Quinnipiac finished its weekend sweep over Cornell with a 4-1 win Saturday night.
The win marks the first time in Quinnipiac’s history that the Bobcats have defeated the Big Red at the TD Bank Sports Center.
Eric Hartzell made 22 saves in the win and has allowed two goals or less in seven of his eight starts.
“I thought [Hartzell] was the key to game,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “It was a 4-1 game, but Cornell could have been up 3-0 after the first period. He was fantastic.”
After a scoreless first period, the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead on Kellen Jones’ first goal of the season. A pair of Cornell penalties gave QU an extended five-on-three just minutes into the second period. The Big Red killed off the first penalty, but could not keep the Bobcats off the board on the five-on-four. Just as the first penalty expired, Jones wristed a shot on net that beat Andy Iles five-hole.
Jones has played the last four games without his twin brother, Connor, who is still out with an injury.
“Right now, we are just trying to get good chemistry,” Jones said about his line. “And tonight, I was just able to sneak one five-hole, so I was pretty happy.”
The Bobcats added another later in the period on Ben Arnt’s first goal of the season. Jordan Samuels-Thomas skated down the right-wing boards and took a shot on net where Arnt tipped the puck over Iles’ shoulder for the 2-0 lead.
“We came out in the second and third period like we wanted to battle,” Pecknold said. “We just completely took over the game and I am pretty proud of my guys.”
For the second straight night, Cornell entered the third period down two goals. Last night at Princeton, Cornell scored three goals in the first nine minutes of the third period to take the lead.
“We got down against Princeton and we came back and played together as a team and with Colgate, we got down 2-0 and we came back and played as a team,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “But tonight was the first time we were rolling around in different directions trying to get back into the game.”
Quinnipiac gave Cornell no chance when Jeremy Langlois made it 3-0 just 3:38 into the third. Clay Harvey skated into the Cornell zone on the right wing. As he made his way over the blue line, he tapped the puck to Langlois, who found a seam between a pair of Cornell defenders. Langlois walked in and put a backhander through Iles’ five hole.
“It’s great to get these two wins at home,” Langlois said. “Now, hopefully, we can carry it on the road trip. We won’t have our fans behind us, but I think we can do it.”
Cornell responded 27 seconds later on a Greg Miller goal, but that was all Cornell could produce.
The Bobcats added one more goal 8:11 into the third from Cory Hibbeler.
