Rensselaer Edged on Late Goal
HAMDEN, Conn. - Quinnipiac men's ice hockey senior Yuri
Bouharevich
(Montreal, Quebec) scored the game-winner with 2.4 seconds
remaining
in regulation to give the Bobcats a 3-2 ECAC Hockey win against
Rensselaer on Saturday night at High Point Solutions Arena at the
TD
Bank Sports Center. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 9-6-3
overall
and 2-4-3 in ECAC Hockey play, while RPI drops to 3-12-0 overall
and
1-6-0 in league action.
The goal, Bouharevich's third of the season, broke a 2-2 tie to
seal a
back-and-forth battle between the two teams. After Matthew Peca
(Petawawa, Ontario) scored the game's first goal to give Quinnipiac
a
1-0 lead, RPI scored two unanswered goals to take a one-goal lead
with
just under sixteen minutes to play in the game. Bobcats' captain
Scott
Zurevinski (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) tied the game at the 6:29
mark
before Bouharevich broke the tie and gave the Bobcats the win.
"[Ben] Arnt made a great play," Bouharevich explained. "Two
defenseman
pinched on him, and he saw me and got me the puck. When I got it,
I
knew I didn't have a lot of time, so I didn't carry it, I just let
it
go. That was a big goal, and a big win for this team and this
program.
We've been looking for a good league win."
Zurevinski also had an assist on Peca's goal while sophomore
defenseman Zach Tolkinen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) assisted on the
game-tying and game-winning goals. Freshman Danny Federico
(Acton,
Mass.) picked up his first career point on Peca's goal while
Zach
Davies (Smithers, Britich Columbia) and Ben Arnt (Oakland, Minn.)
also
had assists in the Bobcats win.
"It's good to see Yuri [Bouharevich] get one," Zurevinski said.
"He
plays so hard, and I feel like he's been waiting for a while to
get
this one. I'm happy for him, he works hard and he deserved it."
Junior goalie Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) improved to
4-3-3
on the season after stopping 20 of RPI's 22 shots on goal. With
the
win, he becomes the the sixth goalie in Quinnipiac history to
record
20 wins.
Peca's goal came at the 13:01 mark when Federico handled the puck
at
the point and blasted a shot on goal. Rensselaer goalie Scott
Diebold
made the save, but Zurevinski picked up the puck and slipped it
to
Peca who one-timed the puck past Diebold to put Quinnipiac on
the
board.
RPI's Jacob Laliberte tied the game at the 17:10 mark of the
first
period when he tipped a pass from Bailen in front of the net
past
Hartzell. Brock Higgs was also credited with an assist on the
play.
Both team's were scoreless in the second period. Zach Schroeder
broke
the game's scoring drought with his first goal of the season at
the
4:06 mark of the third. Higgs picked up his second point of the
game
whiel Mark McGowan was credited with a helper.
At the 6:29 mark, Zurevinski tied the game with his third goal of
the
year and his first since Oct. 15 against Canisius. Davies picked up
a
loose puck along the boards to the left of Diebold and fed Tolkinen
at
the point. Tolkinen's pass through traffic found the Bobcats'
captain
tape and banged past Diebold to tie the game at 2-2.
With less than a minute to play, RPI was called for icing, giving
the
Bobcats a face-off in the Engineers' zone. RPI managed to win the
draw
and sent the puck up-ice. Spencer Heichman (Yorba Linda,
Calif.)
intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and centered a pass to
Tolkinen. Tolkinen once-again quarterbacked the play, feeding Arnt
who
was skating into the RPI zone. Arnt drew two defenders and then
spied
Bouharevich on the left flank. Bouharevich received the puck,
skated
into the left face-off circle and blasted a shot past Diebold for
the
game-winner.















