While the rest of us got a month off, it was business as usual for the men’s hockey team, playing eight games, seven of them at the Houston Field House.
The team went 1-3 in the first four games, beating Princeton, but losing to Yale, Mercyhurst, and Colgate, the latter two of which were in the annual HSBC Holiday Tournament. The Engineers were led by Nick Economakos’ two goals and four assists in those four games.
After this rough start, the team looked to rebound and start the new year off strong at home against Brown. Brown’s senior goalie, Yann Danis, led the nation in goals-against average and save percentage going into the game, and the statistics held true.
Despite peppering Danis with 30 shots over the course of the game, RPI could not find the back of the net, and Brown senior Nick Ringstad’s goal at 13:16 of the third period held up as Brown took the game 1-0.
Harvard brought a certain degree of confidence with it into their match-up with the Engineers. Rensselaer had not defeated the Crimson since February 2002, nearly two whole years.
However, Harvard also brought a fair amount of baggage with them as well. After being picked to finish first in the ECAC in both preseason polls, Harvard was hovering around .500, and Coach Mark Mazzoleni was desperately searching for some answers.
Despite having a talented team with several NHL draftees, the team struggled with consistency on offense, and RPI looked to capitalize.
The Engineers took an early lead on Conrad Barnes’ goal, which beat Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris high to the glove side. Harvard only managed four shots in the first period, as their offensive troubles continued.
With Harvard’s Ryan Lannon in the penalty box for hooking, RPI took a 2-0 lead in the second period on Kevin Croxton’s rebound goal off a Scott Basiuk shot. Harvard climbed back within one with a power play goal of its own minutes later, but Kirk MacDonald added some insurance with a goal later in the second.
Rensselaer goalie Nathan Marsters made several important saves, and Engineer freshman Tommy Green put the game away with an unassisted goal with three minutes left in the game. Marsters finished with 21 saves, and both MacDonald and Barnes had a goal and an assist.
Last on the docket for Rensselaer was a home-and-home series with crosstown rival Union College.
After getting off to their best start in history, the Dutchmen had dropped seven in a row entering last weekend’s contests, including a 7-4 loss to Minnesota-Duluth and an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin in the Holiday Badger Showdown. Union averaged fewer than two goals per game during the slump.
Penalties would take their toll early and often for Union. Just 27 seconds into the game Jason Visser took what would be his first of four penalties on the weekend, and Kirk MacDonald answered the call.
While camped out in front of the net, he took a pass from classmate Croxton, and slammed a shot home past Union goalie Kris Mayotte just 1:26 into the period.
MacDonald struck again on a breakaway with only 23 seconds left in the period to put the Engineers up 2-0.
Union halved the lead early in the second on a point-blank goal by Visser. However, later in the period, Visser took a tripping penalty that resulted in a Matt McNeely goal increasing RPI’s lead to 3-1.
Just minutes later, Kevin Broad, sprung on a breakaway by Scott Romfo, slid a shot under Mayotte to further increase the Engineer lead.
Midway through the third period, Union’s Bryan Campbell slammed into Nathan Marsters, and was called for charging the goaltender.
While he was stuck in the penalty box, Croxton nailed down another power play goal to make the score 5-1, which would eventually be the final.
Croxton, McNeely, and senior captain Ben Barr all finished with a multi-point night.
The penalty bug bit Union again on Saturday night, and again Jason Visser was most affected.
While Visser was in the box for tripping, Scott Romfo took a feed from McNeely and fired a hard one-timer from the point which sailed through the traffic in front and over Mayotte’s shoulder for the early lead.
Romfo tallied another power play point later in the evening, as Croxton buried a rebound from Romfo’s point shot.
The goal was Croxton’s ninth of the season, and his sixth on the power play. He is currently the team’s points leader with 21 points in 21 games.
After the goal, the hostile Union crowd taunted Croxton, who just smiled at them and looked up at the scoreboard as he skated back to the bench.
Later, in the third period, RPI junior forward Vic Pereira carried the puck in on a three-on-two. Rather than make the cross-ice pass through two Union defenseman, Pereira made a nifty drop-pass to Ryan Shields, who was trailing the play. Shields rifled the pass past Mayotte to put RPI up 3-0.
As Union opened up their game, the Engineers started to clamp down defensively, to try and preserve the shutout. Despite their best efforts, Union forward Ben McManama beat Marsters with 4:33 left in the game.
Any attempt at a Dutchmen comeback, however, was weakened when Union defenseman Matt Vagvolgyi took a hooking penalty late and Union captain Brent Booth took a hitting from behind penalty shortly after.
Penalties were the story of the weekend for Union, as the Dutchmen took 22 penalties in the two games, giving RPI 17 power plays, of which they capitalized on five. Union’s losing streak is now nine games, and the Engineers have won their last three.
Rensselaer take to the road next weekend to take on the Colgate and Cornell. The Engineers take on the Raiders on Friday and the Big Red on Saturday.
