Bobcats Defeat Brown
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The Quinnipiac University men's hockey team extended their unbeaten streak to eight games, tying the Bobcats' all-time Division I mark, with a 6-3 win over Brown University. Quinnipiac went eight games without a loss during the 2005-06 season, their first year in ECAC Hockey. The Bobcats improve to 12-5-3 overall and 5-3-3 in ECAC Hockey while Brown drops to 1-10-4 overall and 1-5-3 in league play.
"It's nice to go eight games without losing," Head coach Rand Pecknold said. "We're finding different ways to win. We've been battling injuries and shuffling goalies. Our guys are out there playing hard."
Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) had his third consecutive multi-point outing as he scored once and assisted on two more goals. Linemates Dan Travis (Wilton, N.H) and Jean-Marc Beaudoin (St. Paul, Alb.) had one goal and one assist apiece. Quinnipiac scored four times in the first period, their most in one period this season and the most since Quinnipiac scored five in one period against American International on Feb. 13, 2007.
"I thought we won the game in the first period," head coach Rand Pecknold said. "We were pretty good in the second period and a little sloppy in the third. This is a good road win, we're playing well right now. I thought we did a great job tonight."
Travis scored his seventh goal of the season to put Quinnipiac out in front early, 1-0. Wong was credited with his 16th assist of the season after he won a face-off in Brown's defensive zone. Travis turned and blasted a shot from point blank range, beating Brown goalie Dan Rosen to the lower right corner.
Freshman Jake Bauer (Dayton, Minn.) had his third assist of the season after he handled the puck behind the Brown net and found David Marshall (Buffalo, Minn.) in the left face-off circle. Marshall then passed the puck out to Hansen at the blue line, whose slap shot went five-hole to put Quinnipiac on top 2-0. Marshall was credited with his sixth assist of the year.
Wong had his hand in his second goal of the night when he scored his fifth goal of the season with just under seven minutes to play in the first period. Sami Liimatainen (Riverside, Ill.) found Beaudoin to the left of the Bears' goal. Beaudoin then slipped a pass between the Brown defenders to Wong who faked left and scored on a backhand shot from the right side. The assist was Liimatainen's first career point while Beaudoin logged his seventh assist of the year.
At the 16:08 mark, Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) netted his eighth goal of the season on assists from Ben Nelson (Spokane, Wash.) and Jamie Bates (Toronto, Ont.). Nelson's shot was stopped by Rosen and Leitch pushed the puck through the goal mouth. The assist was Bates' 13th of the season and Nelson's ninth.
Quinnipiac pushed their lead to 5-0 on a goal by Beaudoin at the 14:38 mark. Wong received a pass from Travis and took a shot on goal from the right flank. Rosen deflected the shot up in the air and Beaudoin poked it into the net for his eighth goal of the season. The assist, Wong's second of the game, was his 17th of the season while Travis picked up his sixth.
Brown cut the Bobcats lead to 5-1 when Devin Timberlake scored his fourth goal of the season on assists from Aaron Volpatti and Scott Van Der Linden. Up to the goal, at the 2:04 marker, Quinnipiac freshman goalie Pat McGann (Evergreen Park, Ill.) had turned back the first 14 shots he saw in net.
Chris Myers (Wallaceburg, Ont.) scored his first goal of the season just 42 seconds later at 2:46 into the period. Mark Agnew (Hartney, Man.) passed from the left faceoff circle out to Dan Henningson (Toronto, Ont.) who dropped a pass off to Myers who basically had an open shot on net from the slot. The assist was Henningson's 12th of the season, while Agnew picked up his first points of the year.
At the 9:21 mark, David Brownschidle broke up a Quinnipiac possession and scored on a breakaway for his second goal of the season to cut the Quinnipiac lead to 6-2. Brown tacked on a third goal with 28 seconds remaining in the game when Sean McMonagle scored his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Jeff Prough.
In goal, McGann finished with 18 saves while Rosen tallied 26 for Brown.
The Bobcats return to play tomorrow night, Saturday, Jan. 12, when they face in-state rival Yale University at 7 p.m. at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn. Following Friday night's games, which including a 4-3 loss by Yale to Princeton, Princeton moves into first place with 14 points while the Bobcats move into second place with 13 points. Harvard and Clarkson are tied for third with 12 points followed by Yale with 11.
