Gessert’s OT Winner Lifts Men’s Hockey Over No. 5 Quinnipiac, 2-1, in Game One of Quarterfinals

Friday, March 15

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Brown University

14-13-5, 8-9-5ECAC

Quinnipiac

25-8-2, 14-6-2ECAC

OT 1

Brown

Quinnipiac

Gessert’s OT Winner Lifts Men’s Hockey Over No. 5 Quinnipiac, 2-1, in Game One of Quarterfinals

3/15/2019 10:57:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

HAMDEN, Conn. – After Brent Beaudoin (Londonderry, N.H.) scored with 21 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, Jack Gessert (Novi, Mich.) notched the game winner in overtime to send Brown men's hockey past top-seeded Quinnipiac, 2-1, in game one of the ECAC Quarterfinal series Friday night at Frank Perrotti Arena.

Brown, the eighth seed in the tournament, improved to 14-13-5 after taking game one of the best-of-three series. The Bears captured an overtime playoff win for the second straight contest after defeating Princeton in triple overtime last weekend.

Brown outshot Quinnipiac, 40-26. The fifth-ranked Bobcats moved to 25-8-2.

"It's definitely a team that believes," said head coach Brendan Whittet. "I give our guys a lot of credit for being able to battle back and find a way to win the game in overtime. It was a real defensive battle. They're a really good hockey team and we know they're going to come back tomorrow night.

Gavin Nieto (Yorba Linda, Calif.) stopped 25 shots for the Bears. Andrew Shortridge made 38 saves on the other end.

The two teams were even in shots, 8-8, after a scoreless opening period. The Bears managed to kill a five-minute major penalty during the second half of the period to keep the home team off the board.

Karlis Cukste scored for the Bobcats 4:21 into the second period, as he took advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone and beat Nieto from the left circle.

Brown killed Quinnipiac's third power play of the game midway through the third period to keep the score within one.

After Brown pulled Nieto at 18:45 for the extra skater, Beaudoin ripped a shot from just outside the circle and into the back of the net to even the score with 21.5 seconds left on the clock. Zach Giuttari (Warwick, R.I.) and Max Gottlieb (Old Bridge, N.J.) picked up assists.

Gessert scored the game winner with 2:58 left in overtime. Colin Burston (Winnipeg, Manitoba) took a shot that hit the boards and bounced in front of the net, where Gessert backhanded the rebound past Shortridge for his third goal of the season.

Brown and Quinnipiac will meet for game two of the series Saturday at 7 PM.