Last season, the men’s hockey team garnered its first road sweep of North Country foes Clarkson and St. Lawrence in 20 years. This year’s team looked to do what no RPI team had ever done: sweep the two teams on the road in consecutive years.
Unfortunately for the Engineers, a repeat performance was not in the cards. RPI could not manage a win during either game, tying Clarkson, 3-3, and falling to St. Lawrence, 3-2.
The Engineers got on the board first against the hated Golden Knights when sophomore Jonathan Ornelas scored on the first shot of RPI’s first power play of the game. “We just moved it around real well,” said Ornelas. “I was all alone by myself backdoor and he [sophomore Jake Morissette] found me, and I had the empty net.”
Ornelas’ goal was one of only two shots on goal in the period for RPI. The Engineers, however, managed 12 in the second. With the score tied 1-1 late in the period, junior Oren Eizenman scored on a deflection on the power play. “All those years I played baseball back in Toronto came in handy,” he said. “It came up, it was just under shoulder height, and I just whacked at it.”
Eizenman struck again in the third, just 15 seconds after Clarkson tied the game at two. Clarkson took the puck right off the faceoff. Eizenman intercepted it along the right-wing boards in the neutral zone, streaked down the ice, and ripped a fast shot that beat Golden Knights goalie David Leggio. “I stole the puck, and Croxie [senior Kevin Croxton] made a great play,” said Eizenman. “[Croxton] was cutting on the outside and that drew one of their guys there, and Jonny [Ornelas] drove the net hard which drew the other guy, which gave me a little space to shoot. I saw the goalie go down, and I just put the puck over him.”
Eizenman knew the importance of having a good shift right after Clarkson tied it up. “We stepped out there and said, ‘All right, guys, it’s time to shift this game toward us,’” he said.
Clarkson tied it up late in the third on a goal by David Cayer. The Golden Knights, though, almost took the lead late in the third, when forwards Steve Zalewski and Shea Guthrie streaked up the ice in a two-on-one. Zalewski, who was coming up the left side of the ice, made a tape-to-tape pass to Guthrie, who then had a wide-open net to shoot at. Freshman goalie Mathias Lange lunged across the crease and batted the puck away, keeping the game tied. “I thought he was probably the difference-maker down the stretch,” said Head Coach Dan Fridgen of Lange. “He stood tall for us. He made some great saves.”
“When he made that pass, I was making sure I was on my right foot to push off to the other side,” said Lange about the save. “I tried to get over there as fast as I could, and thank God I made that save.”
The game was marred by penalties; referee Mike Baker and his assistants called 21 infractions for a combined 53 minutes, including a five-minute major and game misconduct to Clarkson’s Shawn Weller for a vicious hit from behind on RPI junior Kevin Broad. RPI was 2-11 on the power play, and Clarkson was 2-8.
Despite surrendering three one-goal leads over the course of the game, Fridgen found a silver lining. “Any time you go into a visiting building and you don’t play your best hockey and you come out with a point … that’s the positive that you take out of it,” he said.
With the tie, the Engineers extend their unbeaten streak against Clarkson to five games (4-0-1).
The Engineers also took the lead twice against St. Lawrence. First, Croxton scored a tip-in goal on the power play just 4:37 into the first period. He was the beneficiary of some great passing. First, Eizenman sent the puck to senior Alexander Valentin at the right point. Valentin then threaded a pass through to the left side of the net, where Croxton put the finishing touch on the play.
The Saints’ Kyle Rank tied it up late in the first on the power play, beating Lange after RPI couldn’t clear the puck out of the defensive zone. “He was all by himself, and he just walked in and he beat me through my armpit,” said Lange.
RPI took the lead again in the second. Freshman Kurt Colling intercepted a clearing attempt by St. Lawrence, and tipped the puck to the center of the zone. Sophomore Tyler Eaves shot the puck at the net, and junior Tommy Green swept the rebound past goalie Justin Pesony.
Fridgen praised the play of that line. “Any time you get that kind of play out of those guys when they have an opportunity to get into the lineup, that’s what you look for as a coach,” he said. “They got the opportunity and they made the best of it … that will earn them more opportunities.”
With less than three minutes remaining in the second, the Saints’ Brock McBride won an offensive zone faceoff to defenseman Jared Ross, who fired a hard shot from the point that slid under Lange. “I didn’t see it at all,” said Lange.
Late in the third, St. Lawrence forward Kevin DeVirgilio made a great play to get the game-winning goal. DeVirgilio came up the left wing, skated hard to the net, and got behind the defense. Instead of shooting, he cut to the right across the crease and slid the puck past a sprawling Lange for the lead.
Fridgen said that it came down to “their guy making a heck of a play, and it ended up in the net.”
“He pulled across the crease and I tried to reach over as far as I could, but he beat me there,” added Lange. “He made a great play.”
After one weekend of league play, RPI stands in eighth out of 12 teams in the ECACHL, with one point. There’s a five-way tie for first place in the league, with Colgate, Cornell, St. Lawrence, and Quinnipiac at 2-0, and Harvard at 2-1.
RPI opens up its home league play this weekend against Quinnipiac on Friday for the third annual Black Friday. On Saturday, the Engineers host Princeton, and the team will honor distinguished alumnus Joe Juneau.
