Behind a 25-save shutout by Bud Fisher and Jamie Bates’ 100th career point, the Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the Princeton Tigers, 4-0, Saturday night at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.
“It was a great team game,” said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold. “A lot of guys stepped up. Andy Meyer and Dan Henningson were great.”
The Bobcats dominated play in the first, outshooting the Tigers 16 to five.
Princeton goaltender Zane Kalemba kept the Tigers in the game early, making several clutch saves.
“I think that Kalemba made some great saves. He’s a little unorthodox but he’s got quick reactions and he was very good tonight,” Pecknold said.
The Bobcats finally solved Kalemba with a Dan Travis tally 5:12 into the second. In a scrum in front of the net, the puck rode up Kalemba’s stick on Jean-Marc Beaudoin’s shot and bounced into the air, where Travis batted it into the net for the 1-0 lead.
Kalemba continued his spectacular play in the third period, making two saves in a row on Eric Lampe to keep Princeton down by one. Lampe first came in on a breakaway and went on the backhand, but Kalemba deflected the puck wide. Lampe picked up his own rebound and tried the wrap around but was denied by a glove save to preserve the one goal deficit for Princeton.
Dan Henningson gave the Bobcats a two goal lead at 3:38 of the third period. Henningson came into the slot and received a pass from Isak Tranvik, deked around a Princeton defenseman and slid the puck under a diving Kalemba.
With the assist, Bates became the 26th player in Quinnipiac history to record 100 points.
“Jamie Bates is a great player and anytime you can get a 100-point kid, you know he’s a big-time player,” said Pecknold.
Earlier in the season, linemate Nelson recorded his 100th point as a Bobcat.
“It’s really just having an opportunity to play with some great players here,” said Bates. “Playing on the power play with Reid Cashman the past three years and then Ben Nelson and Bryan Leitch has helped me get to 100.”
The Bobcats extended the lead to three on Brandon Wong’s power play goal from in front of the crease, where deflected home a Ben Nelson pass. The Bobcats added a short-handed empty net goal by Beaudoin.
Fisher made 25 saves in the shutout, while Kalemba finished with 31 saves. With the shutout Fisher ties the all-time record for shutouts at Quinnipiac with seven.
The two face-off again on Wednesday night in a conference tilt in Princeton, N.J., and again on Saturday afternoon in Hamden, Conn.
