Friday night saw the Field House go dark. “Black Friday” festivities were largely successful, with the team debuting one-time only black throw-back jerseys.

RPI came onto the ice strong, skating all over the Vermont Catamounts. The Catamounts played a largely undisciplined game, taking 18 minutes worth of penalties in the first period alone.

The first of a bevy of Vermont penalties came at 12:16, with Art Farmenella taking a seat for interference. Forty-two seconds later, Evan Stoflet joined Farmenella in the box with a hooking offense.

The Engineers swarmed on the five on three, and the only thing Vermont could do to stop them was take yet another penalty. Just before Farmenalla’s penalty expired, Vermont’s Gerald Millar hooked down an Engineer and took a penalty at 14:11. Catamount assistant captain Brady Leisenring took exception to the call, and said the wrong words to the referee; he was given a 10 minute misconduct penalty. With four Catamounts in the box, the Engineers converted beautifully.

Kevin Croxton scored the first goal of the game at 14:54, just after the Stoflet penalty expired. Ten seconds after the goal, Vermont’s Jamie Sifers took a sloppy boarding penalty to put the Engineers back on the power play.

RPI converted quickly on the given opportunity. Six seconds into the penalty, Alexander Valentin tallied the second goal with help from Kirk MacDonald.

The Engineer offense didn’t quit after the pair of power play goals. With 41 seconds left in the period, Ben Barr scored with help from Nick Economakos to put the Engineers up 3-0 going into the first intermission.

RPI took a pair of penalties early in the second period, and Vermont’s offense finally kicked into gear. Chris Meyers tallied the Catamounts first goal at 8:37 with help from Tom Collingham and Thomas Child.

The Engineers regained their three-goal lead at 11:06, when Tommy Green pushed a puck into the Vermont net. RPI continued to skate strong, and were rewarded at 14:02, when Croxton tallied his second goal of the game off an assist from Economakos.

The Catamounts called a time out after the Croxton goal and used the opportunity to pull starting goaltender Travis Russell in favor of Scott Sortal.

The referees refused to put their whistles away in the third period. Engineer Conrad Barnes received a five minute major for hitting from behind, and a ten minute misconduct penalty to boot. The Engineers not only killed off the major, but also scored shorthanded. Economakos scored with help from Valentin and MacDonald to put RPI up 6-1.

After nine minutes of play and 47 minutes worth of penalties, C.J. Hanafin scored the final RPI goal of the evening with help from Mikael Hammarstrom and Croxton. Nathan Marsters played a stellar game in net, stopping 26 shots.

On Saturday, the Engineers looked to continue their hot play against the undefeated Big Green of Dartmouth. The first period went well for the Engineers. They out shot Dartmouth 9-4, but Big Green goalie Dan Yacey held strong between the pipes, stopping all nine shots.

The second period saw RPI and Dartmouth trading power play opportunities, but neither team could convert. The game remained scoreless through two.

The third period provided the scoring for the game, with the Engineers finding the net first. Matt McNeely scored the lone RPI goal on the evening off a good feed from Green. Dartmouth fired right back, though, scoring just eight seconds after the Engineer goal. The one-one tie held up, and the game went to overtime.

The Big Green out shot RPI three to one in the overtime period, but neither team could find the net. Each team received a hard-earned point for their effort.