At the peak of tensions inside Lynah Rink, Connor Clifton silenced the rampant crowd with an overtime winner at 1:26 to give No. 5 Quinnipiac a hard-fought 5-4 win over Cornell. The goal capped off one of the most exciting games of the year for both teams, and included 22 penalties, 55 total penalty minutes, and 13 combined power plays.
Quinnipiac entered the night a perfect 22-for-22 on the penalty kill; however that impressive stat met its demise as Cornell posted a trio of early power-play goals past Quinnipiac goalie Michael Garteig for the early lead.
Just 4:12 into the game, and nearly 30 seconds after Thomas Aldworth was called for hitting from behind, wingers Alex Rauter and Matt Buckles put on a textbook passing display near the blue line and fired the puck into a scrum, where it found the stick of Reece Willcox and eventually the back of the net.
Just over 45 seconds later and following the same hitting call, Jake Weidner fired a slap shot over the head of Garteig courtesy of Wilcox’s assist, giving Reece his second point on the night.
“For me it was pretty easy; 10 minutes into the game I had already seen eight or nine shifts, so it wasn’t too tough for me,” said Weidner.
Cornell struck again six minutes later when Matt Buckles notched his first goal of the year with beautiful slap shot from between the faceoff circles.
Following the goal from Buckles, Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold had a few choice words for the team.
“We just said we gotta go to work,” said Pecknold. “Our penalty kill wasn’t good early, we had some issues and were kind of panicking all around, but we settled down… we’re opportunistic and jumped on some goals.”
The advice proved worthwhile, as Quinnipiac jumped on several opportunities, beginning just under four minutes after the goal from Buckles. Bobcats center Tim Clifton squeezed one through the legs of Mitch Gillam from a nasty angle to Gillam’s left, parallel to the goal line.
Though Cornell opened up the scoring in the second with Mitch Vanderlaan converting a rebound made on Anthony Angello for the game’s first five-on-five goal, the course quickly changed, as Travis St. Denis took full advantage of a Sam Anas pass, slipping one in.
From then on, Andrew Taverner took over, whipping a pair into the net. The first came from a scoop over Gillam into the top of the net, the second just half a minute after a call for charging on Trevor Yates, a wide-open slap shot from behind the right wing circle.
An agonizing third period featured 11 total saves from Garteig, including one fully extended deflection on a wrist shot from Ryan Bliss. However perhaps the toughest break for the Big Red came when Trevor Yates’ got one by the brick wall in Garteig, but missed the net by inches as the puck scraped off the pipe.
“They’re really good at blocking shots,” said Hillbrich. “They stick to their process and love to lay out. That was something that helped them down the line. We didn’t block shots and didn’t end up in the back part of the net.”
The victory extended Quinnipiac’s win streak to eight games, while Cornell dropped to 3-1-0 with the loss.
