Quinnipiac, Harvard Battle to Deadlock

Boxscore 

HAMDEN, CT -- The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team tied Harvard, 3-3, in an ECAC Hockey match-up at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. Quinnipiac held a 3-1 lead after the first period, but allowed a pair of second period goals. The Bobcats go to 10-5-3 overall and 3-3-3 in ECAC Hockey while Harvard goes to 6-6-3 overall and 5-3-2 in ECAC play.

Dan Travis (Wilton, N.H.) and Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) each scored a goal and assisted on another while Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) had two assists.

"We need to have great intensity and play hard to make up for the guys missing from our lineup," head coach Rand Pecknold said. "Our intensity was all-over-the-map. We're trying to stay hungry and play hard and we didn't tonight."

Quinnipiac jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals midway through the first period less than a minute apart. Leitch punched the puck across the goal mouth at the 11:34 mark on assists from Wong and Travis. Ben Nelson (Spokane, Wash.) then scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season at the 12:27 mark on a backhand from the right side of the goal. Jamie Bates (Toronto, Ont.) picked up his 11th assist of the year while Leitch picked up his 12th of the season.

Harvard jumped on the board with just under four minutes to play in the period at the 16:04 mark when Michael Biega scored his eighth goal of the year. Biega was assisted on the play by Paul Dufault who fed Jon Pelle on the wing. Pelle would find Biega across the crease for the Crimson's first goal of the game.

The Bobcats would close out the first period with a 3-1 lead after Travis netted his sixth goal of the season with 16 seconds remaining in the first frame. Travis was assisted on the play by Wong and Jean-Marc Beaudoin (St. Paul, Alb.).

"I wasn't happy with how we played in the first period," Pecknold said. "I thought we played poor defensively. We did however finish and we did rush the net. We have some talented guys that can finish on this team."

A pair of second period Crimson goals tied the game at 3-3 heading into the third period. Mike Taylor scored his third goal of the year at 1:37 into the period on assists from Brian McCafferty and Alex Meintel. Chad Morin tied the game at the 11:36 mark, with assists going to Jimmy Fraser while Pelle picked up his second of the game.

Both teams were scoreless through the third period. Harvard had the best opportunity to score when Pelle received the puck between the hash marks and blasted a shot that ricocheted off the right post to the far corner.

"Overall, it wasn't what we were expecting," Travis said. "We needed more intensity, but we didn't have it. We did come away with a point tonight, and getting points in this league is important."

In goal, Bud Fisher (Peterborough, Ont.) had 21 saves in 65 minutes in net while Harvard's Kyle Richter had 17 saves in goal.

The Bobcats hit the ice again on Sunday, Jan. 6 when they host the Big Green of Dartmouth at 3 p.m. at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. The game will be televised live on the New England Sports Network.