Quinnipiac blown out in Game One by Cornell 9-1

Quinnipiac at Cornell in Game 1 of the ECAC QF (photo copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

The Quinnipiac Bobcats men's ice hockey season is officially on the brink of extinction. The Bobcats suffered their second worst ECAC playoff loss since entering the league in the 2005-2006 season with a 9-1 loss at the hands of the top seed and #2 ranked Cornell Big Red at Lynah Rink on Friday night in Game One of the best-of-three ECAC Quarterfinal series. The only worse loss suffered by Quinnipiac was in the 2008 ECAC Quarterfinals when they lost 11-0 in Game One to Harvard before winning 7-4 the following night.

This game was a bit of a reminiscent of Game Two of the 2013 ECAC Quarterfinals when Quinnipiac blew out Cornell 10-0 on its home ice. Cornell clearly returned the favor tonight and they didn't let up trying to score either until into the third period. I wouldn't have expected anything less after the beating that Mike Schafer and his program took five years ago at the hands of Quinnipiac. After the game it was reported that head coach Rand Pecknold nor any of the players were made available for comment to the media in Ithaca.

Cornell got on the board not even two minutes into the game. After an interference penalty by sophomore Alex Whelan, Cornell's Alec McCrea blasted a one-timer from the point from a feed by Brendan Locke. Quinnipiac goaltender Keith Petruzzelli (18 saves) was screened on the shot and had zero chance to save it. Cornell continued to dominate the first 10 plus minutes of the game.

Quinnipiac at Cornell in Game 1 of the ECAC QF (photo copyright BobcatsHockeyBlog)

Quinnipiac evened the score on the power play when a Karlis Cukste shot was tipped in past Cornell's Matthew Galajda (12 saves) by Tanner MacMaster (13th goal). Late in the period Cornell grabbed the momentum and the lead for good when the puck after coming off the end wall bounced off Keith Petruzzelli's stick and right to Alex Rauter who put it in on an empty net. A little more than a minute later Jeff Malott gave the Big Red a 3-1 lead and from there the flood gates opened.

Petruzzelli gave up three more goals including a pair to Mitch Vanderlaan and one to Beau Starrett before being pulled in favor of fellow freshman Josh Mayanja (5 saves) who was making his collegiate debut. He proceeded to give up three more goals to Alex Rauter, Starrett and Cody Haiskanen before Rand Pecknold turned back to Petruzzelli for the third period. 

Quinnipiac will look to rebound on Saturday night at Lynah Rink in order to force a Game Three on Sunday afternoon.

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