Friday night, the Engineers returned hope to their fans with a 3-2 overtime home victory over Colgate University. The weekend was split overall, as the men fell to fifth-ranked Cornell University Saturday.
The game against the Colgate Raiders was a tug of war, as neither team gained a lead greater than one. Freshman forward Alex Angers-Goulet seized an opportunity late in the first, when he received a pass from senior Kurt Colling in the RPI zone. Angers-Goulet took the puck up the ice on the right, breaking away to face Colgate’s goalie, junior Charles Long, one-on-one. At 17:28 into the first, RPI gained its first lead of the game with a shot between Long’s legs.
Colgate answered just over a minute and a half later. On a power play, Raider junior Jason Williams found a hole on senior netminder Mathias Lange’s glove side, and all the while there was a delayed penalty against sophomore Bryan Brutlag for tripping. The first ended tied at one with Colgate on the man advantage.
In the second, senior Seth Klerer was set up by sophomore teammate Tyler Helfrich to take the puck down the center and past Long. Klerer tallied his third goal of the season, handing the lead back to the Engineers. The men closed out the second 2-1 while on the power play.
The score leveled out for the final time in the third, this time at two. Colgate struck with a shot almost halfway through the third, as junior David McIntyre cradled a pass from senior Nick St. Pierre and took aim at Lange’s glove side.
With 4:48 left in regulation play, junior Eric Burgdoerfer found himself with a five-minute major for checking from behind after the whistle and a game misconduct, putting the Raiders on the advantage for the remainder of the game.
A man down, RPI did not stay on the defensive, and the penalty-kill held strong. Colgate made its biggest mistake of the night with 34 seconds left when it earned a two-minute bench minor for too many men on the ice. The crowd erupted, recognizing the opportunity that awaited. Twelve seconds remained on Burgdoerfer’s penalty as the teams entered into the sudden-death overtime with two goals each.
Standing, the fans cheered on the Engineers as they returned to full strength and brought the puck up the ice from the RPI zone. Swarming the net, Klerer fell as he knocked in his second of the night, with sophomores Helfrich and Chase Polacek earning the assists. Lange blocked 20 on the night, while Long swatted 19; each team had 22 shots on goal.
Saturday, Cornell hit early and never looked back. Just 37 seconds into the game, junior Colin Greening glided the puck past the goal line just before the net was knocked off its mounts by a Cornell player. RPI stabilized on defense for the rest of the first, but could not connect for a goal. At 7:30 into the first, Polacek was called for boarding and received a five-minute major. The Engineers burned the penalty-kill, fending off the Big Red with only one stoppage of play.
Cornell sophomore Riley Nash expanded the lead on a power play with 8:01 left in the second. The final goal came in the third for Cornell, as sophomore Tyler Roeszler took a pass from senior Michael Kennedy around the back of the net and sent it to waiting classmate Patrick Kennedy, who launched the puck past Lange and into the net.
At the end of the game, Burgdoerfer checked Cornell senior Taylor Davenport who fell to the ice in the left corner of the RPI zone, causing a fight to break out behind the RPI net. Juniors Peter Merth and Paul Kerins, along with captain Matt Angers-Goulet, were on the ice with Burgdoerfer. Merth received two minutes for cross checking, while Burgdoerfer totaled 15 minutes, with a five-minute major for boarding and a 10 minute game disquaification.
Cornell climbed the rankings to No. 3, while RPI ended the weekend with a record of 5-16-2, good enough for sole possession of the eighth place in the conference.
The Engineers travel to the North Country to face off against the St. Lawrence University Saints and Clarkson University Golden Knights, Friday and Saturday nights respectively. Last year the Engineers swept the Saints during their two seasonal match-ups. This year St. Lawrence has fallen to some whom RPI has conquered and proven victorious against some who defeated the Engineers. The game may see a win for Rensselaer if they concentrate on their game and look for their openings while keeping the puck away from Lange or freshman goaltender Allen York.
