Bobcats Fall to Union in Overtime

Boxscore

OMAHA, Neb. –- The Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team lost to Union College, 6-5 in overtime, in the first game of the Mutual of Omaha Stampede at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. With the loss, Quinnipiac opens the year at 0-1-0 while Union goes to 1-0-0 to start the season.

Quinnipiac junior Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) registered a natural hat trick with three goals in the first period. It was the junior center’s fourth career hat trick and his first since Feb. 13, 2007 against American International College. It was also Quinnipiac’s first hat trick since Eric Lampe scored three times against RPI on Feb. 1, 2008 in a 3-2 win. Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) added two assists while junior Jean-Marc Beaudoin (St. Paul, Alb.) added a goal and an assist.

Wong scored the Bobcats’ first goal of the season on a 4-on-3 power play at the 4:18 mark of the first period. Captain Dan Henningson (Edmonton, Alberta) handled the puck on the right wing before dropping a pass off below the right face-off circle to Leitch, who fed Wong out in front of Union goalie Corey Milan. Wong’s one-timer gave the junior center his first goal of the year and 41st of his career.

Andrew Meyer (St. Louis, Mo.) put the Bobcats out in front, 2-0, with is first goal of the year at the 6:16 mark. Scott Zurevinski (Saskatoon, Sask.) won the face-off, sending the puck back to Meyer. The senior defenseman weaved through traffic to Union’s doorstep and deposited a shot five-hole on Milan. The assist was Zurevinski’s first career point.

Wong scored again at the 7:22 mark, on the power play, when Leitch broke up an attempted clear by the Dutchman defensive unit. Leitch’s break-up sent the puck to Wong who beat Milan to give Quinnipiac a 3-0 lead with just under 13 minutes to play in the first frame.

Wong scored his third goal of the game with 28.5 seconds left in the first period. Wong and line mate Beaudoin took off on a 2-on-1 toward Milan. Beaudoin dropped the puck to Wong whose one-timer gave him his fourth career hat trick.

Union broke their minor scoring drought at the 19:49 mark when Jason Walters won the face-off to start the second period, pushed past the Quinnipiac defense and beat Quinnipiac starting goalie Bud Fisher (Peterborough, Ont.) to the lower right corner to cut the Bobcat lead to 4-1.

Union cut the lead in half at the 9:57 mark of the second period. John Simpson intercepted a Quinnipiac pass and walked the puck in, flipping a shot over the left shoulder of Fisher to make the score 4-2 with just under 10 minutes to play in the second period.

Stephane Boileau scored on a one-time off a pass from Brian Yanovitch. Justin Pallos took control of the puck behind the Quinnipiac goal and dished to Yanovitch to the right of the net. Yanovitch then passed across the goal mouth to Boileau, who banged it home to pull Union within one goal at the 8:39 mark, 4-3. Adam Presizniuk scored to tie the game at 4-4 at the 17:23 mark of the second period.

Union took a 5-4 lead with 7:16 remaining in the game when Simpson scored his second goal of the game. Presizniuk put a shot on goal but was denied by Fisher before Simpson collected the rebound and put it away to give Union the lead.

Quinnipiac’s Beaudoin tied the game with just under four minutes to play when he took a pass from freshman Spencer Heichman (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Heichman, who picked up his first career point on the play, received a pass from Brett Dickinson (Furlong, Pa.). The goal was Beaudoin’s second point of the night.

In overtime, Union put a barrage of shots on goal before Boileau collected a rebound and beat Fisher to the upper left corner for the game-winner.

Quinnipiac returns to action tomorrow when they play in the Consolation Game of the Mutual of Omaha Stampede at 4:05 p.m. CST. They will play the loser of the 7:00 p.m. game on Friday between American International and the University of Nebraska-Omaha.