Garnet Hockey Report: Bobcats clip reeling Dutchmen, 4-3 (w/ video, audio)

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

It appeared as if Union was headed towards its fourth straight overtime game.

But Quinnpiac's Travis St. Denis had other ideas. He scored a power-play goal with 51.7 seconds left in the third period to break a 3-3 tie and lift the 20th-ranked Bobcats to a 4-3 win over the 12th-ranked Dutchmen Friday at Messa Rink.

The loss left the Dutchmen (5-5-1 overall, 0-4-1 ECAC Hockey) winless in their past six games (0-5-1), including a four-game slide at Messa Rink (0-4-1).

St. Denis

St. Denis was left uncontested along the right wing when he drove the net and sent the puck past Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos.

“It was a bit lucky,” St. Denis said. “My linemates were going to the net hard and created some opening in the net. I’ve got to give the credit to them. I saw a bit of an opening, and I put the puck in the net.”

The power play was set up following a boarding call against Ryan Scarfo at 18:39.

"He’s not the only one who’s taken an ill-advised penalty. He’s probably only thinking of what he’s seen before," said Union head coach Rick Bennett. "It probably doesn't help when the coach is saying to finish your hits all the time, yelling hit, hit, hit. Maybe it's on me, and I have to relax a bit."

A video replay suggested that Quinnipiac (6-2-1, 3-0-0) was offsides on the decisive goal. It appeared as if St. Denis had entered the Union zone a step ahead of Michael Peca, who fed him the puck.

“It’s pretty blatant," Bennett said. "To have a game to go like that, it stinks. It’s too bad, but it is what it is. I didn’t think it was a great goal against by us. These are just growing moments that we have to respond in these times of adversity. We have to put this behind us as quickly as possible.”

Did the expectation of an offsides call impact Union's play on St. Denis' goal?

“Quite possibly, because I think everybody in the town of Schenectady thought it was [offsides] besides one person," Bennett said. "But that’s all that matters.”

Including St. Denis' game-winner, the Bobcats scored on three-of-four power-plays. Anas potted one in the final seconds of the first that evened the game at 1-1. Tim Clifton's at 9:23 of the third gave the Bobcats a 3-2 lead. Union entered the night having killed 25-of-30 power plays this season.

“They’re a good hockey team. They have a pretty good power play,” said Union's Max Novak, who tied the game at 3-3 at 11:00 of the third. “We pride ourselves on a good PK. Tonight, it didn’t come through for us."

Union's power-play fared better. It went 2-for-2, marking the unit's first goals since Oct. 31 at RPI. Daniel Ciampini's opened the scoring at 5:13 of the first and Jeff Taylor's tied the score at 2-2 at 3:55 of the third.

Landon Smith scored the Bobcats' lone even strength goal at 3:54 of the second. It gave the Bobcats a 2-1 lead and came in a stretch when the Dutchmen vanished. They didn't register a shot on goal for the first 15 minutes of the period.

"We seem to be doing that once a game," said Union's Matt Wilkins, who set up Novak's game-tying goal in the third. "If we can play a full sixty, we can compete with anybody. It's the little things. We're making too many turnovers and not getting pucks deep. It's just the willingness to stick to our game."

Sakellaropoulos finished with 31 saves in what was his second straight start. Bennett said the sophomore "earned" the start and added that usual starter Colin Stevens is healthy.

Michael Garteig had 28 saves for Quinnipiac.

Union resumes play tonight at 7 at Messa Rink with a matchup against Princeton, which dropped a 3-1 decision at RPI Friday.

End notes... Union defenseman Sebastien Gingras was out after getting hit from behind last Saturday against Harvard... freshman Connor Light replaced him and made his debut... "He was pretty good on the penalty kill, and provided a bit of a presence back there," Bennett said. "I saw him trying to finish hits. That's what he does."

Video of Union's goals