HAMDEN, Conn. — It was a matchup of two undefeated heavyweights as Quinnipiac hosted Harvard Friday night.
The Bobcats took the game 4-1 to go to 9-0-0 on the year and remains the only undefeated and untied team in the nation.
The power play was the difference in this game, with a matchup of two of the best special-teams squads in the nation. With 35 penalty minutes on the sheet, the best from both sides came out.
“I thought we were resilient [and] I thought our penalty kill was really good, can’t complain against a 6-on-3 goal there at the end,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “But I thought our PK did a nice job tonight against one of the better power plays in the country.”
The third goal for the Bobcats (9-0-0, 3-0-0 ECAC) came off of a Tim Clifton deflection in front on a five-minute power play at 19:10 of the second period.
Harvard (3-1-1, 3-1-1 ECAC) was down a man at the end of the second period and into the third after forward Seb Lloyd was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding after a hit on Quinnipiac defenseman Kevin McKernan in front of the Crimson bench.
“So we take a bad penalty, put a good team on a power play for five minutes, we give up a power play goal so the game’s a little bit more of an uphill chase,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato. “I thought we just weren’t ready to play as hard as we needed to play.”
The first two goals for the Bobcats, the first from Tommy Schutt at 2:41 of the second, and Sam Anas at 12:30 of the middle stanza, were the result of turnovers by Harvard.
“I thought that on both their goals, the first and second goal, we had full possession of the puck twice and turned it over,” said Donato. “I give them credit, they kept coming.”
The goal for Anas was the 50th of his career. As a junior, Anas has tallied 92 points in 86 games for the Bobcats.
“I saw the shot blocker, the defenseman in front, went down and blocked the shot but he didn’t come at me, so I waited a little to use him as a screen,” said Anas. “After that, I didn’t get a hard shot off, but I picked a corner and was able to find the back of the net.”
The weight of the Quinnipiac offense doesn’t just fall on Anas’ stick. Fifteen other Bobcats have scored so far this season, including assistant captain Travis St. Denis, who he shares the ECAC lead in points with.
“For me, it’s fun to score goals but winning trumps scoring,” said Anas. “If I’m not scoring and we’re winning, then I’m happier than if I’m scoring and we’re not winning. It’s great to have secondary scoring and guys that are scoring goals.”
