RPI took another step out of the ECAC cellar with a 6-4 victory over the University of Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse Saturday night. The win gave the struggling Engineers their first three-point weekend in ECAC play this season following a tie with Dartmouth the previous evening. The Engineers pulled off the win with one of their big sticks in the stands, as Marc Cavosie sat out after getting banged up against Dartmouth. Nolan Graham, another key player, also watched from the sidelines. In a departure from their performance in other recent games, RPI spread the scoring around, with a total of ten different players earning points.
Carson Butterwick, assisted by C.J. Hanafin and Andrew McPherson, opened the scoring at 6:07 of the first period after RPI skated the length of the ice against the Catamount defense. UVM managed to tie it up four minutes later when the Engineers were unable to kill off the power play opportunity created by an elbowing penalty against Steve Munn. Vermont’s top scorer, Patrick Sharp, got his first goal of the night, putting a clean, hard shot past RPI goaltender Nathan Marsters.
The Engineers’ Mikael Hammarstrom got his first goal of the season on a power play early in the second period when he buried a wrister from the right circle on a nice feed from defenseman Matt McNeely; Conrad Barnes also assisted. Jim Henkel added to RPI’s lead at 14:19 of the period when his blast from beyond the blue line ricocheted off a Catamount defender and past Vermont netminder Tim Peters. Just over two minutes later, RPI gave Vermont a 5-on-3 advantage when first Danny Eberly and then Munn were whistled for infractions. UVM scored their second power-play goal of the night just after Eberly’s penalty expired, with Sharp again finding the back of the net.
Vermont tied up the contest again on a soft shot from Scott Mifsud early in the third and almost took the lead soon after, when a breakaway situation developed. However, defenseman Blake Pickett’s diving effort broke up the play. Henkel got his second goal of the night, a power play tally, 6:31 into the final period, assisted by Matt Murley and Jim Vickers. The goal gave the Engineers back a lead that they refused to relinquish. Marsters made several excellent saves, keeping UVM at bay, until McPherson’s goal, the eventual game winner, two minutes later. An RPI penalty resulted in a third Vermont power-play goal and a hat trick for Sharp at the 10:16 mark, bringing the Catamounts to within one. Marsters was up to the challenge, though, making a key save with 2:15 left to maintain the lead.
With 1:25 to go, Vermont pulled its netminder for an extra attacker and put a lot of pressure on the RPI net, but the Engineers’ defense stiffened and withstood the barrage. Vickers went down for a block and, while down, managed to clear the puck out to Murley who streaked down the ice with a Vermont defender in hot pursuit and sealed the 6-4 victory with an empty netter.
The Engineers currently hold the tenth and final playoff spot in the ECAC with a 4-7-3 record (10-10-4 overall) and are poised to move up in the standings. They face St. Lawrence—presently in a three-way tie for seventh place with 12 points to RPI’s 11—Friday night at Houston Field House, and then tackle archrival Clarkson at the Big Red Freakout Saturday.
