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By David F.P.

HAMDEN, CT- In the season opener friday night, the Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated The Ohio State University Buckeyes in a hard fought contest. The final score was 2 to 1. The Bobcats were the only team on the board through two periods, thanks to a power play goal by Scott Zurevinski late in the first period. He was assisted by Kellen Jones and Connor Jones. The opportunity came about when OSU’s Alex Szczechura went to the penalty box for tripping at 15:55. QU attacked and managed to knock one past Cal Heeter who had a relatively good day in goal for the Buckeyes. The Bobcats led the visitors in shots 12 to 9 after 1, though OSU blasted to a 27 shots total after period 2 to Quinnipiac’s 21.

Early in the second period, Ohio State put too many men on the ice and Szczechura served the penalty. Later on Devon Krogh went to the box for hooking, but the Buckeyes survived both penalties. Halfway through the period OSU’s John Albert was called for Cross-Checking as QU’s Connor Jones was called for slashing, thus offsetting. Neither team scored during the 4 on 4 either. However, Loren Barron was nabbed for holding not long after giving the Buckeyes their first power play of the game.

They would not score however and QU goalie Dan Clarke found himself with a shutout through 2.

Period 3 opened with a bang as Ohio State’s Sergio Somma struck quickly knocking the puck over Clarke into the net, assisted by C.J. Severyn less than a minute into the period. The two teams battled back and forth now tied, but it was Spencer Heichman who sent the book over the shoulder of Heeter and into the net at 9:48 assisted by Yuri Bouharevich and Barron to regain the lead which would hold the rest of the night.

It was a back and forth affair, each side delievered plenty of hits though incurred very few penalties, and each side had their share of good chances, though both had several instances of their opponent spending a long amount of time in their zone, with the defensive team unable to clear it. Both Clarke and Heeter had plenty of action to manage and each came up with critical saves to keep their teams in the game.

The win gives Coach Rand Pecknold’s club a 1-0-0 record, though Coach Mark Osiecki and Ohio State get another shot at the Bobcats Saturday.