The Engineers kicked off a new season and a new era with a 5-1 exhibition win over York University Saturday night at the Houston Field House, prominently featuring the new upbeat style anticipated under Head Coach Seth Appert.
At the helm for the first time at the collegiate level, Appert was pleased with the way his team performed in the pre-season game. "It was fun because you see the team coming together. You see the guys starting to believe in the things we've been preaching, [starting to] believe in each other," Appert explained after the game. "I thought our forwards were outstanding on the forecheck, really hunting pucks down, not letting them set up on their controlled breakouts and getting their comfort zone, and causing havoc in their defensive zone."
The Engineers came out flying at the beginning of the game, buzzing around the offensive zone and creating plenty of scoring opportunities. If not for the outstanding work of York netminder Kevin Druce, who made 18 saves in the opening frame alone, the score quickly could have gotten out of hand. Still, a combination of solid goaltending by Druce and a steady flow of disruptive penalties for both sides kept the game scoreless until late in the first period.
With 1:15 left to go in the first and the Engineers looking to kill off a holding penalty from senior Jake Luthi, sophomore Seth Klerer managed to flip the puck up to junior Jake Morissette in the neutral zone. Morissette beat out the defender and skated in on the York net from the left-hand side before shooting the puck over Druces shoulder for the shorthanded marker.
After turning aside a meager two York shots in the first, Sophomore Mattias Lange was relieved by junior Jordan Alford to start the second period and protect a 1-0 lead. Alford turned in a solid performance, stopping every shot thrown his way, including nine shots in the middle period. "Jordan was outstanding," said Appert about his goalie's performance. "The thing that we liked so much about Jordan tonight was that he was in control. He wasn't sliding through the crease and getting caught out of position and being helter skelter and trying to scramble."
The game remained a 1-0 contest until 12:07 in the second period. Sophomore Kurt Colling took a beautiful pass from junior Tyler Eaves right in the slot and snapped it past Druce. Sophomore Andrew Lord also assisted on the goal, passing the puck to Eaves, who set up in the right-hand corner of the offensive zone.
Five minutes later, at 17:05 of the middle frame, the Engineers took a 3-0 lead after junior Jonathan Ornelas and senior Kirk MacDonald brought the puck into the York zone on the left hand side. Facing a York defender, the puck was dropped back to sophomore defenseman Reed Kipp who fired home a blistering slap shot.
Just 2:49 into the third, RPI took a commanding 4-0 lead when Klerer directed a feed from senior Oren Eizenman behind Druce. With the score no longer close, things became increasingly physical, especially after Lord ran into the York goalie while trying to convert on a 3-2 opportunity. Somewhat of a melee ensued, as players from both sides came together and the net was pushed off its moorings, much to the delight of the sparse but vocal crowd. Lord was given a five minute major for charging the goalie and several others were dealt offending penalties.
With about six minutes left to go in the game, junior goaltender Will Neubert came into replace Alford, drawing further excitement from the Houston Field House crowd. Neubert, appearing in his first collegiate contest, was greeted with several renditions of his name being chanted by the crowd in the final minutes and cheers when he made a point blank save towards the end. "It went by fast I guess, but it was fun to finally get in there," Neubert said afterward. Then he added with a laugh, "Guys were making some nice blocked shots; shows you what they think of me."
A turnover by MacDonald at 17:31 of the third period resulted in a York forward scoring on Neubert and thus ending the shutout for the Engineers. RPI added another goal for good measure under a minute later as senior Tommy Green scored on a feed from Lord with just 1:34 left in the game.
The game featured another highly-anticipated start for an Engineer besides Coach Appert and his staff. It marked the return of forward Kirk MacDonald, the team's captain, after he missed all of last season as a medical red shirt while he battled, and recovered from, Cancer. "It was fun. It was great to get back out there and get out there with the crowd and just play again."
"It felt just like I remembered. The student section was awesome tonight, making a lot of noise. It's always fun to hear the horn go off and score a couple goals." MacDonald was for the most part happy with the team's performance, noting the high level of intensity to start the game. Those thoughts were echoed by Ornelas. "I thought we started out unbelievably," Ornelas said. "We're going to be an up-tempo team, and sometimes we might give up chances, but we're going to be busting to get back."
The game was also significant in the fact that it marked the Rensselaer debut for the freshman class. "It felt great out there, we've been working hard for so long, it just felt really good to finally get going," said freshman Jordan Cyr, who almost had a goal in the third period.
After breaking in his head-coaching shoes at RPI, Appert deflected attention from his personal accomplishment of the evening, instead looking to focus on the team as a whole. "Starting to see them [the team] coming together, that's what's special, not necessarily celebrating any personal milestones," he explained.
League play begins this Saturday night against Boston University at the Houston Field House.
