The men’s hockey team sent both games into overtime when they traveled north to face off against the St. Lawrence University Saints and archrival the Clarkson University Golden Knights over the weekend.
Sophomore defenseman Jeff Foss began the weekend for the Engineers when he tallied his first goal of the year with the aid of the Angers-Goulet brothers, senior Matt and freshman Alex, 12:48 into the first period versus the Saints on Friday night. Despite a slew of great plays and scoring chances by the Saints, Foss’ goal remained the sole mark of the opening period.
Entering the second period, St. Lawrence put two goals on the board early on. Eight seconds into the frame, junior Saint Mike McKenzie tied the game when he received the puck from senior forward Kevin DeVergilio. St. Lawrence took the lead a minute and a half later during a power play, when sophomore Jared Keller slid the puck past senior netminder Mathias Lange while crashing the RPI goal.
Sophomore Mark Zarbo brought RPI back as he collected the puck at the Saints’ blue line, faked a shot to advance the puck further into the zone, and then landed a slap shot in the far side of the goal as junior Saint goalie Kain Tisi was screened. Zarbo commented upon his second goal of the season, “It felt good to score a goal again, and at that time in the game it was a big play that gave us some momemtum back after St. Lawrence scored two more goals.” Freshman Josh Rabbani scored the last Engineer goal of the second period with 5:49 remaining to bring the score to 3-2.
The Saints retaliated two minutes later once again with back-to-back goals. Senior Zach Miskovic made the first blow and was followed just 14 seconds later by DeVirgilio. The second period ended with St. Lawrence up by one.
The Saints took advantage and gained the largest lead of the game when junior Jeff Caister scored just over a minute into the power play.
Freshman Patrick Cullen closed the gap for the Engineers and started their second rally of the game. He crammed the puck past Tisi’s five-hole with 5:55 left in regulation play. Brutlag snuck the puck past Tisi next, stating, “I just shot it on net and I was really just hoping to get it by the defender who was right on me.” With just under a minute left, senior Kurt Colling gave the Engineers what seemed to be the win as his third goal of the season brought the score to 6-5 RPI. St. Lawrence pulled its goalie for the extra attacker and, with only 11 seconds on the clock, scored the final goal to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The game finished swiftly as Polacek ended the game nine seconds into the overtime, the fastest overtime victory in Rensselaer history. The forward described his new record: “I went over to the boards around the blue line and carried the puck in. We had an odd-man rush and I brought the puck in from the circle and shot low far side and it went in. It all happened really quickly, but it was good to get the overtime over with and get the come-from-behind win on the road.”
With Rensselaer’s win, the Saints fall to 11-10-2 overall and 3-6-2 in the league. Previous to this meeting, St. Lawrence had been riding on a four-game winning streak dating back to January 10th.
The Engineers headed to Cheel Arena on Saturday to face Clarkson, confident after their victory the previous night. The Golden Knights opened the evening 3:23 minutes into the game, when freshman Mark Borowiecki tallied his first collegiate goal. Clarkson did not have control for long, as sophomore Tyler Helfrich took classmate John Kennedy’s rebound in for a goal at 4:12.
Clarkson found itself on the penalty kill three times during the first period, yet RPI was not able to capitalize on the man advantage until the end of the third penalty. M. Angers-Goulet evened out the score at one with 46 seconds remaining in the first frame. After a shot from Brutlag during the power play, “There was a scrum in front of the net for the rebound and the puck slid behind the goalie, and I was fortunate to be there at the right moment to tap it in,” explained M. Angers-Goulet.
The lead would hold until after the halfway mark of the second for the Engineers. Senior Knight Chris D’Alvise skated up the ice on a breakaway and took aim. Lange got a piece of the shot, but it was not enough to slow the momentum, and the puck dribbled into the net. Brutlag would gain the lead back for the Engineers while the Knights were two men down, with just under three minutes left in the period. “The goal felt great to score. I don’t score much, so it’s a feeling I don’t take for granted. Cullen took a shot from the top of the circles and I tipped it, but the goalie saved the initial shot. The rebound came back out and I just turned and threw it far post because I knew the goalie was out of position from the first shot. It went in off the far post,” said Brutlag, describing his second goal of the weekend.
With Rensselaer up by one, the score would remain at 3-2 until the last five minutes of the third period. Senior Knight Shea Guthrie tallied his first goal of the game with 4:36 remaining, balancing the score at three all and forcing both teams into their second overtime of the weekend. His second goal came at 1:51 into the extra frame, the game-winner for Clarkson.
With the win, the Golden Knights improved their record to 7-13-4 overall and 5-6-1 in the ECAC, while Rensselaer dropped to 6-17-2 overall and 5-7-1 in the league. The loss places the Engineers in a tie with Clarkson for seventh place in the ECAC.
This weekend, the Engineers will travel to New Hampshire to challenge the Dartmouth College Big Green. Earlier this season, the Engineers found themselves defeated at home with a score of 5-2. Since then, RPI has improved its teamwork and learned from its mistakes, and is a team that may achieve an opening-round home playoff advantage. The Big Green have also grown, having only lost four games since the last meeting between the two teams. Most notable of these loses was agianst Quinnipiac University on January 9. The game ended with Dartmouth scoreless and the Bobcats with six.
“Dartmouth is only a few points ahead of us in the standings, so it is going to be a huge game for us, just like all our remaining games will be,” said Zarbo.
The Big Green has the opportunity to gain four points over the weekend, while Rensselaer can only add two. “Obviously the standing is really tight in the ECAC and it is our only game of the weekend, therefore all our focus and energy will be on Dartmouth,” commented Angers-Goulet.
