Twins Connor and Kellen Jones were chasing another national hockey title Saturday night at the Consol Energy Centre in Pittsburgh.
Kellen scored once as the Quinnipiac Bobcats grounded the St. Cloud State Huskies 4-1 in the NCAA semifinals Thursday.
The Bobcats met the Yale Bulldogs in an all-Connecticut showdown. Quinnipiac dominated all three meetings with Yale this season, outscoring the Bulldogs 13-3 on its way to the ECAC regular-season title.
The final assures the ECAC — which for years has struggled in the shadow of the formidable Hockey East — its first national title since Harvard Crimson Tide won it in 1989.
The Jones boys, 22, boosted the Vernon Vipers to back-to-back Royal Bank Cups in 2009 (in Victoria) and 2010 (in Dauphin, Man.) before joining Quinnipiac.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas had a goal and an assist for the top-seeded Bobcats while Ben Arnt and Jeremy Langlois also scored for Quinnipiac (30-7-5), who scored three times in the first 12 minutes to take control.
Penticton Vees’ grad Joey Benik scored his tournament-leading fifth for the Huskies, but the Bobcats restored the three-goal lead on a stellar effort by Kellen, who took a pass off the boards and raced into the zone. He turned left and headed for the net, fighting off St. Cloud State’s Andrew Prochno and flipping the puck by Ryan Faragher’s stick.
Kellen, drafted in the seventh round by Edmonton Oilers in 2010, finished with three shots on goal. Connor had two shots.
Goaltender Eric Hartzell, a Hobey Baker Award finalist, stopped 32 shots for Quinnipiac, easily outshining fellow finalist Drew LeBlanc of St. Cloud State. LeBlanc was held scoreless as the Huskies (25-16-1) struggled to keep up with the more experienced Bobcats.
Faragher made 24 saves for the Huskies but was overwhelmed in the first period as Quinnipiac staked the best goaltender in the country to a massive lead.
The start of the game was pushed by nearly an hour after Yale needed overtime to edge UMass Lowell River Hawks 3-2.
