St. Lawrence’s Jared Ross scored at 1:06 of overtime to send the Saints to a 4-3 victory over the Quinnipiac University Bobcats in ECAC Hockey action Friday night.
“It’s a huge goal and emotional win for us,” said St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh. “I thought Quinnipiac played a great first period and applied pressure. They had sustained chances. I thought there was a sense of confidence that we were playing hard and wanted to keep going and pushing. Anything can happen in overtime.”
Ross collected the puck along the near boards on a clear by Bobcats’ goaltender Bud Fisher and fired a shot through traffic to beat Fisher for the game-winning goal.
“We tried to get the puck deep and sustained a good forecheck,” said Ross. “They tried to wrap it around and the winger wasn’t there for the first time tonight and I threw it on net.”
It is Quinnipiac’s third consecutive loss in overtime following a 2-1 loss at Cornell last Friday, followed by a 3-2 loss at Colgate on Saturday.
St. Lawrence got on the board in the first minute of the game when Brock McBride tallied his 10th goal of the season. Battling behind the Quinnipiac net, McBride took control of the puck and tried a wraparound. On the chance, he lost control of the puck, but regained possession and put a shot on net. Fisher got a piece of the puck, but trying to bring the puck in, it fell to the ice and into the net at :53.
The Bobcats responded with David Marshall’s 16th goal of the season and 67th of his career, tying him for the Quinnipiac Division-1 career goals scored record. Standing in front of the net, Bryan Leitch spotted Marshall alone. Marshall collected the puck and made a juke move to get the Saints’ Alex Petizian off balance and put the puck under the bar.
The Bobcats took their first lead of the game on a delayed penalty call. Dan Henningson drew a penalty when he was checked into the corner boards but was able to keep control of the puck and feed Leitch. Leitch then sent the puck back to Henningson where he found Chris Myers in the slot for the one-timer goal at 8:42 of the first.
St. Lawrence tied the score at two just 1:20 into the second period. Kevin DeVergilio put home a rebound goal past a sprawled out Fisher. Zach Miskovic and Ross assisted on the goal.
Quinnipiac took the lead back at 10:51 of the third with Zach Hansen’s power-play tally. On the rush, Leitch carried the puck into the zone and left the puck for Hansen’s blast past Petizian.
The Saints quickly responded 52 seconds later on a scrum in front of the Bobcats’ net. Players from both teams were on the ice in front of the net. No whistle blew to end the play and the puck squirted out onto the stick of Alex Curran, and he put the puck into the back of the net at 11:43.
“We have to find a way to win 3-2 and not go into overtime,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “We’re struggling to keep the puck out of the net.”
Fisher made 29 saves in the loss, while Petizian made 28 in the win. Leitch finished with three assists in the contest to move to 38 on the season. The Saints finished with three unassisted goal on the night.
