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NCAA: Quinnipiac Bobcats oust Yale Bulldogs

The Quinnipiac Bobcats got off to a rewarding start as it began its quest for a return trip to the NCAA Frozen Four.

The Quinnipiac Bobcats got off to a rewarding start as it began its quest for a return trip to the NCAA Frozen Four.

The Bobcats, led by Trail’s Travis St. Denis, and Montrose’s Connor and Kellen Jones, faced the Yale Bulldogs in its first round of the Eastern Conference playoff.

Last April, Yale eliminated local rival Quinnipiac on the final night of the season. The Bulldogs lifted the NCAA championship trophy after beating number-1 ranked Quinnipiac in the national championship match 4-0.

Eleven months later, QU returned the favor, ending Yale’s title defense with 6-2 and 5-3 victories to sweep the Blue out of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals.

St. Denis scored twice in the 6-2 win on Friday, and added another in the best 2-of-3 sweep on Saturday.

Connor, meanwhile, scored the winner in Friday’s victory and added two assists on Saturday, and Kellen pitched in with a couple of helpers.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good,” Connor said on the USCHO website. “I don’t think we’ll be satisfied until we get a national championship and an ECAC championship, but it felt good tonight, for sure.”

The Jones twins are seniors this year and are in their final season, while St. Denis is a junior.

In the end though, he admitted, “We don’t have anything on Yale until we have a ring of our own.”

Quinnipiac advances to ECAC Hockey’s championship weekend and will face Colgate, against whom the Bobcats were 1-1 this season. Also traveling to Lake Placid is top-seed Union, which will play the winner of Sunday’s Game 3 between fifth-place Clarkson and fourth-seed Cornell.

The Bobcats qualify for the league’s final foursome for the second year in a row and third time ever, still seeking their first Whitelaw Cup.