Ben Scrivens’ 32-save shutout gave the Cornell Big Red a 2-0 decision over the Quinnipiac University Bobcats in ECAC Hockey action Friday night at the TD Bank Sports Center.
“We’re fortunate to gut out a win tonight,” said Cornell coach Mike Schafer. “We found a way to win tonight; the first goal was a good power-play goal. Sometimes, you have to find ways to get the job done and I think we did that tonight.”
This was Scrivens’ third shutout on the season and 15th overall for his career.
“I thought Scrivens was excellent tonight,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “We didn’t do a good enough job of putting traffic in front of him. Ultimately, we have to find a way to stay out of the penalty box and our power play wasn’t very good.”
It was the first time the Bobcats were shutout this season. The last time Quinnipiac was shutout was on Jan. 31, 2009, a 3-0 loss at Yale.
Justin Krueger opened up the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:09 of the first period with his first goal of the season. Brendon Nash sent a pass along the blue line to Blake Gallagher for the one timer shot. Dan Clarke made the first save, but the puck popped back out into the slot, where Krueger put the rebound in through the five-hole.
Quinnipiac (13-12-2, 7-8-0 ECAC Hockey) had two chances early in the second when Greg Holt and Brandon Wong both rang one off the post on a power-play opportunity. Quinnipiac outshot Cornell 14-6 in the first period, 6-4 in the second and 12-6, in the third.
“We did a pretty good job keeping shots to the perimeter,” said Schafer. “He [Scrivens] doesn’t give up a lot of rebounds. He was so solid, not giving up rebounds or dropping pucks for second opportunities. He was outstanding, and we blocked a lot of shots.”
Cornell (13-5-3, 10-2-2 ECAC Hockey) extended their lead to two when Tyler Roeszler chipped home a rebound shot from Dan Nicholls early in the third period. Nicholls carried the puck in from the right circle and fired a shot on net that Clarke turned away. Roeszler crashed the net and banged home the rebound and into the open net at 2:28. It was his first goal of the season.
The Bobcats’ winless streak now stands at 14, as they have gone 1-11-2 in that span. Cornell is 5-1-1 since the New Year began Clarke made 14 saves in the loss. The Bobcats finished zero-for-four on the power play, while Cornell went one-for-five.
Quinnipiac will host Colgate tomorrow night, while Cornell travels to Princeton.
