Quinnipiac ends first half with 3-1 loss to #1 UMass

Quinnipiac fell 3-1 on Saturday night to UMass

In the first Mullins Center sellout crowd in 18 years, the #1 UMass Minutemen used three third period goals to propel past the #8 Quinnipiac Bobcats Saturday night in Amherst, Massachusetts. The loss broke the seven game winning streak for Quinnipiac and was the first for the Bobcats in almost a month dating back to the 5-1 home loss to Union. "I thought UMass was excellent tonight, Rand Pecknold said following the game. They played hard and they were hungry. Carvy [UMass head coach Greg Carvel] did a good job of getting his boys ready for tonight after last night."

The Minutemen came out flying to the start of the game with a ton of sustained pressure in the Quinnipiac zone. UMass threw 13 shots on goal in the opening period and Keith Petruzzelli (37 saves) was strong in the opening frame as Quinnipiac weathered the Minutemen flurry of shots. "For us we struggled mentally after the get-go and I thought Keith was really good in net. Wyatt was pretty good. Disappointing with our effort but you have to give UMass credit added Pecknold."

Quinnipiac showed a bit better pace in the second period but undisciplined play eliminated two power play opportunities before they really got started. The Bobcats struck first 8:24 into the second period when Chase Priskie wristed a shot past Matt Murray on the power play. Brogan Rafferty and Odeen Tufto picked up the assists.

Quinnipiac's 7 game winning streak came to an end in Amherst

UMass had a jump to its game in the third period and they were rewarded for it. 5:27 into the period after a sustained shift of pressure in the Quinnipiac zone along with a Bobcat turnover that came onto the stick of Colin Felix, he fed Ivan Chukarov who beat Keith Petruzzelli blocker side. The Minutemen took the lead when a turnover by Desi Burgart to Peter Diliberatore got picked off and found its way onto Philip Lagunov's stick before he fed Jacob Pritchard who faked out Petruzzelli for putting it home.

The Minutemen added an empty net goal by Bobby Trivigno to seal the win and deny Rand Pecknold his 500th career win. "I thought that was a tremendous series between us and Quinnipiac, Greg Carvel said. Two very similar teams that went head to head. I really like our team's play tonight for 60 minutes." For Quinnipiac this was the third loss on a Saturday night this year following a win. "We were poorly prepared tonight and the guys were mentally drained from last night. It was a 60 minute struggle, Pecknold added. In the end I think last night's game, the team that wanted it more won was Quinnipiac, and tonight the team that wanted it more was UMass."

Quinnipiac is now off for the rest of the first semester and will not return to game action until Saturday December 29th when they face Colgate in a non-conference game at the Nassau Colisuem in Uniondale, New York. 

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