Entering the weekend, there was still a faint hope for the men’s hockey team to garner a home playoff series in the first round. The Engineers needed to sweep Princeton and Yale. They also needed Union to be swept by those same two teams, and Clarkson to be swept by Cornell and Colgate, in which case RPI would host the Golden Knights. Fortune, however, did not favor the Engineers’ chances, as none of Friday’s games went their way. RPI was embarrassed by Princeton 5-2, but rebounded on Saturday to beat Yale 3-2, in overtime.
Princeton scored all five of its goals during a 9:21 span in the second period, including a pair from Neil Stevenson-Moore. Three players, Grant Goeckner-Zeller, Darroll Powe, and Mike Moore, tallied two assists. “I thought our defense struggled with making simple plays in our end of the rink,” lamented coach Dan Fridgen. “They got quality shots.”
RPI, however, came out to a fast start. The Engineers dominated the first period, and held Princeton’s four power plays in the frame to four total shots on goal. RPI even took the lead five minutes into the second, when Brad Farynuk fired a wrist shot that beat goalie Eric Leroux high to the glove side. Farynuk’s goal was the Engineers’ first in their last 145 minutes of play.
Things quickly took a turn. Dustin Sproat knotted the score just 46 seconds later, which effectively killed any momentum RPI had from the previous goal. A defensive breakdown led to the go-ahead goal, when Farynuk challenged Goeckner-Zeller in the low end of the face off circle. Goeckner-Zeller dished the puck to a pinching Mark Masters, who handily deposited it over goalie Andrew Martin’s stick side.
Stevenson-Moore got his first shortly thereafter, firing the puck to the twine on a rebound after whiffing on his initial attempt. RPI took a timeout, but it did little to temper the Tigers’ momentum. Luc Paquin also scored, and Stevenson-Moore added his second to round out the period.
Kevin Croxton broke a 20-game goalless streak in the third, but that was the only offense the Engineers could muster en route to the loss.
Croxton, though, was the hero against Yale. He scored with 15 seconds left in overtime. A 3-on-2 fizzled for RPI, but Kirk MacDonald recovered the play. The puck got to Croxton, who slid it under a diving Matt Modelski for the win. The goal was Croxton’s 100th career point as an Engineer, a rare feat made even more exceptional by the fact that he is only a junior.
“It’s not bad,” Croxton said, in a bit of an understatement. “I couldn’t have dreamt it up any better. It was good to get the win, and get a little momentum rolling into Brown next weekend.”
RPI started the scoring in the first, when MacDonald fired a shot. Blake Pickett grabbed the rebound, and his shot rebounded right to Jonathan Ornelas, who was able to sweep the puck into an open net for the lead.
The Bulldogs tied things up on a power play later in the period. Another defensive breakdown left forward Jeff Hristovski wide open in front of the net, and Blair Yaworski’s centering pass found Hristovski for the one-timer goal. Yaworski also set up Nate Jackson’s second-period goal, when Jackson scored from in close.
Things were looking grim for RPI in the third until Oren Eizenman stepped up on the power play. Eizenman deked around a few defenders, and found Kevin Broad across the crease for a slam-dunk goal to even the score again.
“It was a wild game,” said Fridgen. “I thought that frustration set in, which is the reason that we took some penalties that generally aren’t characteristic of our guys. You could feel it, but we addressed that situation between the second and third.”
RPI had locked up 11th place in the conference prior to the Yale game, and was destined to face Brown University regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game. “When you look at the game, and the playoff situation is already set, that’s what you’re playing for: pride,” remarked Fridgen.
RPI will travel to Providence, R.I., to face sixth-seeded Brown this weekend. RPI went 1-0-1 against the Bears this season, including a tie on the road and a thrilling win in the 28th annual Big Red Freakout! three weeks ago. “It’s nice to know that we’re not going up against a team that we haven’t beaten,” said Croxton. “It’s good that we know that we match up well against them.”
The Engineers were also the 11th seed two seasons ago, when they swept Union in dramatic fashion in Schenectady.
