Bobcats Lose To Harvard In ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals
Box Score
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The Quinnipiac University men's hockey team lost to Harvard University, 3-1, in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals at the Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge, Mass. Quinnipiac ends the season at 20-15-4 overall while Harvard will move on to the next round of the tournament.
The loss ends Quinnipiac's season while Harvard advances to the semifinals of the 2008 Bank of America ECAC Hockey Championship at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. on March 21. The championship game will be played on March 22.
Harvard scored first with a goal coming at the 13:07 mark of the first period. Mike Taylor broke up the Quinnipiac power play in Harvard's defensive zone and then skated the length of the ice on the breakaway. His shot from the right face-off circle was initially deflected by Fisher but the puck caught the near side post and rattled home to give the Crimson the early 1-0 lead. Taylor's unassisted goal came shorthanded and was his 11th tally of the season.
Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) tied the game at 1-1 at the 9:03 mark of the 2nd period when he received a pass from Zach Hansen (White Bear Lake, MInn.) on the right flank and snuck a shot past Harvard's Kyle Richeter from just in front of the goal line by the left face-off circle. Ben Nelson (Spokane, Wash.) was also credited with an assist on the play.
At the 10:26 mark of the 2nd, Doug Rogers scored the go-ahead goal to give Harvard a 2-1 lead just seconds after Quinnipiac took a penalty behind their own goal. Taylor and Alex Biega were credited with assists on the power play goal.
Quinnipiac thought they scored the tying goal at the 4:50 mark of the third period when Andy Meyer (St. Louis, Mo.) took the puck the length of the ice and threw a shot on goal. Meyer's shot appeared to bounce off of Richter's chest, hit the ice behind the goalie and trickle over the net, but it was waved off by the linesman.
Matt McCollem missed an opportunity to put Harvard up by two goals at the 5:30 mark. McCollem got a rebound and clanged a shot off the left post on a wide open net. McCollem then caught the puck out of the air and dropped it on the ice. After the drop, the puck slid into the goal and the apparent score was waved off by the officials.
With just over five minutes to play in the period, Rogers and Taylor took off on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Rogers shot on Fisher was stopped with a kick-save, but the rebound went directly to Taylor on the opposite side of the Quinnipiac goal. The goal gave Harvard a 3-1 lead.
