By Aaron Todd <[email protected]>–
The No. 11/12 Quinnipiac University men’s hockey team scored three goals in a span of five minutes and 32 seconds in the second period — including a pair by Matthew Fawcett — to take a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-1 win over St. Lawrence University in an ECAC Hockey contest on Friday afternoon at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena in Hamden, Connecticut.
St. Lawrence’s Greg Lapointe scored for the Saints halfway through the third period — the third goal of the season for the first-year forward — but Quinnipiac added an empty net goal in the closing minutes to put the game away.
“I thought we got better as the game went on,” said Charles W. Appleton II Head Men’s Hockey Coach Brent Brekke. “They pinned us in our end for a couple of shifts in the first period that resulted in chances. Our second period was our best offensive period but unfortunately we had three defensive lapses that resulted in goals against. They are a talented team and make you pay for those types of mistakes.”
Fawcett scored on a deflection off a shot by Logan Britt to get the Bobcats on the scoreboard at 10:15 of the second period.
Michael Lombardi increased the lead to 2-0 just over two minutes later, skating in towards the net crease and lifting a backhand shot over Saints’ goaltender Emil Zetterquist’s left shoulder.
Fawcett completed the three-goal run, deflecting a feed from Desi Burgart past Zetterquist from the slot with 4:13 remaining in the period.
Lapointe’s goal came after Cameron Buhl won an offensive zone faceoff back to Tim Makowski. Makowski sent a shot in from the blue line, but it was blocked in front of the net. Buhl picked up the loose puck on the left side and swept it across the goal mouth towards the right post, where Lapointe was able to put it away for his third goal against the Bobcats this season.
The Saints pulled Zetterquist for an extra attacker and were able to sustain some pressure in the Quinnipiac end, but Ethan de Jong found the empty net with 1:27 remaining to close out the scoring.
St. Lawrence outshot Quinnipiac 31-27; Zetterquist made 23 saves for the Saints, while Keith Petruzzelli stopped 30 shots for the Bobcats.
The Saints, who came into the game ranked fifth nationally on the penalty kill, held Quinnipiac, which had converted on 23.8% of its opportunities coming into the game, scoreless in three opportunities. St. Lawrence was 0-for-2 on the power play.
(St. Lawrence men’s hockey photo)
