The war of Whitney Ave continued on Friday night in Hamden as the No. 3 Yale Bulldogs bulldozed over Quinnipiac 6-1. It is the first win in Yale history at the TD Bank Sports Center. Yale’s Ryan Rondeau made 30 saves, while QU’s Eric Hartzell and Dan Clarke combined for 36 stops.
“I thought Rondeau was excellent tonight,” said Yale head coach Keith Allain. “It is something that gets lost in a 6-1 game, but QU had great opportunities and Rondeau was poised.”
Yale took the 1-0 lead 3:57 into the first period on a Ken Trentowski shot from the point. After the Bobcats were able to kill off a Bulldogs power play, they still weren’t able to get control of the puck. Two icings later, Trentowski lined up a wrister from the left point. Chad Ziegler was able to tip the puck at the top of crease past Hartzell.
With 3:04 left in the period Hartzell kept the score at 1-0 following a sensational glove save on the power play. Kevin Peel received the puck at center point where he rifled a slap shot glove side. Hartzell dove forward flashing his glove to make the save.
Following a diving attempt from QU’s Loren Baron to keep the puck in the zone, Yale’s Kevin Limbert jumped on the puck and broke out shorthanded against Zach Hansen. With just 14 seconds left in the period Limbert moved in on the left wing and fired the puck past Hartzell for the 2-0 lead.
“It was a big goal and I thought that Limbert made a great play on the puck and snapping that shot off. Obviously it was big going into the second period up two instead of one,” said Allain.
Yale went up 3-0 6:36 into the second period after a weird series of events. Following a shot from Jimmy Martin from the right wing the QU net seemed to jump on the left side and no noise was made to indicate the striking of a post. Play continued for another two minutes until a whistle allowed for a review which indicated that the puck not only went in, but went through the net.
Yale added to the lead again in the second with 8:44 left on the clock. Yale’s Denny Kearney jumped the blue line and immediately wristed the puck low glove side to beat Hartzell for his 12th goal of the season.
Quinnipiac finally got on the board with 5:47 left in the second frame after Yale’s Kevin Peel was sent to the box for roughing. Without much success in the first 1:15 of the advantage, QU was able to start to get some puck luck through the slot. After a bouncing puck found Scott Zurevinski in the slot he sent a back hander to the right circle where Kellen Jones wristed it into the gaping net.
Yale responded just 1:10 later following a Bobcat penalty. The Bulldogs won the faceoff and sent the puck on Hartzell from the right point. Hartzell made the save, but Yale’s Brian O’Neill was right on the doorstep to clean up the rebound and put the Elis back up by four.
Quinnipiac made a goaltending change for the third period placing Dan Clarke between the pipes.
After two Bulldogs went to the box, the Bobcats decided to pull Clarke for the six-on-three with five minutes remaining. Despite QU’s efforts, Kearney was able to pick up a rebound in his own zone and sent the puck the length of the ice for the empty-netter.
“We didn’t have a good mindset tonight. We were running around and we didn’t play our system,” said QU head coach Rand Pecknold.
