#1 Quinnipiac found itself in a fight for its playoff life yesterday, as Canisius College came out looking for a fight with guns ablazing.  Quinnipiac did get on the scoreboard first as Connor Jones scored midway through the period, but Canisius kept a lid on Quinnipiac for the remainder of the period, and the first ended 1-0, Quinnipiac.  A Stephen Farell goal put Canisisus on the scoreboard four minutes into the second.  And only a minute later, a Patrick Sullivan goal gave Canisius the 2-1 lead.  Quinnipiac responded by putting the clampers on Canisius, and the period ended 2-1.

A Kyle Gibbons goal four minutes into the third put Canisius up 3-1, and Quinnipiac found itself in a serious hole, having not scored since the first period.  But then the Bobcats cranked it up, and four minutes later a Matthew Peca goal made it 3-2.  Only a few minutes later Quinnipiac struck again to tie it at 3-3, when Jordan Samuels found the net on a powerplay opportunity.  And four minutes later the third period Quinnipiac domination culminated with the go-ahead, winning goal byKevin Bui.  A great effort by Canisius once again reminded hockey fans that there are good hockey teams playing good hockey everywhere.  Quinnipiac goes on to face Union College today for a berth in the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

Union Colleges Thrashes Boston College

ECAC Tournament Champion Union College survived their penalties much, much better than Boston College did yesterday in an opening round game of the NCAA Tournament yesterday.

Union’s Josh Jooris got things started for the Dutchmen midway through the first when he converted on a powerplay opportunity, an that’s how the first ended, 1-0, Union.  Right at the start of the second, Jooris was back in the net as Union was outskating BC in a 4×4 allignment.  And only a minute later, the Union fun continued when Cole Ikkala scored a goal, as Union was again outskating BC with the teams at 4×4 strength.  While BC managed to hold Union off for the next seventeen minutes, it didn’t last, as Shayne Gotisbehere scored a goal on another powerplay opportunity, and the second ended 4-0, Union.

And it wasn’t over.  Five minutes into the third Daniel Ciampini converted yet another powerplay opportunity into a goal, and gave Union the lead at 5-0.  Boston College did come alive for the next eleven minutes, holding Union off, and BC’s Johnny Gaudreau scored with four minutes remaining, but that was it for the night, as Union prevailed in this one by a huge 5-1 margin.  Union will face Quinnipiac today to determine which of the two goes to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

Our Pool

The Quinnipiac win was picked by 33 of 34 people in the pool.  While the result was not a surprise, Canisius did make a heck of a game of it.  On the other hand, there’s the Boston College thing.  Oh yeah, BC was picked by 27 of thirty four entries to win this game, so this would rank as a serious upset in our pool.