By: WILL MESINGER
On Friday night, the Quinnipiac Bobcats put an end to the Saints seven-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory at High Point Solutions Arena. The Bobcats earned their sixth sweep of an ECAC opponent, having beaten St. Lawrence 3-2 back in November. Quinnipiac remains undefeated against ECAC opponents since December 6th.
The Saints took an early lead when freshman Ryan Lough won the puck behind the net and found junior Sean McGovern in front. McGovern beat sophomore goaltender Michael Garteig with a one-timer at 5:41 in the first period for his seventh goal of the season. The rest of the first period saw intense back and forth play, but remained scoreless.
The Bobcats came out hard in the second period, eventually scoring two consecutive goals less than three minutes apart. The Bobcats broke through when junior Soren Jonzzon picked up his fifth goal of the year from the slot at 8:24. Landon Smith capitalized on the momentum, grabbing his thirteenth goal of the year at 10:54. Both teams traded scoring chances throughout the remainder of the second period, but the Saints weren’t able to finish on their chances.
Garteig shut the door for the Bobcats in the third period, stopping McGovern’s penalty shot 2 minutes into the period after he was pulled down on a breakaway. The rest of the third period saw intense play from both sides. With 40 seconds left, the Saints pulled Freshman Goaltender Kyle Hayton for an extra attacker. During the final push, Junior Tommy Thompson’s shot was stopped by Garteig, and Jonzzon blocked a shot to secure the Bobcats’ win.
Hayton was solid in goal for the Saints, finishing with 31 saves. Hayton currently has 15 games with 30-plus saves this season. He boasts a .940 save percentage, putting him second in the ECAC behind Cornell’s Mitch Gillam. Hayton also leads the league with 865 saves.
St. Lawrence finished with 24 shots on goal, while Quinnipiac finished with 32. Neither team was able to capitalize on the PowerPlay, both teams going 0 for 2.
On Saturday, St. Lawrence earned a point with a 1-1 tie at Princeton. The Saints remain second in the ECAC, 3 points ahead of Yale and 6 points behind Quinnipiac. SLU is now 16-11-3 overall and 12-5-1 in the ECAC.
In a pair of home games this weekend, the Saints will face off against Harvard on Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday.