After dropping two games to Bowling Green, the RPI Engineers rode the play of Nathan Marsters to a 4-1 victory over Vermont before dropping a 21 decision to Dartmouth on Saturday.
In the opening contest the Engineers jumped in front early, scoring a goal in each of the first two periods.
Junior Jim Vickers netted the first goal on a power play when he received a pass in the left circle and shot it past Vermont’s Andrew Allen.
In the second, Junior Jim Henkel and Freshman Ben Barr bolted down the ice on a two-on-one. Henkel fed Barr who chipped one over Allen to give the Engineers a 2-goal advantage.
Marsters’ only blemish came when Vermont’s J.F. Caudron wristed a shot from the left circle over the glove of the RPI ’tender. Perhaps the biggest of Marsters’ 42 saves was his stop of a Graham Mink breakaway in the third. "That was fun there, I went to poke the puck and forced him to shoot," said Marsters. "The puck went straight into my glove."
Junior Matt Murley then added two empty netters to make the final score 4-1.
Most everyone was impressed with the play of the freshman goalie. "He was unbelievable," said Henkel. "The kid had the top corner open and all of a sudden you saw the glove go up. He played unbelievable for us. Thank God we got him back there."
This was a big win for the Engineers as they played without injured Sophomore Nolan Graham, Marc Cavosie who is serving a one-game disqualification, and Francois Senez and Steve Collova who both had the flu.
"Everybody stepped up their game considering we were shorthanded," said Head Coach Dan Fridgen. "I was just praying that they didn’t get the equalizer because I didn’t know how much we had in the tank for overtime."
The following night, the Engineers played in a game that involved just one penalty and only 3 goals. Unfortunately, two of those goals went to Dartmouth’s Big Green.
The Engineers opened the scoring in the second when Henkel stormed the net and took a pass from Vickers. Henkel then slid one past Dartmouth’s Nick Boucher, who was leaning left.
Later in the second, the Big Green caught a break when Kent Gillings gathered a rebound off of Marsters’ pads and put in the odd-angle shot just inside the right post.
The third proved to be the difference as Dartmouth outshot the Engineers 17-4. Only the play of Marster’s limited the Big Green to one goal in the period.
"I thought it was a well-played hockey game," Fridgen said. "It was back-and-forth. There were really three breakdowns in the game, and they all ended up as goals.
"I thought Marsters played very well."
