There is an old saying that defense wins championships. For the No. 13 Quinnipiac Bobcats, (7-1, 2-1 ECAC Hockey) defense won them their second ECAC Hockey matchup, holding the RPI Engineers (3-5, 3-2 ECAC Hockey) to 12 shots on goal in a 3-0 win.
“Twelve shots, that’s a pretty good shot suppression,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “I thought we defiantly blocked some shots we needed to, but I thought we had good sticks and won a lot of races and won a lot of battles. I thought that was the key for us tonight.”
Twelve isn’t Quinnipiac’s season best with shots on goals allowed. In Quinnipiac’s home opener against UConn, Quinnipiac only allowed 11 shots on goal.
The first goal of the night came 5:03 into first period, when the puck barely broke the plane for Quinnipiac. However, after a lengthy review, it was ruled that freshman Daniel Winslow scored his first ever Quinnipiac goal.
“I didn’t really see it go in right away but I saw Joe [O’Connor] and he said it went in, so I kind of celebrated with him.” Winslow said.
Winslow is a longtime friend and teammate of sophomore defenseman Joe O’Connor. Winslow is a native of Fairfield, Connecticut, while O’Connor is from Hamden, Connecticut.
“Me and Joe have actually been friends for a long time, since youth hockey,” Winslow said. “Being able to play with him and get my first goal with him was awesome.”
Winslow’s goal put the Bobcats on the board early. It’s been a common trend for the Bobcats this season – in the home opener against Uconn, Brandon Fortunato scored 4:22 into the game, Chase Priskie scored 17:35 into the first period during the 1-0 win against No. 18 Boston College on Oct. 19, and on Nov. 2, Priskie scored 2:10 into the game against Harvard.
Senior captain Chase Priskie scored a historic goal 14:25 into the third period against Rensselaer to extend the Bobcats lead to three. That goal was the 29th of Priskie’s collegiate career which set a Quinnipiac Division I program record recording the most goals ever by a defenseman.
This season, Priskie leads the Bobcats with seven goals in eight games. He also leads the team with 11 points and is second on the Bobcats with 31 shots.
“He gets better every year,” Pecknold said. “The biggest thing is he’s a better defender. He’s great on the penalty kill. He’s been our best player so far this year.”
The only other player to have more shots than Priskie is Odeen Tufto. Tufto scored his sixth goal of the season 10:33 into the second period on a power play slap shot.
Goaltender Andrew Shortridge played his second game this season and recorded his seventh career shutout.
“[Shortridge] played well and made saves when he needed to,” Pecknold said.
Shortridge did not see a lot of work tonight on the ice, as the Quinnipiac defense held Rensselaer to 12 shots. However, Shortridge hasn’t seen a lot of work this season either. Keith Petruzzelli has started six out of Quinnipiac’s eight games.
“I’m just always ready for any opportunity that I get,” Shortridge said. “Whether it’s back-to-back or I go two months, I just go day-by-day making sure that I am ready every practice and any game.”
Shortridge last started against AIC on Oct. 26. He recorded 22 saves during the 4-1 win in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the 2017-2018 season, Shortridge started 22 games compiling a 10-10-2 record.
Quinnipiac loves playing at home, outscoring their opponents 17-4 at home this season.
“I think you go back to the last 12 years in this rink, we’ve always been good at home,” Pecknold said. “It’s something we take a lot of pride in.”
Quinnipiac will look to stay undefeated at home, as their next test will come Saturday night against No. 12 Union in another ECAC Hockey matchup. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
