The Quinnipiac Bobcats and the Harvard Crimson battled to a 2-2 tie Tuesday night in ECACHL action in front of a sellout crowd at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.
“We were pretty fortunate to get a point tonight,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold.
Harvard dominated play throughout the game with a 41-18 edge in shots, but it was the Bobcats who got on the board first.
“It was a hard-fought game and the atmosphere was great,” said Harvard head coach Ted Donato.
Quinnipiac’s first goal came on the power play when Ben Nelson was at the left circle with the puck, passed to Reid Cashman at the other circle. He made a quick pass over to Eric Lampe, who one-timed the puck into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Quinnipiac would take a two-goal advantage on Bryan Leitch’s ninth goal of the season. Cashman sent a pass into the slot that Leitch deflected over the glove of Kyle Richter.
Harvard cut the deficit in half when Dave Watters came out of the penalty box and beat Quinnipiac’s Bud Fisher through his five-hole. Watters received the pass from J.D. McCabe off a Harvard faceoff win in its zone, and went in all alone for the goal with 50 seconds remaining in the second period.
“The way they [Harvard] played tonight, they could beat anyone in the country,” said Pecknold.
In the first matchup between the teams in November, Quinnipiac held a 2-0 margin before losing by a score of 4-2.
The Crimson tied the score at the 5:54 mark on Kevin Du’s tally. With a Quinnipiac penalty expiring, Du was battling down low and banged home a rebound shot for the tying goal past Fisher.
“It was important to get one by him [Fisher] and get some jump going into the locker room,” said Donato. “We wanted to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Quinnipiac had one last chance to try to break the tie in regulation. The Bobcats won a faceoff and Cashman picked up the puck and made a move, but the referee got in the way of a possible pass into the slot for a one-timer. Harvard picked up the puck and iced it sending the game into overtime.
Neither team was able to create any momentum in overtime, with each team only recording one shot on net.
“Harvard played great and we were fortunate to come away with a tie,” said Fisher.
The Bobcats are now 1-0-1 in their new building, as they still have six games remaining at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.
The Bobcats will be at home on Friday as they host Yale, and will travel to Brown on Saturday, while Harvard will host Union and RPI.
