With plenty at stake for the men’s hockey team this weekend, they needed a strong showing in a pair of ECAC contests against Ivy League schools Princeton and Yale. They certainly did not disappoint, putting on an amazing display of offensive firepower and the kind of clutch goaltending that takes a team far in the playoffs, en route to an 11-goal weekend and delivering pair of thrashings to their opponents. The offensive outburst marked the highest weekend total for Rensselaer in nearly two years, and propelled the team to the highest goal total in the ECAC, in both conference and overall games.
The fireworks started early for the Engineers at Princeton on Friday. Kevin Croxton scored his 14th goal of the season on the power play just three minutes and 42 seconds into the game. It was Croxton’s eleventh power play goal, which is good for second in the nation. Nick Economakos and Kirk MacDonald each had assists on the goal. Princeton tied things up a mere 18 seconds later, with Kevin Westgarth plotting his third marker of the season, beating Nathan Marsters.
With two minutes left in the first, Rensselaer scored its first of ten unanswered goals on the weekend when the puck took a crazy bounce off of Kevin Broad’s helmet—a Princeton defender—and Princeton goalie Eric Leroux, finally tumbling into the net. Broad was credited with the goal, and Ben Barr and Economakos got the assists. The second goal would be all the support Marsters would need, but the team felt obligated to keep the pressure on.
After a scoreless middle frame, Broad chipped in a little skill to compliment his earlier luck. Broad tore through the Princeton zone, eluding defenders and firing a quick shot on net. Leroux kicked the rebound right to Ryan Shields, who poked the puck into an open net to double RPI’s lead. Rounding out the scoring in the third were goals by Brad Farynuk, from Oren Eizenman and Croxton, and MacDonald on the power play, from Farynuk and Scott Basiuk.
The power play goal was MacDonald’s eighth of the season. Croxton and MacDonald combined for 19 such goals this season, the most nationwide by any pair of teammates. Factor in Basiuk’s seven tallies with the man advantage, the most among any trio of teammates, and it is easy to see how RPI leads the ECAC in scoring.
Marsters finished the game with 31 saves, and Leroux finished with 34.
The flashy offense continued in Saturday’s contest, but it took some time for Rensselaer to get going. The first period featured solid goaltending, as Marsters turned aside 11 shots, and the Yale forwards hit the post several times. Yale goalie Josh Gartner stopped 14 of his own.
Gartner, son of NHL Hall-of-Famer and 700-goal scorer Mike Gartner, would not fare as well in the subsequent periods. Eizenman found the twine a mere two minutes into the second period, with help from Croxton and Blake Pickett. Eizenman returned the favor just 14 seconds later, catching Gartner out of position and hooking up with Croxton, who buried the puck to give the Engineers the 2-0 lead. Croxton struck again late in the second, wiring a backhand shot to the top shelf, baffling Gartner, with Eizenman getting another assist. Marsters was doing some baffling of his own, shutting down the Yale shooters and stopping 13 shots in the second.
The game was soon over for Gartner. Vic Pereira slapped the puck past him on a feed from MacDonald just 30 seconds into the period. Shortly thereafter, Matt McNeely got credit for a goal when several Yale players misplayed the puck into their own net, prompting the RPI pep band, who made the trip to New Haven, to break into an energetic rendition of “Hawaii Five-O” to celebrate the five-goal lead.
The Engineer offense even made backup goalie Peter Dobrowolski feel the pressure, peppering him with eleven shots in just 17 minutes of action. Eizenman stripped a Yale defender of the puck down low, and promptly launched a shot that beat Dobrowolski. The game ended 6-0, with Marsters making 34 saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season, and third in-conference.
Despite the strong weekend, RPI did not control its own destiny and needed help to get a first-round bye in the ECAC tournament. When the dust settled, the Engineers finished tied for fourth with Dartmouth. The top four teams receive a bye, and since RPI loses the tiebreaker with the Big Green, they obtain the fifth seed in the tournament. They host Princeton this weekend for a best-of-three series at the Houston Field House. Should the Engineers beat the 12th-seeded Tigers, RPI will travel to Dartmouth for another three-game series. Tickets go on sale today at the Houston Field House box office.
Stat Notebook: Croxton finished third in the ECAC in conference scoring, going 13-13-26 in 22 games. Overall, Croxton finished 17th in the nation in scoring, with a 16-21-37 line in 34 games.
MacDonald tied for 12th in the conference in assists (13).
Farynuk finished fourth in defensemen scoring in the ECAC (3-13-16), and Basiuk finished sixth (7-7-14).
Eizenman tied for sixth in freshman scoring in the conference (4-9-13).
Marsters, a 2000 draft choice of the Los Angeles Kings, finished third in conference games in goals-against average (1.85), save percentage (.933), and shutouts (3). Nationally, he finished eighth (2.06), tenth (.923), and tied for second (5) in the same respective categories in overall games played.
