After a somewhat disappointing start to the season with two losses, the Engineers entered their home opener against the winless University of Connecticut Huskies hungry for a win. In front of a strong crowd of nearly 3,000, the Engineers looked to take their first win in a non-conference game against the Huskies. However, with the Huskies looking to do the same, the game would be a match of who wanted the win more.
RPI got an early head start thanks to Nick Economakos, who scored in the first minute of the game at just 52 seconds. Economakos took a pass out of the face-off from captain Ben Barr and shot it right over Huskies goaltender Scott Tomes to give RPI the early lead. The Engineers continued the offensive pressure throughout the first period, edging UConn in shots 8-6.
In the second period, the Huskies showed more life than the Engineers, and made their chances count. Around halfway through the second, UConn led an offensive spurt which had the puck hit Engineer defenseman Alexander Valentin before it settled in the crease in front of netminder Kevin Kurk.
Kurk made an attempt to cover the puck to stop the play and the attack, but Husky Trevor Stewart gave a few swings at the mess of players in the crease and somehow the puck had made its way into the net to tie the game at 10:19. Less than a minute later, the UConn team forced an odd-man rush and winger Eric Helstedt narrowly squeezed the puck between Kurk and the post to bring the Huskies ahead at 10:40.
The third period seemed to follow suit with the second, with the Huskies scoring a quick pair to increase their lead. An error by the Engineers created another odd-man situation for the Huskies, and they took full advantage when forward Brian Burns shot the puck past Kurk to increase their lead to 3-1 at 6:34. UConn’s Cole Koidahl made things worse for the Engineers by capitalizing on yet another odd-man rush by tallying against Kurk at 7:19.
Things looked bleak for RPI until the Engineers were on the power play, and freshman Oren Eizenman deflected a point shot from RPI’s second captain, Scott Basiuk, to close the gap a bit at 9:45. The Huskies argued that Eizenman’s stick was high and that the goal should not have counted, but the officials gave RPI the goal anyway. Eizenman followed up his first collegiate goal with a sneaky backhand as he came out of the Huskies’ corner to tuck it between Tomes’ legs to bring RPI to within a goal at 11:12.
C.J. Hanafin helped RPI finally close the gap at 14:26, when he found the puck, and with the help of Conrad Barnes, managed to bang the puck past Tomes to tie the game. The Engineers continued with their momentum and almost won the game on a power play opportunity when Kirk MacDonald took a pass in front of the Huskies’ net, but could not make good contact with the puck and shot it just wide.
The Engineers, showing life by outshooting UConn 27-24 during regular play, could not find anything in overtime, and the game ended in a deadlock at 4-4.
After the game, Engineers Coach Dan Fridgen commented on how his team had “a lot of missed opportunities.” With the chances that they had, RPI just could not seem to find the back of the net when they needed to towards the end. They seemed to be inconsistent with their pressure. But when they had the pressure up, it showed, as was evidenced with their three unanswered goals in the latter stages of the game.
The Engineers return to the Houston Field House this Saturday when they face Army in a non-conference game, with the opening face-off at 7 pm.
