Senior goaltender Mathias Lange shined in the 4-1 loss against Princeton, making 49 saves on the night—the most he has had during regulation play.

“I’m feeling very comfortable out there on the ice right now, probably as comfortable as I have ever felt. By working hard every day in practice and paying attention to details and habits in my game, I try to put myself in a good position to go out on the weekends and give my team a chance to win.” Lange said, “Although the record hasn’t shown so far, I’m very confident in my play right now and I’m looking to ride that all year.”

Neither team was able to capitalize during the first, despite Princeton gaining the man advantage for the last 1:49.

RPI came back from the intermission ready to fight; just 1:26 into the second, freshman Patrick Cullen launched the puck past Princeton’s junior netminder Zane Kalemba off a pass from classmate Jordan Watts behind the net. A sophomore Tiger, Kevin Lohry, tied it up at one while on the penalty kill. Lohry took a shot on Lange that tapped Lange’s shoulder and proceeded up and over into the net, with 8:49 left in the second.

The tie continued throughout the majority of the third, until the final five minutes of play. Senior captain Matt Angers-Goulet explained, “Against Princeton we played a pretty good first 40 minutes and we seem to give them momentum, spending a lot of time in the penalty box.”

With 4:56 left in the third Princeton took the lead and the game. While on the power play, Princeton sophomore Matt Arhontas tallied his first of the season. Just past the two minute mark, junior Tyler Beachell brought the Tigers another point off of a pass from behind the left side of the net, bringing the lead to 3-1. In an attempt to close the gap, RPI pulled Lange in favor of the extra skater. The puck got away from the Engineers and Princeton sophomore Matt Godlewski topped off the score, 4-1 Princeton.

Despite Friday’s dismal outcome, Saturday night brought an entertainment-filled event against Quinnipiac. The 5-1 loss was filled with two flying sticks and a few fights.

With just under five minutes left in the first, and with Watts in the box for RPI, Quinnipiac sophomore Zach Hansen made the first scratch when his shot beat Lange’s stick. Watts returned to the box on an interference call 1:20 later. Bobcat Senior David Marshall attempted to capitalize on the advantage in the form of a slap shot. The shot broke the blade off of his stick and projected it from the right to the left side of the ice. Shortly after, Marshall, with a new stick in hand, found the puck near the net and placed it in, three minutes after Hansen’s goal.

Seconds left in the first, RPI had control of the puck in the Bobcats’ zone. At the buzzer, the puck was in junior Eric Burgdoerfer’s possession, who took his shot after the whistle. Burgdoerfer then became part of a scuffle with Bobcat senior Matt Sorteberg. The majority of each team retired to their respective locker room, while each captain remained on the ice attempting to understand what would be called and how play would progress.

Sorteberg would sit for a roughing call, while Burgdoerfer was hit with a two- minute minor penalty for shooting the puck after the whistle, served by sophomore Joel Malchuk, and ten minute misconduct. While this was not a penalty that many had heard of, it was indeed valid. According to the 2008-10 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations, “A player shall not shoot the puck at the goalkeeper or bench after the whistle.” If one does, it is an automatic minor and misconduct; it can be a game misconduct or disqualification at the discretion of the referees.

Play started in the second with both teams at full strength. With all but Burgdoerfer out of the box, Quinnipiac freshman Scott Zurevinski received a pass from teammate junior Mike Atkinson and knocked it past Lange 4:15 into the third. The lead was brought to four when junior Bobcat Eric Lampe centered himself and scored the puck after faking left, to gain his first of the season 2:18 later.

Senior Seth Klerer, with one minute on the clock in the second, appeared to be pushed into Quinnipiac freshman netminder Nick Pisellini by a Bobcat; Klerer was then on top of Pisellini when another Bobcat jumped onto both. Klerer received a two minute minor for charging the goalie at 19:11.

The Engineers entered the third down 4-0, with Klerer in the box. Quinnipiac took a few shots during the advantage; however, none made it past Lange. At the 2:05 mark, a fight erupted sending Quinnipiac’s Hansen into the box for roughing and junior Sami Liimatainen for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct. Engineers’ sophomore Chase Polacek and Cullen served for the same, respectively.

With roughly 14:30 left in the period, Polacek took a slap shot that split his stick halfway up the shaft. Thirty seconds later, sophomore defenseman Mark Zarbo found an opening and his first goal with RPI. “Actually, at first I was not totally sure if it went in because there was so much traffic in front of the net. Once I saw though that it did go in, I was pretty excited to get my first goal in an RPI uniform,” commented Zarbo.

“Once the game started up again, though, you don’t really think about it, especially because that only made it a 4-1 game at the time.”

In an attempt to focus the energy gained from the goal, RPI pulled Lange at the five minute mark. With 3:29 left, the puck went into Bobcat possession and Zurevinski skated up the ice with Burgdoerfer on him. Zurevinski tallied the last goal of the night as the puck found the empty net. The game ended 5-1, Quinnipiac.