Shortridge's 21 saves leads Quinnipiac to 1-0 shutout over Brown

Freshman goaltender Andrew Shortridge had 21 saves as the No. 19 Quinnipiac Bobcats beat the Brown Bears 1-0 on Friday night in Providence, Rhode Island. This was the first career shutout for Shortridge and the first Bobcats shutout win this season. They tied Saint Lawrence 0-0 in the Friendship Four tournament back in November.

Early in the game the Bobcats had a flurry of quality scoring chances but Brown freshman goaltender Gavin Nieto was up the challenge. Quinnipiac broke through in the first when Bo Pieper took a Landon Smith pass just after the blue line and skated up and slipped a wrist shot short side past Nieto. It was the 10th goal of the season for Pieper who has doubled his goal totals from a season ago when he had five. Tanner MacMaster was also credited with a secondary assist on the goal his fourth of the season while the assist was Smith's 13th of the year. Shortridge was rarely tested in the first period as the Bobcats out shot the Bears 14-4 in the opening frame. The teams also played a clean period with no penalties called.

Andrew Shortridge (photo by Mary Schwalm Boston Globe

In the second period there was not much offensive chances for the Bears as the Quinnipiac defense tightened up and held Brown to just two shots on goal for the entire period. The first penalty was called late in the period on the Bears giving the Bobcats the first power play of the game that they eventually did not capitalize on. Quinnipiac out shot Brown 9-2 in the middle frame.

In the third period the Bobcats took an early tripping penalty just 44 seconds into the period by freshman defenseman Kārlis Čukste that they eventually killed off. Seven minutes later the Bobcats once again went on the penalty kill due to a slash by Tim Clifton. The penalty was over once Brown's Nolan Aibel was sent off for a hook and while the Bobcats had a short power play chance where they could not muster a goal. With just under nine minutes left Kevin Duane was sent off for kneeing but the Bobcats defense and Shortridge continued to stymie the Bears chances. Down the stretch it was Shortridge who came up huge for Quinnipiac with multiple saves on a flurry of shots with some of them in traffic. He made 15 saves in the period as Brown out shot Quinnipiac in the final frame. Quinnipiac out shot Brown 32-21 for the game. Shortridge picked up his sixth win the of season as he rebounded from being pulled a week ago against Arizona State.

Bo Pieper (photo by Jenn Hoffman / Pucks & Rec)

Quinnipiac improves to 15-11-2 (9-6-1 ECAC) with the win while Brown falls to 4-17-1 (3-12 ECAC). The Bobcats returns to action tomorrow night with an eight mile trip down Whitney Avenue to face rival Yale at 7pm. The Bulldogs are coming off a 4-2 loss at the hands of Princeton and currently sit four points behind Quinnipiac in the ECAC standings.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow him on Twitter @jonathan_singer.