The Quinnipiac Bobcats completed the weekend sweep of the University of Massachusetts Minutemen and remained unbeaten after a 1-0 victory Saturday night at the High Point Solutions Arena. Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig notched his fourth shutout of the year and 59th win, the latter that ties him with former goaltenders Jamie Holden (05’) and J.C. Holden (01’) for most all-time wins in the program’s history.
“We were excited to get the win today,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said.“I don’t think it was our best effort, but we battled.”
Garteig’s 15th career shutout came in a game uncharacteristic of the Bobcats (13-0-2). They were outshot 28 to 23 during the game, including a first period where the Bobcats only mustered up 4 shots while allowing 15 shots on net.
“Same mindset no matter what,” Garteig said about adapting to the influx of shots he might face any given night. “A good example is this weekend where last night I saw 18 shots and tonight in the first period I saw 15. It’s the same mindset for me and that’s to do whatever I have to do to help my team win.”
Just a week after finding himself No. 4 on ESPN SportCenter’s Top Ten Plays, Garteig improved his record at home to 8-0-2 and now has a 0.89 goals against average and a .966 shot percentage at home, all while extending his scoreless streak at home to 168:21
“He’s been dominate this year, one of the best goalies in college hockey,” Pecknold said. “We got heavily outshot tonight, and that doesn’t happen a lot to us. He’s been great and he makes us go.”
The Bobcats’ lone goal of the game came with 11:53 remaining in the first, when Tim Clifton stole away a UMass (6-5-4) pass up the far-side boards to the left of Minutemen’s goaltender, and fired the puck at the net, where it found Scott Davidson’s stick. Davidson put it in the net for his third of the year
“I think the big thing for us, is that we certainly have talent,” Pecknold said. “But what makes us great is our emotion and our passion… it’s what makes us a dominate team.”
Quinnipiac will return to action next Friday when they travel to New Haven to face archrival Yale in their first matchup of year at Ingalls Rink, a game that will be nationally televised on the American Sports Network (ASN).
