JUNIOR MATT ANGERS-GOULET CORRALS the puck at Tuesday night’s season opener, which started off with a bang. The Engineers took control of the game early and never looked back, relentlessly pounding Bentley College to a 4-0 victory in front of 3,429 at the Houston Field House. The team looked fast as it took the ice and the freshmen held their own as play developed. RPI easily wore down the Falcons as the summer conditioning and commitment over the past six months showed itself. Head Coach Seth Appert was proud of the team’s play and pointed out the patience and maturity the team played with as it stuck with its philosophy and outshot the visitors 41-16.
Senior Jonathan Ornelas was first to light the lamp, as he passionately took off on a 3-1 breakaway and was rewarded with the goal, both senior Andrew Lord and freshman Chase Polacek were awarded assists on the play. The second period was much busier with all the rest of RPI’s goals coming within a 10-minute stretch. Angers-Goulet scored at 4:27, with Ornelas in on the assist. Andrei Uryadov scored consecutively, tallying the Engineers’ third and fourth goals of the night. Freshman Tyler Helfrich had the assist on his first, while Angers-Goulet and sophomore Peter Merth were in on the second.
While the first period was relatively quiet, the second and third were progressively nosier as Bentley players became frustrated and fisticuffs nearly broke out twice, and two sets of matching minors were issued to cool heads.
In net, senior Jordan Alford was perfect and remained poised while allowing the team to build a lead; he made 16 saves in the game.
Flying to Minnesota next week, Appert noted that the team will need to use its speed to play a strong, smart game and avoid getting stuck in one-on-ones where stick skills will be paramount. The team took that approach Tuesday and it showed with a convincing win in its home opener.
