The Rensselaer men’s hockey team finally put a winning effort together this past weekend, rebounding from Friday’s 5-2 loss to ECAC leader and chief rival Clarkson University to defeat St. Lawrence University on Saturday night. The win snapped an appalling 10-game losing streak dating all the way back to December 4, 2007. The streak was likely fatal for the Engineers, stripping them of their national ranking, top-tier position in the ECAC, and legitimate contender status. It was an insufferable journey 52 days in the making, and as of Friday, it showed no signs of stopping.
In Potsdam, NY, on Friday, the Engineers opened their weekend against the No. 10 Golden Knights on Clarkson’s home ice. After a scoreless first period, the Knights began to find some rhythm, finding a chink in the armor of junior Mathias Lange at 5:02 in the second period. To make matters worse, the goal was scored shorthanded, furthering the evidence that RPI is better off without the man advantage this season—they have allowed more goals (10) than they have scored (nine) on the power play in 2007-2008.
But the Engineers did not roll over, hitting the equalizer on a freshman Bryan Brutlag score with assistance from classmates Tyler Helfrich and Scott Halpern at 11:59. Only minutes later, the Golden Knights jumped back on top for good with an unassisted goal by freshman Brandon DeFazio.
In the third period, senior Andrew Lord would manage a power play goal for RPI, but it was preceded by Clarkson’s third goal of the night, and followed by two more which put RPI away for good at 5-2.
Lange made 26 saves in his ninth loss of the year. It is his seventh during the 10-game skid.
It was likely quite difficult to find any extra motivation after Friday night, but the Engineers were due for a showdown with the St. Lawrence Saints on Saturday, and desperate to end the streak.
The Saints have also struggled this year, and at the outset of the Saturday night game in Canton, NY, the Engineers and Saints shared identical 4-7-2 ECAC conference records. But after so
much struggle and frustration, the Engineers would rise above and overcome.
The Engineers played to a different tempo at Appleton Arena on Saturday, lighting up the Saints’ first goaltender Alex Petizian for a pair of goals in the first period. It was Chase Polacek to Halfern at 11:19, and then Polacek again, this time setting up Helfrich, to give the Engineers a 2-0 lead into first intermission.
In the second, the momentum swayed to and fro, but RPI prevailed to win the second act 1-0 with a goal by Matt Angers-Goulet at 11:29, knocking out Petizian in favor of Kain Tisi.
But then in the third period, matters threatened to take a turn for the worse, and there were shades of recent trends; at 1:02, the Saints managed to beat the Engineers shorthanded and get on the board, adding to RPI’s power play defensive woes.
But rather than fall apart, the Engineers stiffened, and at 3:13 while still riding a power play, Peter Merth put the Engineers ahead 4-1 and for good.
The night’s dramatics were not over, as the Saints closed the gap to one with goals at 10:13 and 12:28, but the Engineers would again pull away, with two more goals of their own, and walk away winners by a score of 6-3.
It was an emotional win, against a rival not playing its cleanest hockey. In the second period, St. Lawrence’s Matt Generous committed three consecutive penalties of increasing seriousness. At 12:00, he received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Then at 19:33, he received five more minutes for hitting from behind, and an additional 10 minutes immediately following the call for game misconduct.
Alford made 32 saves in the winning effort, and improved to 5-6-1.
With the win, the Engineers improve to 9-15-3, and will host Quinnipiac University and Princeton University this upcoming weekend. The Saints fell to 9-13-3.
