On Friday the Huskies shut out the Engineers, despite their inexperienced lineup, in front of their home faithful. Even with RPI coming into Minnesota with a full head of steam, just off back-to-back shutouts by Kevin Kurk, the Huskies used their specialty—the power play—to their advantage, netting three goals to put the Engineers away.

The first period played out how many RPI losses do—the Engineers making fewer shots than their opposition. The Engineers were heavily out-shot, 11-3. The Huskies scored their first power play goal at 14:06 in the first period with a one-timer from Joe Motzko, who took a cross-ice pass from freshman Jonathan Lehun. The second period was not much better, with the Huskies scoring another power play goal, this time at 3:42 from Matt Hendricks, who batted in a rebound off RPI net-minder Kurk. Once again, the Engineers were out-shot by St. Cloud State, this time by an 10-8 margin. RPI finally got around to evening the shot margin out in the third period, with each squad getting six shots. Unfortunately, the Huskies took advantage of yet another power play to put up a third goal at 10:47 from a wrist shot by Tim Conboy. Although all of St. Cloud State’s goals were on the power play, the officiating was by no means one-sided, as the Engineers were actually awarded more power plays than the Huskies. Rensselaer ended the game going 0-7 on the man advantage.

After the game, RPI coach Dan Fridgen told the press that the game was simply a matter of the Huskies being more willing to do the little things—like blocking shots—and thus the Huskies outworked the Engineers to win the game.

The next evening, RPI looked to avenge their loss against the Huskies. Coach Fridgen made adjustments to the special teams units and challenged his squad to step up after their loss the previous night. His challenge must have struck a chord in the minds of the Engineers, as they responded with their convicing 3-1 win over the Huskies.

The Engineers gave their goaltender Nathan Marsters— who was chosen to start in the place of Kurk—much more support than they had given Kurk in the first game. Despite the Engineers’ efforts, the Huskies still managed to score first. Jonathan Lehun managed to knock the puck past Marsters at 15:54, after a flurry of activity in front of the net. This goal came off the heels of RPI’s Scott Romfo’s recently expired slashing penalty.

The second period ushered in the change of tide for RPI, as forward Ben Barr finally cracked Huskies goalie Jason Montgomery at 2:03 of the second period to bring the score to a tie. Carson Butterwick’s goal at 10:56 of the second period, a power play goal, pushed RPI into the lead for the first time all weekend. Keith McWilliams sealed the game for the Engineers, scoring on a five-on-three advantage at 12:25 of the third period to give RPI a much-needed victory. Despite being out-shot once again, this time 41-29, RPI managed to take advantage of the six power plays awarded to them throughout the game to get the win, Nathan Marsters’ first of this season. At the same time, the Engineers successfully killed off eight of their own short-handed situations to keep their victory.