HAMDEN, Conn. – Nationally-ranked No. 5/7 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey defeated Rensselaer, 4-1, in an ECAC Hockey match-up in front of a capacity crowd of 3,296 at High Point Solutions Arena. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 10-4-2 overall and 6-1-1 in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers are now 3-13-1 (1-6-0 ECAC Hockey).
Tanner MacMaster, Tim Clifton, Bo Pieper and Luke Shiplo all scored for the Bobcats while Landon Smith assisted on three of Quinnipiac’s four goals.
Smith carried the puck into the neutral zone in front of the Bobcats’ bench before pushing the puck up-ice to Rafferty’s tape. Rafferty and MacMaster found themselves on a two-on-one before the Bobcats’ freshman skated to RPI goalie Cam Hackett’s left and handed the puck to MacMaster just above the crease. MacMaster stepped around a defender and flipped a back-hand shot between Hackett’s pads to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead, just under five minutes into the game.
Four minutes into the third period Rensselaer’s Jared Wilson tied the game with his eighth of the season. Evan Tironese won a face-off to the left of Truehl back to Wilson at the point. Wilson’s shot found its way between a trio of bodies between the face-off circle and past Bobcats netminder Chris Truehl, to tie the game at 1-1.
With just under 12 minutes to play, Clifton gave Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead with his team-leading ninth goal of the season. K.J. Tiefenwerth won the puck along the boards and tipped it to Chase Priskie in the face-off circle. Priskie skated to the slot before handing to Clifton, who slammed home the goal with half of the period to go.
With less than 10 minutes to play, the Bobcats added their second power-play goal of the period on Pieper’s sixth goal of the season. Smith held the puck at the point and handed it to Kevin Duane on the goal line. Duane stepped in front of Hackett and attempted to jam it home, but the puck bounced off of Hackett’s pad and settled on Pieper’s stick on the opposite post where he flipped it to the back of the Engineers’ net to give Quinnipiac a 3-1 lead.
Two minutes later, Quinnipiac made it 4-1, when Pieper found Shiplo, who sent it to Smith on the wing. Smith skated in on the right flank before centering a pass to Shiplo in front of the RPI goal.
Hackett finished with a career-high 47 saves, including 22 in the third period alone. Truehl had 14 at the other end of the ice. Quinnipiac went 3 for 10 on the power play, while the Engineers were 0 for 4.
RPI is back in action tomorrow night at Princeton (7pm), while the Bobcats host Union (7pm).
