After scraping out a pair of 1-1 ties on the road against nationally ranked Colgate and Cornell, RPI returned home to host its 55th annual Holiday Tournament. After losing to Air Force in last year’s championship game and getting swept two and three years ago, the Class of 2006 was looking to avoid becoming the first class since the Class of 1982 without a tournament championship. Unfortunately, the Engineers lost in the first round to the Holy Cross Crusaders, though they beat Providence in the consolation game.
RPI traveled to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on the Colgate Raiders on November 18. Colgate struck first, just 8:01 into the game, when Tyler Burton scored a power play goal. RPI knotted the score with 35 seconds left in the second period on a goal from junior Oren Eizenman.
The Engineers killed off the rest of Colgate’s power plays, including a phantom roughing call on sophomore Kevin Croxton 16 seconds into the overtime period. Despite the at-times questionable officiating, Head Coach Dan Fridgen was pleased with the team’s effort. “I thought we played real well in our end of the rink,” he said.
RPI fought hard the next day to come away with another tie at always-tough Lynah Rink on the campus of Cornell University. Cornell came out firing early, and out-shot the Engineers 17-5 in the first period. Despite the lopsided shot totals, RPI was only down by a goal—a shot from the point on the power play by NHL draftee Matt Moulson—after the first.
RPI’s defense looked sharp for the remainder of the game, limiting Cornell to long-range shots that freshman goalie Mathias Lange could easily save.
“We gave up some shots, but the ones that got inside on us; Mathias was there to make the save,” said Fridgen.
Eizenman set up the equalizer early in the third. He was fighting off several Cornell players behind the net while battling for the puck. Sophomore Jonathan Ornelas skated to the front of the net, took a pass from Eizenman, and slipped the puck between the arm and body of sliding Big Red goalie David McKee. While McKee didn’t give much room, “It was enough to go through,” Ornelas said.
After 34 scoreless minutes of hockey on Friday, the Crusaders took the lead on a breakaway goal by James Sixsmith. Holy Cross doubled the lead when Lange got caught out of position and Cal St. Denis put the puck in the net.
Senior Keith MCWilliams got the Engineers on the board later in the period. Senior Mark Yurkewecz left the puck along the right-wing boards for MCWilliams, who took a few strides toward the net and fired a slap shot along the ice that beat Crusaders goalie Tony Quesada.
Just a few seconds later, the Engineers ran a scripted faceoff play to spring Croxton on a breakaway; the same play that Ornelas scored on against Princeton a few weeks ago. Croxton faked out Quesada and flipped a backhand shot over his right shoulder to tie the score.
An errant RPI pass led to an odd-man rush for the Crusaders later in the third. Sixsmith charged up the left side. When he got closer to the net, he left a pass for teammate Dale Reinhardt, who snapped a quick shot over Lange’s glove. The goal would stand as the Crusaders held on for the victory.
With the loss, RPI faced the Providence College Friars in the tournament’s consolation game. After another scoreless first period, senior Chris Hussey gave RPI the lead in the second on a play started by his classmate, Scott Romfo. Romfo moved the puck up through the neutral zone and passed it to sophomore Andrew Lord. Lord moved into the offensive zone, and dropped the puck off to Hussey, who scored. “I just cut over, Lord saw me, hit me, I tipped it in,” said Hussey. “I don’t know if the goalie saw me or not, but it slipped by his left pad.”
Later in the period, Farynuk made a nice move along the left-wing boards to hold the puck in the offensive zone. He tried to center a pass to Croxton, but it tipped off a skate and bounced back to the left side, where Eizenman corralled it. He quickly shot the puck at the net, beating goalie Tyler Sims to the glove side for the 2-0 lead.
Early in the third, Providence halved the lead when Torry Gajda scored on a rebound. Lange, who had his stick stripped away from him, made the initial save but couldn’t stop the rebound.
Lord scored his first goal of the year a few minutes later, on a play set up by Ornelas. “Croxie [Croxton] broke down wide there, and he had some room,” said Ornelas. “He found me with a nice saucer pass across the ice there, and Lordo [Lord] was going to the net. He happened to have his stick on the ice. I put it there, and he buried it.”
RPI held off a late-game Friars rally, including a goal by Nick Mazzolini, to hold on for the 3-2 win.
With the ties and the split, RPI runs its overall record to 7-5-3. With other league action this weekend, RPI dropped to a tie for sixth in the ECACHL, with a 2-1-3 record. The Engineers’ 11 goals against in league play is tied for first in the league. The Engineers continue their six-game stretch of non-conference games this Friday, with a home game against Sacred Heart at 7 pm.
