HAMDEN, Conn. — Sam Anas’ three points paced Quinnipiac past Colgate 5-0 on Friday night at High Point Solutions Arena.
“[Anas has] been great all year and he was the best player on the ice tonight,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “We’ve done a good job of surrounding him with good players, but he makes guys around him better. He’s got that knack to create time and space which I think is a tough thing to teach.”
Michael Garteig made 19 saves for the Bobcats, improving to 4-2-0 on the season and earning his first shutout. Tim Clifton and K.J. Tiefenwerth each had two points for Quinnipiac.
“We’ve talked about being a better 60-minute team this season and especially, this week,” said Pecknold. “We also talked about being a better first-period team and I think we did that and it carried over. It wasn’t perfect, but intensity-wise it was our best 60 minutes of the year.”
Anas started the scoring at 2:19 of the opening frame. Tiefenwerth and Clifton chased down a dumped-in puck behind the Colgate goal and gained possession. Clifton then powered his way to the front of the net and slid the puck into the crease. Anas found the loose puck in front of Charlie Finn and stuffed it home past his left pad.
Two and a half minutes later, Anas extended Quinnipiac’s lead on the power play. After a series of passes in the offensive zone, Matthew Peca found Anas positioned high in the slot. With traffic in front of the goal, Anas snapped a shot high past the glove side of Finn for his team-leading sixth goal of the year.
“Getting off to a good start in any game is important, especially against a good team like Colgate,” said Anas. “I think we just didn’t look back from there. Tonight was one of the closest we’ve played to playing a full 60 minutes and I think that paid dividends for us.”
Quinnipiac seized control of the game in the second period, outshooting Colgate 15-3 in the frame and extending its lead to 3-0. After Justin Agosta gained possession in Colgate’s end, he found an open Soren Jonzzon on the left side of the ice. Jonzzon stickhandled toward goal and beat Finn between his pads for his second goal of the season.
“Some of our guys tried to bring some energy by playing physical and maybe making a big hit to motivate, but it certainly didn’t work tonight,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “We weren’t on our game and they were. I thought they played very well.”
Landon Smith and Clifton added goals less than a minute apart to put the Bobcats ahead, 5-0, and chase Finn from the game. Finn made 21 saves in a losing effort, dropping his record to 6-3-0. Zac Hamilton stopped all six shots he faced in relief.
“We’re going to have to take a look at this game, lean on our leadership, and hit the reset button,” said Vaughan. “And we’ve been very good at that, so we have to get this one out of our system.”
“Getting those two points in the ECAC that’s all that matters,” added Anas. “It always comes down to those last few games and Colgate is going to be there in those last few games, so those two points are huge for us.”
