The Quinnipiac University Bobcats (14-14-0, 5-11-0 ECACHL) dominated the Clarkson Golden Knights (13-12-2, 6-8-1 ECACHL) in a 6-1 victory in front of a sell out crowd at the Northford Ice Pavilion Friday night.
The Bobcats dominated the game right out of the gate with three goals in the first period.
“We played well and it was a good effort all around,” said Quinnipaic head coach Rand Pecknold. “Defensively, goaltending, everything was good.”
Ben Nelson got the goal scoring started at 8:33 of the first. Jamie Bates sent a rink wide pass on the back door and Nelson banged home the puck.
Chris Myers gave the Bobcats a two goal lead 25 seconds later. Matt Sortberg started the play with a pass to David Marhsall in the slot. Marshall made a nifty move around a Golden Knights defender, found an open Myers, and he put the puck in the back of the net.
Brian Leitch added his 10th goal of the season just over the 11 minute mark on a pass Reid Cashman.
The Bobcats outshot Clarkson, 8-1, in the period, with Clarkson’s only shot coming off of a dump in.
Coming into the second, the Golden Knights were more fired up and eventually got on the board on David Cayer’s power-play goal. Nick Dodge sent a pass from one circle to the other, where Michael Grenzy received the pass and proceeded to feed Cayer for the one-timer goal past Bobcat goaltender Bud Fisher.
In the period, Clarkson managed to record 11 shots on net, the same as the Bobcats.
“We didn’t have a great second period,” said Pecknold. “We started to get a little tentative.”
Heading into the third period it was all Quinnipiac.
Myers, Chris Walsh, and Nelson all recorded goals in the third period for the Bobcats.
Myers tallied his second of the game when he snapped a slap shot low on the ice past an out-of-position David Leggio for the goal.
Walsh batted in a rebound shot from Mark Nelson’s blast from the point and Ben Nelson added his second of the game when he wristed the puck under the cross bar past Leggio.
Fisher made 17 saves for his twelfth career win, while Leggio made 27 saves in the loss. There were 30 penalties in the match with 114 penalty minutes distributed between the teams.
Quinnipiac will host St. Lawrence tomorrow night at Yale’s Ingalls Rink, while Clarkson travels to Princeton.
