HAMDEN, Conn. – All-in-all, the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team held No. 3/4 nationally-ranked Quinnipiac to just 21 shots on Friday night. Unfortunately, the Pios struggled to get anything going offensively on QU's York Hill campus, and suffered a 5-0 loss on the opening day of the third annual CT Ice tournament. Collin Graf scored twice to lead the way for the Bobcats.
With the loss, SHU falls to 12-10-2 and will square off with Yale in the CT Ice third-place game, on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Hamden. Quinnipiac improves to 19-3-3 and will face UConn in the title game to follow at 7 p.m. UConn dispatched Yale in Friday's early game, 6-1.
"It was a disappointing night for all of us," said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "We have a quick turnaround, and we're going to have to straighten out our game by tomorrow at 4 o'clock, against I'm sure a very hungry, determined Yale team."
The Bobcats – who had lost their No. 1 national ranking after getting swept at Cornell and Colgate last weekend – posted an 8-4 advantage in shots in the opening 20 and struck for the only goal of the frame. Collin Graf muscled his way out front from the left wing and slid a shot through the five-hole for his team-leading 13th of the season at the 6:51 mark.
SHU goaltender Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) put in some strong work to keep the deficit at one, with multiple impressive saves in the frame. The best of the bunch came just after the 12-minute mark, when he slid to his right and flashed the right pad to deny Jacob Quillan on a 2-on-1.
QU would pick up a pair in the second to push the lead out to 3-0. At 7:31, Ethan de Jong snagged a lively rebound off the end boards and popped his 11th of the campaign from the left circle. Later, a turnover wound up in the back of the net, as Joey Cipollone took control in the right circle and ripped a shot which deflected off a defender and made its way behind a fooled Lush at 15:46.
The Bobcats tacked on two more in the third to win going away, 5-0. Graf took a slick feed from behind the net by Christophe Fillion and put together a smooth finish out front on his second of the night at 7:41. TJ Friedmann capped things at 17:37, with his ninth of the campaign from the right circle on the rush.
Lush (10-9-2) finished with 16 saves against 21 shots in the SHU crease, while Yaniv Perets (19-3-3) stopped all 17 shots in front of the QU net to post his fifth shutout of the year.
