Introduction

While everyone else got a chance to kick back and enjoy winter break, the men’s hockey team was as busy as usual, playing eight games.

During the first four, which were non-conference games against Hockey East and CCHA opponents, RPI enjoyed a 2-2 record, splitting single games with Providence and Boston University in Troy, and then also splitting a pair of games at Notre Dame.

The latter half were four conference games, all at home, in which RPI was swept quite severely by a combined score of 21-3.

Non-Conference Games

RPI got off to a great start against Providence College. The Friars jumped out to leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, but the Engineers came roaring back to win 4-3, thanks to a solid effort from Jake Luthi, Kevin Broad, and Scott Romfo. With the Engineers down a goal in the third, Luthi carried the puck into the Providence end, and sent it around the short side boards. Broad dug the puck out and scored on his own rebound for the equalizer. Later in the period, Romfo drove to the net having beaten a Friar forward up the ice. Oren Eizenman drove to the net and fired a shot on goal. The rebound bounced to Romfo, who found the mesh and put the Engineers up for good.

Luthi also chipped in a goal, and Vic Pereira had the other tally for the Engineers. The win was RPI’s first one-goal win of the season, and it was also their first win when trailing after two periods.

RPI was unable, however, to carry any momentum over into the next game against the 14th-ranked Terriers of Boston University. Diminutive forward Brad Zancanaro saw to that, with a pair of goals that put the Terriers up 2-0.

First, he zipped through a pair of defenders in the RPI zone and scored on his own rebound. In the second period, while standing in the slot, Zancanaro one-timed a pass from behind the net past goalie Andrew Martin to double the lead. Two more BU goals put the game out of reach for the Engineers, who managed only a Keith MCWilliams goal through traffic late in the third.

RPI’s first games of the new year were in South Bend, Indiana, as the Engineers took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Pereira scored the game-winner, as seven different Engineers scored a point in the opener, to lead the Engineers to a 3-1 win. Kirk MacDonald sealed the game with an empty net goal, which was his first and only goal since November 6 against St. Lawrence. After roaring out to 16 points in the first 10 games of the season, MacDonald only has four points in his last 14. Jonathan Ornelas had RPI’s other goal in that game, and goalie Jordan Alford stopped 30 of 31 shots in part of a stellar overall weekend effort.

Alford also stopped 30 of 32 the next night, giving him a .952 save percentage in the two games. His second game effort was for naught, however, as the Engineers only managed a goal of their own en route to a 2-1 loss. Luthi scored the only marker for RPI, while T.J. Jindra and Tim Wallace struck for Notre Dame.

Conference Games

Eric Przepiorka recorded a hat trick, and six other Dartmouth players had multiple points to lead the Big Green to a 9-1 victory in RPI’s first conference game. RPI came out firing early, but was stonewalled by goalie Sean Samuel. The Engineers gave up two goals in the first period in a similar fashion; a defenseman was taken out of the play along the boards, leaving an odd-man break down low for Dartmouth. The first time, Lee Stempniak got the goal, and the second, defenseman John Ostapyk pinched from the point and ripped a shot that beat Alford.

Alford was pulled later in the game, after giving up three goals on only eight shots. Martin, his replacement, fared little better, giving up four goals on 11 shots, and was replaced again by Alford. “I wasn’t anticipating that third period,” said Coach Dan Fridgen on the five goals the Big Green put up in the third frame. “Tonight was a low night for us.”

The team looked to rebound against the nationally-ranked Catamounts the next day, but Vermont refused to give RPI a glimmer of hope as Vermont handed down a 3-0 blanking. Having shut out Union the night before, Vermont held opponets scoreless on back-to-back nights for the the first time in the Catamounts’ history at the Division I level.

Matt Syroczyinski scored two second-period goals after Chris Smart notched one in the first for the Catamounts. Vermont native Travis Russell got the win in net, saving all 16 of RPI’s shots.

As if playing the nationally-ranked Catamounts wasn’t enough of a challenge for the Engineers, the team had to play Colgate and Cornell the next weekend, each of whom was ranked higher than Vermont.

RPI’s scoring woes didn’t improve much against Colgate, as the team only managed a pair of goals, with each coming on a two-man advantage. The Engineers struggled with just a single man advantage, too, allowing two goals to the shorthanded Raiders, and scoring none. Colgate also got two goals from forward Tyler Burton in the win, as the Raiders triumphed 4-2.

RPI was also handed a 5-0 defeat by the Cornell Big Red in the final game of the break. Shane Hynes had a goal and two assists for Cornell, and Byron Bitz added a pair of assists in the win. Goalie David McKee got his third shutout of the season, and the eighth of his career.

The Engineers look to fix their scoring woes this weekend, as they head up to the North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence. In order to do so, the team will need better contributions from their forwards; RPI has not had a goal from a forward since the Notre Dame game on January 2.