots.
“I still think Justin’s a good goaltender,” Leaman said. “He played very well against RPI [last Saturday], and he played well against Ferris the first night. He just struggled tonight.”
On Saturday, Union will host Princeton, while Quinnipiac visits RPI.
Ken Schott covers college hockey for The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y.
