Thoughts and observations from Quinnipiac's 7-2 win over St. Lawrence

Quinnipiac beat St. Lawrence handily on Friday 7-2

The penultimate regular season home game ended in a winning fashion for Quinnipiac as they took care of business on Friday night beating St. Lawrence 7-2. The Bobcats score three first period goals and five unanswered en route to cruising to an easy win over the last place Saints. The 23rd win of the season matches the teams total in the 2016-2017 campaign. Five different players scored for Quinnipiac who now welcome Clarkson on senior night on Saturday. Here are my thought's and observations from the St. Lawrence game.

- Quinnipiac's offense exploded in the win over St. Lawrence scoring 7 goals. The Bobcats got off to a fast start with three first period goals with all of them coming by way of the power play. Chase Priskie, William Fallstrom and Wyatt Bongiovanni each scored first period goals on the man advantage to stake Quinnipiac to the early lead. The offense did what they had to do against the last place team in the ECAC as they swept St. Lawrence this season by a combined score of 14-4.

- While it was a great offensive display and Quinnipiac scored three goals on the power play, I need to see if this will carry over to tomorrow's game against Clarkson and the rest of the year. Coming off three games of offensive struggles, the opponent tonight Quinnipiac faced is one of the worst in the country. If they can put say four to five goals in tomorrow against Clarkson then we may see the offensive struggles possibly in the rear view mirror. The power play did look improved with Ethan de Jong moving to the top line to fill the void of Brandon Fortunato.

- It was a huge night by Quinnipiac freshman Wyatt Bongiovanni with a hat trick along with an assist. Bongiovanni is now tied for second on the team in goals with 14 with five of them coming on the power play. He has 22 points on the season which is one behind fellow freshman Ethan de Jong for the most by a freshman this season. The Michigan native brings so much speed and skill for Quinnipiac along with the ability to finish something that was clearly lacking last season.

- St. Lawrence is a really bad and undisciplined hockey team. They hung with Quinnipiac for the first seven to eight minutes of the game then took a penalty which led to the first goal. They took another penalty right after Quinnipiac scored on its first power play but killed it off but ended the period with two penalties including a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Those two penalties led to another two goals for the Bobcats and they never looked back. The Saints are young and two of their talented younger players scored in Gleekel and Hanson but at this point in the season I feel like St. Lawrence should show a little bit more discipline on the ice.

- The Saints had two golden chances on the power when they had a full two minute five on three after Scott Davidson and Joe O'Connor took penalties for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct respectively and a five minor major penalty when Brogan Rafferty made contact to the head of one the St. Lawrence players. However both times St. Lawrence put up a big fat zero on the man advantage as Karlis Cukste blocked three shots on one power play alone. When you have these types of advantages you can't waste them and St. Lawrence big time tonight.

With the win and a Cornell loss Quinnipiac moved back into 1st place

- Speaking of Brogan Rafferty that was a dangerous penalty he was assessed and totally unnecessary to do in that situation. Rafferty is one of Quinnipiac's most important defenders and with Brandon Fortunato sidelined for the season becomes even that more important on the defensive and offensive end as you saw with his three assist night. His contact to the head penalty resulted in a five minor major and a game misconduct. Its unknown if any additional supplemental discipline with be handed down by the ECAC.

- It was an easy night for Andrew Shortridge who only had to make nine saves before getting some rest and giving way to Keith Petruzzelli in the third period when the team had a big lead. He lowered his goals against to a nation leading 1.24 along with his .950 save percentage which also leads the country. Right now he is the favorite to win the Mike Richter award in my opinion as the top goaltender in the country.

- Really nice to see senior associate captain Scott Davidson have a two point night. He assisted on the sixth goal by Nick Jermain and scored the seventh and final goal of the game. While points have not come every game for him he brings toughness and good defensive play from the third line and is a glue guy for for this team. Tonight he was rewarded for a really good effort.

- Quinnipiac honored head coach Rand Pecknold prior to the game with a 500 banner to commemorate reaching that milestone earlier this season. Already the greatest men's ice hockey coach in school history, Pecknold is also one of the great coaches in college hockey today. Its a been a true honor having him coach this university to the success it has had.

- It was great results for Quinnipiac around the conference on Friday night. Yale lost to Dartmouth pushing them three points behind the Bobcats but the biggest stunner of the night came up in Ithaca as RPI stunned Cornell 3-2 in overtime as Quinnipiac now has a one point lead on Cornell and will control its own destiny from here on out for the Cleary Cup. Quinnipiac will clinch a first round bye with a win tomorrow night against Clarkson

- Whats on tap? Senior night takes place tomorrow night at the People's United Center against Clarkson as Quinnipiac will honor its five seniors which include Chase Priskie, Craig Martin, Scott Davidson, Luke Shiplo and the currently injured Brandon Fortunato. While this team will play a minimum of two more home games with a maximum of three its a good chance to go out and thank these players for the years of service they have given to Quinnipiac hockey.


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