The No.7/8 Quinnipiac Bobcats recorded a 5-2 victory over the AIC Yellow Jackets Saturday afternoon to end their three game winless streak.
“Happy to get a win and get back on track,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold.
Four of the five seniors scored for the Bobcats in the victory.
“Those five senior forwards have been great,” said Pecknold. “They are one of the reasons we’ve been good this year. They were ready to play tonight.”
The Bobcats (13-3-1) opened up an early lead when Mike Atkinson registered his seventh goal of the season just 1:40 into the contest. Greg Holt carried the puck into the offensive zone on a two-on-one with Atkinson and sent a saucer pass over the Yellow Jackets’ defenseman’s stick. Atkinson took the pass and banged home the puck past Dan Ramirez.
Quinnipiac extended the lead to two goals on Jean-Marc Beaudoin’s tally marker with 6:32 left in the first period. Eric Lampe ripped a shot on net from the right circle that bounced out into the slot. While still in the butterfly position, Ramirez tried to get back to his feet for the rebound shot, but Beaudoin made a nifty play to get the puck on his backhand to beat Ramirez.
Brandon Wong added a power-play goal late in the first, his 12th goal of the season. Wong received a one-timer pass from Beaudoin through the slot for the three-goal lead. Zach Davies dumped the puck down low, where Beaudoin rotated to the top of the circle and fired the pass over to Wong.
AIC (2-14-1) cut the deficit to two goals when Nielsson Arcibal beat Quinnipiac netminder Eric Hartzell. Jeff Ceccacci fed Arcibal, who made a forehand-to-backhand move to displace Hartzell and found the back of the net just 24 seconds into the second period.
Holt helped the Bobcats regain a three-goal lead when he beat Ramirez under the blocker side. Holt pressured the AIC defense to turn over the puck in the zone and he collected it and fired the shot past Ramirez.
D’Arcy Oakes continued the Bobcats’ scoring, registering his first collegiate goal. Davies intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and fed a pass to Oakes in the slot. Oakes took the shot and the rebound bounced right back to him, and he put the second through the five-hole of Ramirez.
With 10:15 remaining in the third, AIC recorded their second goal of the game. Chris Campanale created a turnover behind the goal in the Bobcats’ zone and fed Josh Froese at the bottom of the left circle. Froese then sent a pass to the front of the net to Tom Mele, who was able to beat Hartzell through the five hole.
After losing to Yale and Brown last weekend, Quinnipiac tied Holy Cross Thursday night, before recording the victory Saturday. The Bobcats outshot AIC 32-20. Quinnipiac was one-for-two on the power play while AIC went 0-for-one. Both teams are off until after the Christmas for final exams.
