Nelson, Quinnipiac Attain Milestones in Victory
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HAMDEN, CT -- Quinnipiac defeated Bentley College, 3-0, in the Bobcats' 2007-08 season home opener in front of 2,478 fans at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. The win was Quinnipiac's 400th in program history, while Ben Nelson (Spokane, Wash.) became the 25th player in Quinnipiac history to score 100 points. The Bobcats open the year at 1-0-0 while Bentley drops to 0-2-0.
The Bobcats played to a 0-0 tie after the first period. While Quinnipiac held the advantage in shots-on-goal, 8-5, Bentley clearly held the advantage after the first frame.
"I thought they [Bentley] won the first period and we were luck to get out of there zero, zero," said Quinnipiac Head Coach Rand Pecknold.
In the second period, it was more of the same as the Bobcats and Bentley were even on shots, 11-11. It wasn't until there was less than four minutes remaining in the period before Quinnipiac scored.
Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) scored at the 16:09 mark of the 2nd period to put Quinnipiac on the board first. Leitch's goal was his first of the season and the 27th of his career. Nelson and Jamie Bates (Toronto, Ont.) each assisted on the play, with Nelson's assist putting him at the century mark.
Peter Vetri (Windham, N.H.) meanwhile was having an outstanding Quinnipiac debut, turning away 16 shots while holding Bentley scoreless over the first two periods.
"He was excellent," said Pecknold. "Anytime you have a shutout of twenty plus shots is great."
Early in the 3rd period, Dan Travis (Wilton, N.H.) scored to put Quinnipiac up, 2-0, on assists from Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) and Andrew Meyer (St. Louis, Mo.).
Leitch would score his second goal of the game two minutes later to increase Quinnipiac's lead to 3-0. Leitch's goal came on an assist from Nelson, whose career point total settled at 101 points at the end of regulation.
Vetri finished recorded 21 saves for his first shutout as a Bobcat and third of his career. For Bentley, Joe Calvi had 26 saves while allowing three goals in 60 minutes in net.
