Bobcats Open ECAC Hockey Championship First Round Series With 6-1 Win Against Brown

Friday, March 3

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

20-13-2, 15-8-1ECAC

Brown

4-24-2, 3-19-1ECAC

Brown

Quinnipiac

Bobcats Open ECAC Hockey Championship First Round Series With 6-1 Win Against Brown

3/3/2017 9:01:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, CONNECTICUT - Quinnipiac men's ice hockey opened its ECAC Hockey Championship First Round series with six unanswered goals en route to a 6-1 win in Game 1 of the best-of-three-games set against Brown at High Point Solutions Arena. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 20-13-2 overall while Brown drops to 4-24-2 on the year.

The win signals marks the 17th time in program history and the 16th time in head coach Rand Pecknold's 23-year career that Quinnipiac has won 20 games in a season. In addition, Quinnipiac's senior class is currently one of six in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey senior classes - along with Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota State, UMass Lowell and Providence - to win 20 games in all four seasons that they've played.

Six different Bobcats scored in the win while Alex Whelan (Ramsey, New Jersey), Landon Smith (Greenwood Village, Colorado) and K.J. Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) all had a goal and an assist. Tanner MacMaster (Calgary, Alberta) and Craig Martin (Trail, British Columbia) both had two assists each in the win while Tim and Connor Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) and Thomas Aldworth (Heller, Texas) all scored for Quinnipiac.

Quinnipiac goalie Andrew Shortridge (Anchorage, Alaska) improved to 10-5-0 on the year after a 19-save performance in his first career postseason game. Shortridge became just the fourth freshman goalie to start a postseason game in Quinnipiac history and the first since Bud Fisher stood between the pipes against Colgate on Mar. 12, 2006. Shortridge also became the third freshman goalie in program history - joining Justin Eddy and Jamie Holden - to win a postseason game and the first since Holden was in net for the 2002 MAAC Championship against Mercyhurst on Mar. 16, 2002.

The Bobcats jumped out to an early lead when Whelan scored his fourth goal of the season, and second in as many games, just thirty-two seconds into regulation. Derek Smith (Apple Valley, Minnesota) bombed a shot from the point but it was knocked down in traffic. Craig Martin (Trail, British Columbia) picked it up in the face-off circle and threw it off of Brown goalie Gavin Nieto's blocker before it settled on Whelan's tape on the opposite post.

The Bobcats made it 2-0 on Landon Smith's (Greenwood Village, Colorado) 10th goal of the season. Luke Shiplo (Oakville, Ontario) started the play when we picked up a loose puck in the neutral and fed Tanner MacMaster (Calgary, Alberta). MacMaster's pass to Smith left him open in the slot where he blasted a shot over Neito's left shoulder to give the Bobcats a two-goal lead.

Coming out of the first intermission, the Bobcats pushed their lead to three goals on Tim Clifton's team-leading 13th goal of the season. Martin picked up his second assist when he knocked it loose to Whelan who took off down the ice with Clifton on a two-on-one break-away. Clifton received the puck in the slot, skated across the crease and popped the puck over Nieto's shoulder to give Quinnipiac a 3-0 lead that it held until the second intermission.

Aldworth's eighth goal of the season gave the Bobcats a 4-0 lead less than two minutes into the third period. The second-year Bobcats pushed his point streak to four games in which he has scored in three of those four games. Aldworth took a pass from K.J. Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) just above the face-off circle to Neito's left before he made a move around a Brown defender and then guided the puck to the opposite post. MacMaster also picked up his second assist of the night on the play.

With seven minutes to go in regulation, Tiefenwerth took a pass from Scott Davidson (Trail, British Columbia) and settled in between the face-off circle to Nieto's right and the goalline before he sniped the puck, bar-down, to the opposite corner to push the Bobcats' lead to 6-0 in the closing minutes.

Brown's Max Willman ruined Shortridge's shutbid with his 11th goal of the season with less than six minutes to play to put Brown on the board. Charlie Corcoran's shot went wide across the goal mouth before Willman picked it up on the opposite side where he was able to jam it home to cut Quinnipiac's lead to 6-1.

Quinnipiac and Brown will square-off again on Saturday, Mar. 4 for the second game of the best-of-three-games series at 7 p.m. at High Point Solutions Arena. Should Brown even the series with a win in Game 2, the third game of the weekend series will be on Sunday, Mar. 5 at 4 p.m.