The men’s hockey team dropped a pair of games in the North Country this weekend, losing to Clarkson on Friday, 4-1, and St. Lawrence on Saturday, 5-2.
The Engineers stayed close to the Golden Knights for about 45 minutes in Friday’s contest, with Clarkson maintaining a one-goal lead throughout most of that time. Untimely penalties by RPI’s Marc Cavosie and Steve Munn gave Clarkson a two-man advantage in the first period, and the Golden Knights’ Ellis Toddington quickly parlayed that into a Clarkson goal.
RPI struck back midway through the second period when Vic Pereira, just out of the penalty box, took a pass from Cavosie and put it in for the first goal of his collegiate career. Clarkson, however, retook the lead less than two minutes later, and then padded it early in the third after a Matt Murley penalty led to another power play goal for the Golden Knights. A fourth score with seven minutes remaining sealed the win for Clarkson.
The match was a high-tension affair for both sides, and tempers flared throughout the third period, including a last-minute skirmish involving RPI’s Danny Eberly and Murley, and Clarkson’s Chris Bahen and Randy Jones.
“We are playing emotionally instead of playing with emotion,” Murley said after the game. “We need to learn to not shoot ourselves in the foot.”
Saturday’s game started in a similar fashion, with the home team scoring early in the first period, RPI coming back to tie about eight minutes into the second, and the home team finding a quick response. This time it was Carson Butterwick who put the Engineers on the board, and the Saints fired back with two rapid goals, taking a 3-1 lead into the third period.
Pereira picked up his second goal in as many nights just two minutes in, but the momentum gained there was completely lost when St. Lawrence’s Blair Clarance surprised Kevin Kurk with a backhanded shot during an RPI power play, restoring the Saints’ two-goal lead.
Head Coach Dan Fridgen expressed frustration at the team’s performance.
“It’s not the younger guys,” he said. “It’s our seniors, our upperclassmen. They turn the puck over, take penalties—I’m dumbfounded by it.”
The losses drop RPI’s record to 7-8-2 overall, and 2-5-2 in the conference, leaving them ahead of only Vermont and St. Lawrence, who snapped an eight-game losing streak and are now 4-13-0, and 2-5-0 in the ECAC. Clarkson remains undefeated in conference play, with a 5-0-2 ECAC record and a 9-7-3 overall mark.
The Engineers will travel to Schenectady this evening to take on the Union Dutchmen. A win by the Engineers could rekindle the team’s hopes of hosting a first-round playoff series.
On the other hand, a loss to the Dutchmen would be devastating, leaving RPI in the unenviable position of scrambling for the rest of the year just to reach the postseason.
