Quinnipiac Drops Second Straight
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UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - For the second consecutive night the Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team trailed Air Force by just one goal heading into the third period. But the Bobcats again surrendered two unanswered goals in the final frame to lose here tonight, 3-1. With the loss, Quinnipiac falls to 1-2-0 overall on the season.
Air Force opened scoring in the game when center Eric Ehn sent a slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle that was tipped past Quinnipiac goaltender Peter Vetri by defenseman Nichael Mayra. The goal came at 11:59 of the period on the power play after a Quinnipiac player had been whistled for a tripping penalty.
Trailing 1-0 throughout a scoreless second period, Quinnipiac successfully killed off three consecutive penalties while Vetri stonewalled the Falcons by stopping eight shots on net.
At 3:45 of the third period a sudden shot off the stick of Air Force center Jeff Hajner from the middle of a scrum in the right faceoff circle slipped through the pads of Vetri to make the score 2-0. Less than a minute later, a slapshot by AFA defenseman Greg Flynn from the blue line found the top corner of the far side of the net to give Air Force a 3-0 cushion.
While skating on the power play, Quinnipiac trimmed its deficit to 3-1 at 12:05 when David Marshall knocked in a loose rebound during a scramble in front of the net for his first goal of the season. Bryan Leitch was credited with an assist on the play - his second of the series - after his hard shot ricocheted off the pads of Air Force goaltender Andrew Volkening.
Quinnipiac, which outshot Air Force 22-16, pulled its netminder during a two-minute power play at 12:13 of the period but couldn't close to within a goal. Vetri made 13 saves on the night, while Volkening stopped 21 of 22 shots. Quinnipiac was 1-of-7 on the power play, while Air Force was 1-of-6 with a man advantage.
Quinnipiac returns to action at home on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. ET with another non-conference opponent in American International College.
