Petruzzelli Records First Shutout as #16 Bobcats Blank Holy Cross, 3-0

Wednesday, December 23

Worcester, Mass. / Hart Center

5:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-2-0

Holy Cross

4-4-0

Quinnipiac

Holy Cross

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

Petruzzelli Records First Shutout as #16 Bobcats Blank Holy Cross, 3-0

12/23/2020 7:29:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Quinnipiac Goaltender Keith Petruzzelli Stops All 26 Shots for Second Straight Win

By: QU Athletic Communications

WORCESTER, Mass. – Keith Petruzzelli (Wilbraham, Massachusetts) was stellar between the pipes Wednesday night as he made 26 saves to backstop the No. 16 Quinnipiac men's ice hockey team to a 3-0 shutout of the Holy Cross Crusaders at the Hat Center.

Petruzzelli's shutout was his first of the 2020-21 season as he made 22 saves over the final two periods to preserve the shutout. He has had a dominant start to the season between the pipes, allowing two goals or fewer in five of his six starts.

Ethan de Jong (North Vancouver, British Columbia) buried his third power-play goal of the season in the first period with a goal that stood as the game-winner before Desi Burgart (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and Logan Britt (Crystal Lake, Illinois) added insurance goals in the second and third for the Bobcats.

Burgart now has a career-high four goals this season after scoring three goals in the series while Britt's was his first of the year. Peter DiLiberatore (Bedford, Nova Scotia) led all scorers with two points on his second straight two-assist game.

DiLiberatore set up each of the Bobcats' first two goals as he fired a shot from the point that de Jong redirected past Holy Cross goaltender Erik Gordon early in the first period before Gordon couldn't handle his slap shot in the second and Burgart jammed home the rebound.

SCORE
#16 Quinnipiac 3, Holy Cross 0

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (4-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) | Holy Cross (4-4-0, 3-1-0 Atlantic Hockey)

LOCATION
Hart Center | Worcester, Mass.

SCORING SUMMARY

(6:15, 1^st period – PP) – Quinnipiac 1, Holy Cross 0: The Bobcats got the scoring started as Tufto shifted the puck up to DiLiberatore at the point before he skated in to his left for a snap shot where de Jong was positioned in front of the goaltender to redirect the puck into the net.
(5:51, 2^nd period) – Quinnipiac 2, Holy Cross 0: DiLiberatore got his own rebound off a shot block and wheeled around the offensive zone before slamming on the brakes at the left point. He fired a slap shot that trickled through goaltender Erik Gordon and Burgart was on the goal line to tap home the rebound.
(2:42, 3^rd period) – Quinnipiac 3, Holy Cross 0: van Nes chased down a loose puck in the right corner and skated up the board before hitting Britt with a pass. Britt skated down into the high slot before firing a wrister through traffic to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.

NOTES

Petruzzelli was dominant between the pipes as he made 26 saves in his first shutout of the season and seventh of his career
Petruzzelli is now tied with Jamie Holden '05 for fifth in program history with seven career shutouts.
de Jong extended his goal streak to three games as he recorded a power-play goal for the third straight game
He now has 20 goals in his Quinnipiac career, with five of them coming on the power-play
Burgart had a torrid series for the Bobcats as he added a goal Wednesday for his third tally in two games
Burgart now has four goals this season, good for a career-high after scoring three as a first-year in 2018-19.
Britt fired home his first of the season and second of his career, with both goals for Britt coming at the Hart Center against the Crusaders
DiLiberatore tallied his second straight two-assist game, the seventh such game of his career and ninth multi-point game
He now has 35 assists in his Quinnipiac career
Tufto extended his point streak to three games and now has points in five of six games this season with an assist Wednesday night.
He leads the Bobcats with seven assists and nine points.
Tufto's assist was also the 97^th of his career, tied with Rick Ciardiello '87 for eighth in program history, and the 130^th point of his career to move into sole possession of 16^th in program history, and 11^th in the Division I era.
van Nes recorded an assist for the second straight game and now has points in four of six games this season.
He now has career-highs with five assists and six points on the season through just six games of the 2020-21 season

NEXT GAME

The Bobcats are off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and return to action Saturday night for some Boxing Day Hockey as they host No. 19 AIC in the first game of a home-and-home series at 7 p.m. at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena.
Quinnipiac travels to Springfield Sunday afternoon to face AIC at the MassMutual Center at 3 p.m. in the final game of the weekend series.
For more information on Quinnipiac men's ice hockey, visit gobobcats.com/mih and follow the Bobcats on Twitter and Instagram, @QU_MIH.