The Engineers dropped three contests over the course of the week to extend their winless record to 0-4-0. The action was not in the numbers as of late, but rather the retaliatory tactics seen by both the RPI men’s hockey team as well as their opponents. Last night’s game saw four minutes of intense rivalry as one player earned a game misconduct and a player from each team left the ice early in pain.
Rensselaer fended off No. 6 University of New Hampshire Friday evening, but couldn’t quite crack through their defense in the shutout loss. Both teams had seven power plays apiece that neither was able to take advantage of. Only one goal slipped through the RPI defensive tactics. In the second period, Wildcat junior Peter LeBlanc knocked in his second goal of the season. UNH outshot the men by almost three to one, 41-17. Senior netminder Mathias Lange captured 40 saves on the night, half of those in the third.
Over the course of the game, both teams racked up time for too many men on the ice. Sophomore Erik Burgdoerfer racked up the last three penalties of the game for RPI: cross-checking at 9:59, interference at 13:18, and kneeing at 15:27 in the third.
The following night the Engineers returned home for the annual Homecoming game to face Bentley University in what turned out to be an interesting matchup. The first period was left scoreless, despite each team having numerous scoring opportunities and strong puck control.
A little over a minute into the second, Bentley struck first as senior Jeff Gumaer wrapped the puck around the post and in. Shortly after, RPI sophomore Scott Halpern made a shot from the left side of the goal. It appeared to the fans that the puck slipped past the right side of the goal, have gotten briefly held in by the net, and then sent back out. This, in fact, was not a goal; rather, the puck struck the post. Further into the period at 14:58, sophomore Tyler Helfrich cradled a pass from freshman Patrick Cullen and took his shot; he missed, then tapped it in on the rebound. With 1:31 left, junior Seth Klerer centered himself on the goal and shot the puck up and in for the Engineers to take their only lead of the game, 2-1. Just 30 seconds later, Falcon senior Dain Prewitt slid one past freshman netminder Allen York to tie the game up going into the third.
The two teams continued to battle—neither gained ground through the majority of the third, until Bentley senior Pat Percella snuck one into the upper right shelf over York with 5:56 remaining in the game. With York pulled, RPI captain senior Matt Angers-Goulet tallied with 1:12 left to send the game into overtime.
The men fought hard, but Gumaer started the aggression and was going to finish it. He saw a breakaway opportunity and took it, knocking the winning goal in 1:44 into overtime.
Despite the return of fan favorite senior Andrei Uryadov, the Engineers were shut out by the Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst last night. The Minutemen have a reputation for waiting on opponents to botch a play and then capitalizing on the situation. With 3:45 left in the first, UMass began their domination of the men’s hockey team when senior Chris Davis managed one past Lange. Sophomore teammate Doug Kublin brought the lead to two to start the second, just 2:23 later.
Both teams were a man down for the first 1:43 of the second, with RPI junior Erik Burgdoerfer and UMass sophomore Chase Langeraap in the box. With 3:46 left in the second frame, UMass freshman Danny Hobbs tallied his first goal of the season.
UMass doubled their score in the third, starting out with a goal by Davis as he snuck past the defensive line headed by RPI sophomore John Kennedy; the goal was knocked off its mounts in the process. Teammates freshman Casey Wellman and senior Topher Bevis followed with a goal apiece with 10:47 and 3:52 left in the period, respectively.
The scoring was over at 6-0; the game, however, went on. Just 22 seconds after Bevis’ goal, Davis received a five-minute major for hitting-from-behind, and a game misconduct after checking RPI sophomore Jeff Foss; the penalty was served by Langeraap. With a little under three minutes remaining, RPI freshman Mike Bergin was tripped and sent flying head first into the boards. He laid on the ice in pain and then slowly skated toward the bench and finally off the ice. Despite being hunched over in obvious pain, no penalty was called on the play. Bergin appeared to have injured his right shoulder. Coach Seth Appert began to defend his player and received a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
In 2006, the first ever Governor’s Cup was held at the Times Union Center, sponsored by Citizen’s Bank and under the final term of New York Governor George Pataki. The Engineers are currently the undefeated champions of the Governor’s Cup and are looking to keep their title going into this weekend. This year RPI, Union College, and Colgate University will face off against Robert Morris University for the title.
In the first game the men will challenge their cross-town rivals the Union Dutchmen. Both teams have had one opponent in common to date, the USA Under-18 team. Each fell in similar fashion, ending both games 5-4 USA.
Union and RPI have been competing against each other since 1903; RPI’s second oldest opponent only to Williams, whom they haven’t played in ice hockey since 1959. RPI has an all-time series record of 43-17-8 against the Dutchmen.
RPI takes the ice at 7 pm on Friday as they face Union, and could play either Colgate or Robert Morris, depending upon the outcomes of each game.
