The Engineer train continued to roll Friday night in Cambridge, Mass., as RPI beat ECAC rival Harvard University 5-1, moving them into a tie for fourth place with the Crimson. The win was RPI’s sixth in a row, extending an 8-1-2 streak since mid-January.
Senior forward Jim Henkel had two goals and an assist, and sophomore goaltender Nathan Marsters made 32 saves to seal the win in front of 2,776 fans—largely RPI supporters—at Bright Hockey Center.
In a game that saw RPI’s defense dominate throughout, the Engineers got on the board first at 7:36 of the first period. Junior forward Nolan Graham picked up a loose rebound at the top of the crease from a Blake Pickett shot, waited patiently, and tucked it around and behind Harvard netminder Will Crothers for an early lead. The goal ended a 19-game goal-scoring drought for Graham, who started off the year hot offensively.
“It feels great to win. It was a big team win for us. We were playing strong defensively, and keeping the shots to the outside. They’re a pretty strong, physical team and we were just trying to keep them to the outside, and we did that throughout the whole game, for the whole 60 minutes, and we kept them to one goal,” Graham commented.
From Graham’s goal on, the Engineers never looked back, getting second period goals from Henkel and Marc Cavosie (both on the power play), and third period goals from Henkel and Matt Murley on an empty net with 2:13 to play. Murley also had an assist on Cavosie’s goal, which extended Cavosie’s point-scoring streak to 14 games. Junior defenseman Danny Eberly added two assists on the evening.
“Coach has put together some pretty good lines,” Henkel said, “and it’s really helped Marc and Matt in taking some pressure off of them, where they can play their game. They can relax and go out and play knowing that we have two or three other lines that can put points up on the board now.”
Harvard got their only goal of the game from junior forward Brett Nowak on the power play at 13:17 of the third period.
RPI went two for three on the power play, while Harvard was limited to one goal on five chances by the Engineer penalty killers.
“I think we did an outstanding job defensively,” said RPI Head Coach Dan Fridgen. “We’re doing the little things that we need to do in order to be successful. We’re getting timely goal-scoring, and I just think we’re playing as one team right now, and playing pretty solidly at both ends of the rink.”
When asked if this was as good as any game RPI has played thus far this year, Fridgen said, “I think so, especially on the road. Overall, from the offense right through to the defense and goaltending, I think that guys are really contributing, fulfilling their roles, supporting one another, and that’s what you have to do in order to be successful. When you do something, and you execute and you have success from it, your confidence can’t help but build, and that’s a huge part of playing this game.”
