This past weekend wasn’t the brightest performance for the men’s hockey team, as the Dartmouth College Big Green took the lead early Friday evening against the Engineers and never looked back.
Just 28 seconds into the first period, Dartmouth advanced the puck into the RPI zone with freshman Doug Jones in possession. Junior Joe Gaudet positioned himself just outside the crease and fired the first shot of the game off a pass from Jones past RPI senior netminder Mathias Lange’s glove. The Big Green improved its lead to two when a shot from senior Connor Shields trickled over Lange’s left leg at the 9:16 mark.
Sophomore forward Chase Polacek put RPI on the board with the only goal of the second period while Dartmouth was two men down. Classmate Tyler Helfrich passed the puck to Polacek, centered between the circles, who blasted it over freshman goalie Jody O’Neill’s shoulder.
RPI entered the third one goal and one man down. The Big Green once again extended their lead to two with a goal from sophomore Scott Fleming 5:30 into the third. Senior Seth Klerer answered back less than two minutes later with RPI’s last goal of the night to narrow the gap one final time. With Polacek and fellow sophomore Jeff Foss in the penalty box, Dartmouth sophomore Adam Estoclet advanced the score to 4-2 with 10:13 left in the third.
The final nail came at 16:21, when Big Green sophomore Kyle Reeds maneuvered the puck away from Rensselaer freshman Alex Angers-Goulet while in the RPI zone. He skated the puck up to Lange, sinking it on his stick side, to tally the short-handed goal.
At the end of the third, freshman Jordan Watts was charged with 17 total penalty minutes: five for spearing, two for boarding, and 10 for a game misconduct.
Over the weekend, Rensselaer fell to an overall tie for ninth with Union College, as St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University climbed past the Engineers in the standings. This weekend brings an opportunity to break the tie.
The Engineers will face off against the area rival Union College Dutchmen in a home-and-home series. Previously this season, the men lost to Union in a five-man shootout in the Governor’s Cup tournament held in October, but the Dutchmen have fallen on hard times as of late, winning only one of their last five games. Taking both games would give the men a four-point lead over Union in the standings, possibly moving them back into home playoff territory. Always an anticipated pair of games, wins could be exactly what the men need heading into Big Red Freakout! weekend.
