Priskie and Jermain lead Quinnipiac to 5-2 win over Yale

No. 19 Quinnipiac got a pair of goals each from sophomore Chase Priskie and freshman Nick Jermain in a 5-2 win Saturday night over Yale in front of sold out crowd of 3,500 at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Connecticut. It was the first meeting of the season for the Whitney Avenue rivals with key ECAC points on the line. A night after Andrew Shortridge shutout Brown, it was Chris Truehl getting the start in goal for the Bobcats.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring just 4:22 into the first period when Joe Snively slipped a pass in front of the net to wide open Frankie DiChiara who ripped a wrist shot high glove side past Truehl. It was the 8th of the season for DiChiara with Snively and John Hayden picking up the assists. Four and a half minutes later, Yale's JM Piotrowski boarded Quinnipiac's Luke Shiplo giving the Bobcats a five minute power play. Fifty-nine seconds later Chase Priskie blasted home a one timer on a pass from Brogan Rafferty to even the game at one. The score remained tied at the end of one period in which Quinnipiac out shot Yale 10-5.

Chase Priskie (photo by Matt Dewkett)

Just 1:42 into the second period John Hayden boarded Luke Shiplo once again giving the Bobcats a five minute power play once again. However it was the Bulldogs Frankie DiChiara scoring on a wrap around from Joe Snively to give the home team lead once again. Quinnipiac responded a little over three minutes later when Chase Priskie blasted a shot from just inside the blue high past Patrick Spano. It was Priskie's second of the game and sixth of the season. Tanner MacMaster and Landon Smith were credited for assists on Priskie's goal. Just under ten minutes later freshman Nick Jermain took a Connor Clifton took a cross ice pass skating the puck in towards Spano before flicking a shot past Spano for the goal the first of his collegiate career for the Cos Cob, Connecticut native. Freshman Logan Mick also picked up his first career point with an assist on Jermain's goal. Yale out shot Quinnipiac 9-7 in the middle frame.

In the third period Quinnipiac had to kill off an early holding call on Connor Clifton and less than a minute after the teams were back at even strength the Bobcats struck again with Nick Jermain. The freshman took a backhanded pass from Kevin Duane where he slid it past a diving Spano who was not in position at the time. Logan Mick picked up his second assist of the game on Jermain's second goal of the game. Quinnipiac put the game on ice and sent the Ingalls crowd to the exits with a beauty of a passing display by Chase Priskie and Brogan Rafferty before Tim Clifton finished a power play goal into an open net as Spano had his attention focused on Priskie. Yale out shot Quinnipiac 6-5 in the final period despite the Bobcats scoring two goals. Chris Truehl made 18 saves in the win. Of the 14 points scored tonight by Quinnipiac players, seven of them came from freshman which is a good sign that some of the younger players are stepping up in the Bobcats stretch run before the start of the ECAC tournament.

Nick Jermain (photo by Catherine Avalone/New Haven Register)

Quinnipiac improves on the season to 16-11-2 (10-6-1 ECAC) with the win while Yale falls to 10-9-4 (6-7-3 ECAC). The Bobcats are currently in fourth place one point ahead of Cornell but the Big Red still have two games in hand on Quinnipiac. Rand Pecknold's team returns to High Point Solutions Arena next weekend for a single ECAC game against Clarkson on Friday night at 7pm.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow him on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.