Led by Jean-Marc Beaudoin’s two goals, the Quinnipiac Bobcats earned a 5-3 win over the Dartmouth Big Green Sunday afternoon in ECAC Hockey action at the TD BankNorth Sports Center.
Beaudoin helped lead the Bobcats [11-5-3, 4-3-3 ECAC] to victory with the game winning goal at 10:45 of the third period when Dan Travis sent a pass on a two-on-one to Beaudoin. He corralled the puck on the blade of his stick and clanked it off the crossbar and post before it fell across the goal line.
“That was a highlight reel play,” said Beaudoin. “[Brandon] Wong made a nice play at center and Travis knocked it out of the air. It was a beautiful play.”
Play was even between both squads; both goaltenders were tested early in the first period, but Dartmouth’s Mike Devine and Quinnipiac’s Pat McGann kept the game scoreless. Each team exchanged shots throughout the period, but Dartmouth struck first.
Playing four-on-four, Dartmouth [5-7-1, 2-6-1 ECAC] used the extra ice to their advantage. After a Quinnipiac scoring attempt, the Big Green broke out from behind the net and came down on a two-on-one. Connor Shields kept the puck and fired a wrist shot past McGann’s blocker side.
Just 52 seconds later, Dartmouth took a two goal lead while on a power play. Rob Pritchard recorded the tally, with assists from Evan Stephen and Nick Johnson.
“I’m very happy to get two points today,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “I’m very happy that we battled hard. We should have played better in the first.”
Quinnipiac cut the deficit in half with their own power-play goal. On a failed clear attempt, Dan Henningson gloved the puck down to the ice, shot and the puck was deflected into the back of the net by Ben Nelson
The Bobcats tied it up just two minutes into the second. Jamie Bates sent a blind pass into the slot to Eric Lampe, who one-timed it past Devine at 2:13.
Dartmouth took the lead back at 3:52 of the third on Adam Estoclet’s goal. Jon Grecu sent a pass behind the net to Estoclet and took a wraparound shot that found its way through the pads of McGann.
The Bobcats tied it again on Brandon Wong’s power-play goal. Beaudoin took a shot to the right of Devine and Wong found the puck lying in the crease, and he lifted it in.
Beaudoin added an empty net goal to seal the win for the Bobcats.
