Although the men’s ice hockey team won its final home game of the regular season, the 1-1 weekend leaves chances for a home series in the first round of the ECAC playoffs up in the air.
The Engineers began the weekend with a 1-0 loss to Harvard on Friday, giving the Crimson a sweep over RPI for the season.
Friday’s game was a battle of defenses, but the goalies did their part, too. Oliver Jonas of Harvard and Nathan Marsters of RPI racked up 27 and 33 saves, respectively.
Harvard’s sole goal came early in the second period when Sophomore Brett Nowak sent a shot over Marsters’ shoulder.
RPI had a good chance to come back in the third period. Though Harvard had a two-man advantage, Jim Henkel got a breakaway, and it looked like he would fake out Jonas, but at the last second the netminder was able to stop the puck.
"Oh my goodness, he made quite the save on that one," said Head Coach Dan Fridgen.
Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni agreed, giving Jonas credit for his perseverance. "He doesn’t quit on the play," Mazzoleni said.
With Friday’s loss, the Engineers needed to win against the Brown Bears in order to preserve any reasonable chance for a home series in the first round of the playoffs, and the hockey team managed a 4-2 victory.
Rensselaer held the lead over Brown from their first goal near the beginning of the first period all the way to the end.
This game had a few key moments. The first goal came when Brown Goalie Brian Eklund lost the puck between his legs. Henkel took advantage of Eklund’s confusion, tapping the puck in from behind the goalie’s legs.
RPI’s second goal marked Josh Budish’s first career point as he and fellow Freshman Scott Basiuk fed the puck to Chris Migliore. This goal triggered a goalie change for the Bears, who sent in Yann Danis to replace Eklund.
The two teams then traded a few goals, leaving the score at 3-2 with less than a minute left. Brown pulled Danis, and RPI sealed the victory when Henkel scored an empty-netter off a pass from Captain Steve Munn with 10 seconds remaining.
The ECAC is very close for this point in the season, with no real runaways. Seven teams, including RPI, are guaranteed playoff spots, though only two (St. Lawrence and Clarkson) have secured home ice for the first round.
Depending on how the final weekend of the regular season works out, Rensselaer can finish anywhere from third to ninth in the conference. The top five seeds get home ice. The most likely scenario for the sixth-place Engineers to get one of these seeds depends on winning against Cornell and Colgate this weekend. If this happens, RPI gains four points in the standings, putting Dartmouth, Cornell, and Harvard within reach. If any one of these teams loses both games this weekend—or if Dartmouth loses one and ties one—and Yale, who is currently tied with RPI, loses or ties at least one game this weekend, Rensselaer will get home ice in the first round.
