The RPI Engineers, hot off a shutout win over the Army Black Knights, traveled to North Andover, Mass. to face the Merrimack Warriors. The Warriors, who were reeling from a road loss to powerhouse Maine, were hungry for a win on their own turf, where they recently shut out Providence.
RPI started off the game strong, totally outshooting the Warriors 8-3. However, it was Merrimack who started off the scoring in the game. Brent Gough threaded a shot just under RPI goalie Nathan Marsters during a 2-on-1 situation to score in the last minute of the period at 19:23.
Near the beginning of the second period, the flow seemed to swing in favor of the Warriors. Merrimack’s Tim Reidy and Steve Crusco scored within seven seconds of each other, with Reidy’s coming on a powerplay situation at the 5:09 mark. Crusco scored at 5:16 when he was passed the puck off the face-off and deked out Marsters to bring the Warriors to an imposing 3-0 lead.
The Engineers, not willing to back down, roared back with a man-advantage goal of their own. The RPI power play unit cycled the puck to captain Scott Basiuk, who rifled a shot through a screen past Merrimack goalie Casey Guenther at 6:16 to break the Warriors’ shutout bid. Then, continuing the streak of first goals by this year’s freshmen, Kevin Broad shot the puck off Guenther’s glove at 19:46 to cut down Merrimack’s lead to just one goal at the end of the period. He was assisted by Massachusetts native C.J. Hanafin and sophomore defenseman Brad Farynuk.
As quickly as the Engineers’ momentum had been built up, Merrimack cut it down. Just 2:40 into the third period, Reidy scored his second of the game for the Warriors while shorthanded to build the lead to two goals again. Not to be outdone, RPI retorted with a goal from Farynuk, with the help of Blake Pickett, at 5:16.
Matt McNeely completed the comeback by tying the game at 9:24. Then, with just under five minutes left in the game, sophomore standout Kevin Croxton shot the puck at the net, only to have it ricochet off Conrad Barnes’ skate and into the net to take their first lead of the game, and eventually win them the game.
RPI, who is now on a three game unbeaten streak (2-0-1), will face rival team Clarkson in their first conference game. The Golden Knights, who are 3-1-2 so far, face the Engineers at home on Friday, November 7.
