Quinnipiac Downs Colgate
Zurevinski Tallies Twice for the Bobcats
By Richard Righi – USCHO Arena Reporter – Saturday November 13, 2010
HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Quinnipiac Bobcats visited the Colgate Raiders at Starr Rink Saturday afternoon with both teams searching for their first league victory of the year. Two second period goals from Quinnipiac’s captain, Scott Zurevinski, along with a third period power-play goal from Connor Jones, were enough to help the Bobcats top the Raiders 3-1. Chris Wagner was credited with Colgate’s only tally.
In an attempt to shake things up, Colgate coach Don Vaughan placed three defensemen on his starting line.
“(Tom) Larkin is a natural forward he actually converted to defense a little while ago,” said Vaughan. “We’ve had a few slow starts to the games, so we were just trying to generate some energy.”
As the first period was drawing to a close, it was the emphasis on physicality that helped Colgate take momentum into the locker room after a scoreless first. Quinnipiac’s Zach Hansen dumped the puck into the offensive zone from the right point. Mike Leidl closed the gap and completely decked Hansen, flipping him over the boards into the penalty box. The hit rocked the building, getting the crowd into the game.
“We need to get game experience for our guys and need to mature emotionally,” commented Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “We need to realize that the intensity needs to be there in every period of every game.”
Colgate was able to take advantage of the momentum, scoring the game’s first goal 58 seconds into the second period. Wagner received a pass in the high slot from Francios Brisebois and although his initial shot was stopped by Quinnipiac netminder Eric Hartzell, Wagner put the rebound home.
That would be Hartzell’s only blunder this afternoon, as he stopped 30 of 31 shot. One of his biggest saves came, again, on Wagner about halfway through the second period. On a short-handed breakaway opportunity, Wagner attempted to toe drag the puck around the goalie and Hartzell was equal to challenge.
With just over seven minutes left in the second period, the Bobcats came down on a three-on-one odd man rush in a four-on-four even strength situation. Yuri Bouharevich skated the puck into the zone and cut wide right. He passed across the slot around a diving Colgate defenseman and Zurevinski tapped the puck past Colgate goaltender Eric Mihalik, tying the game.
Mihalik started for the first time in his career, stopping 24 in a losing effort.
“I thought (Mihalik) played great,” said Vaughan. “He saw the puck real well and made some big stops when we needed him to. You certainly can’t fault him.”
Quinnipiac capitalized one more time before the second period was over to jump up 2-1 at intermission when Zurevinski one-timed the puck past Mihalik on delayed penalty. Zack Currie was credited with the first assist and the second went to Mike Glaicar. The goal was reviewed, under the argument that a Quinnipiac skater interfered with Mihalik, taking his feet out from under him, but the goal stood and the Bobcats took a one-goal lead into the final period.
“The guys played hard tonight,” said Pecknold. “We’ve had some really good games, and we’ve had our ups and downs so far. We need to straighten out our emotional intensity not just from game to game, but also from period to period.”
Quinnipiac doubled their lead at the 7:30 mark of the third period. Austin Mayer took a slashing penalty, giving the Bobcats the advantage. Zach Tolkinen held the puck at the left point and sent the pass across to Zach Davies. Davies blasted a slap shot that Connor Jones redirected through the five-hole.
“I thought our power-play was pretty good tonight,” said Pecknold. “We generated a lot of shots. Obviously, I would’ve liked it to be better than 1-8, but I thought we did a nice job of adjusting and I think Mihalik made some really nice saves.”
With just under four minutes left in the game, Hartzell put an end to any hopes of a comeback, stopping Jeremy Price with his glove from pointblank range.
“We’re squeezing our sticks a little bit,” said Vaughan. “Pucks aren’t going in for us, but it’s not from a lack of trying or generating. A lot of the things are in place; we really just need to get a good bounce.”
Colgate (2-5-1 overall, 0-3-1 ECAC) will be at home again next weekend when they welcome Brown and Yale to Hamilton while Quinnipiac (5-4-1 overall, 1-2-1 ECAC) will return home to face Dartmouth Friday and Harvard on Saturday.
