It’s a long season—one that begins just as winter starts to tighten its frigid grip on Troy, nearly two weeks before the World Series, one that encompasses the finals of one semester and the midterms of the next, and one that draws to a conclusion at the first signs of spring. It can be an arduous journey, with tough competition spread all around the continental United States.
And for the 2007–08 Engineers, it has indeed been a battle.
RPI wrapped up its regular season with a weekend split, defeating Brown University dramatically in the closing seconds, but then falling to Yale University 3-0 in New Haven, Conn. The Engineers’ heroics against Brown prevented an ugly sweep, and ultimately hamstrung Brown into a three-way tie for last in the ECAC.
Friday night’s match up between the Engineers and the Brown University Bears was very uneventful for the first two periods, with no score through 40 minutes. The two teams were in a practical deadlock for shots in the first period, with Brown holding the edge 7-6, but goaltenders junior Mathias Lange and sophomore Dan Rosen of Brown held their own.
Then, in the second stanza, Brown went on the offensive, controlling the puck and ripping 17 shots. But Lange had brought his A-game Friday night, and at second intermission, the Engineers and Bears were still tied at zero.
Just 58 seconds into the third, however, with Brown on a power play, Ryan Garbutt found a chink in Lange’s armor and put the Bears ahead 1-0. The Engineers, who had only managed 12 shots up until that point, found themselves in dire straits.
So with less than five minutes to play, and the Bears holding tenaciously to their one-goal lead, it fell to a pair of underclassmen to save the day for RPI.
At 17:56, sophomore defender Peter Merth converted a pass from junior Matt Angers-Goulet for the game tying tally. Less than a minute later at 18:27, freshman forward Scott Halpern finished classmate Chase Polacek’s serving to put the Engineers ahead. Merth also contributed, earning the secondary assist. And that is what it took to bury the Bears and propel RPI to victory.
Saturday night, the Engineers traveled to Yale to take on the Bulldogs in what proved to be a preview of the upcoming first round of league playoffs.
Unfortunately, RPI could not maintain control long enough to give their defense a break, and Lange eventually faltered under the Bulldogs’ 34-shot attack, surrendering two of the three goals Yale would score. The other came with an open net at the end of the third period as the Engineers tried to get on the board.
Goals for Yale came at 4:46 in the second, and 6:25 and 19:37 of the third periods. Unlike Brown, Yale’s success paralleled their dominance of the shot totals, beating the Engineers in that category 34-21.
With the loss, RPI falls to a regular season final record of 11-21-4, while Yale improves to 13-12-4. The Engineers finished the year in 10th place, edging Brown and Dartmouth in the ECAC. Yale placed seventh with 22 points, losing the tie breaker to Quinnipiac University who also has 22 points. For complete standings see page 17.
With the regular season concluded, the Engineers’ next challenge will be a first-round league playoff against the same Bulldogs that beat them on Saturday night. As the higher seed, Yale will host the best-of-three series starting Friday, March 7, 2008 at 7 pm.
