Men's Ice Hockey Receives Votes In National Polls
Quinnipiac was named one of three "Bubble-licious" teams in the weekly INCH Power Rankings, along with the University of New Hampshire and Minnesota State. All 20 teams from the previous week's Power Rankings remained in the top 20. The Bobcats also received 11 votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll after being left out of voting the previous week.
The Bobcats were led this weekend by Eric Lampe (Madison, Wisc.) who scored twice in Quinnipiac's 4-2 win on Thursday night before a one-goal, one-assist performance in the second game of the two-night series. Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) added a goal and three assists, with one goal and an assist in the first game, and two helpers on the second night. The duo made Quinnipiac of three teams nationally, including Nebraska-Omaha and Michigan State, to boast two players with four points after the season's first two games.
The story of the weekend was the goalie play of freshman Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and sophomore Dan Clarke (Belleville, Ont.). Hartzell let up two goals in the first period against Ohio State and then blanked the Buckeyes over the final two periods to finish with 30 saves for the evening. Hartzell joins former Bobcat Bud Fisher as the only two Quinnipiac goalies in the program's Division I history to record 30 saves in their collegiate debuts. Clarke picked up the win on the second night of the tournament with a career-best 44-save outing against OSU. Clarke stopped the first 24 shots he saw before giving up a rebound goal in the first period. He stopped the final 20 shots over the second and third periods respectively. His save total was the second highest all-time at Ohio State's Value City Arena, following former Bobcat and current Quinnipiac goalie coach Justin Eddy's 49 save night on Jan. 6, 2004.
Quinnipiac hits the ice on Oct. 17, 2009 when it hosts Bentley University for the 2009-10 home opener at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn.