Regional Sports

Quinnipiac advances to Frozen Four with win over UMass-Lowell

Dominating performances often lead to wins, and this was no exception for Quinnipiac.

The Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks on Sunday night at the Times Union Center by a score of 4-1 to clinch their spot in the 2016 Frozen Four.

Quinnipiac started out the game slow, allowing a Riverhawks goal just three minutes into the game off the stick of Dylan Zink to make it 1-0 early. This would end up being their only goal of the night, as Michael Garteig shut them down the rest of the evening.

They trailed 1-0 after the first period, and it started to look like an upset was possibly in the making.

However, the Bobcats wouldn’t let that happen. Just a little more than halfway into the second period, Landon Smith scored to tie it at one, then less than two minutes later, Sam Anas scored to put Quinnipiac on top.

“After the first period, there was actually no panic in our game because we were losing. We knew we were outplaying them, playing Quinnipiac hockey,” Anas said.

Five minutes later, it was Scott Davidson who scored for the Bobcats to make it 3-1, just adding insurance on to their lead heading into the second intermission. That was his second goal of the regionals, and he was placed on the All-Tournament Team.

Quinnipiac’s defense was also a key component to their game Sunday, as they only gave up 15 shots to the Riverhawks, and only one of them got by Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

“That was one of the better games we played this year, for 60 minutes the guys were really battling, working hard, with good intentions, and we’re excited to move on,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said.

In the closing minutes, Quinnipiac scored their fourth goal of the night on a shot from Travis St. Denis, his second goal of the tournament.

“I thought we could have a much better third than we had the previous two, and I thought we made a push, and when you push that hard, you also give stuff up,” UMass-Lowell head coach Norm Bazin said.

Following Sunday’s game, the All-Tournament Team was announced. The forwards were Sam Anas and Scott Davidson from Quinnipiac, and Joe Gambardella from UMass-Lowell. The defenseman were Devon Toews from Quinnipiac and Dylan Zink from UMass-Lowell. The goaltender was Michael Garteig of Quinnipiac. Garteig was also named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

Quinnipiac now advances to the Frozen Four for the second time in school history, and their first since 2013. In the national semifinals, they will play Boston College on Thursday, April 7th at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida. Game time it set for 5 PM, and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

 

STATS:

Quinnipiac:

Landon Smith: 1 goal

Sam Anas: 1 goal

Scott Davidson: 1 goal

Travis St. Denis: 1 goal

Kevin McKernan: 1 assist

Soren Jonzzon: 1 assist

 

UMass-Lowell:

Dylan Zink: 1 goal

Chris Forney: 1 assist

John Edwardh: 1 assist

 

GOALTENDING:

Quinnipiac: (Michael Garteig): 14/15, 93% saved

UMass-Lowell: (Kevin Boyle): 31/35, 89% saved

Aidan Joly

Aidan Joly is Senior Managing Editor of The Upstate Courier. In the past, he has been a beat reporter covering Section II Athletics, Siena College men's basketball, the Tri-City ValleyCats, and the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. In Aidan's current role, he oversees game coverage and content. Aidan is a native of Saratoga Springs and a graduate of Saratoga Springs High School.

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