Rensselaer clawed by RedHawks in opening series sweep

New head coach Eric Lang and the rebooted Engineers prove they still have much to learn, as their home debut was spoiled by the visiting Miami RedHawks, who swept Rensselaer 5-3 and 5-0 over the weekend.

After an exhibition loss to #2-ranked Boston University, the visiting Miami RedHawks would be a much more valuable litmus test. The RedHawks in many ways mirror Rensselaer; both teams had major roster turnover over the offseason, with 23 departures from the RedHawks and 19 Engineers leaving their respective programs. In their respective conference polls, Miami was ranked last in 9th and Rensselaer second-to-last at 11th.

Yet, the RedHawks are a year ahead in their rebuild and still retain a core of players from last year's campaign, contrasting the Engineers who have just begun to retool the program. After a dismal season last year, Miami have begun their season running with a prescient series sweep against Ferris State.

Miami would strike first five minutes into Friday's game after the puck was passed to an unmarked RedHawk, who fired it past Rensselaer goaltender Bruno Bruveris - who was facing his former team - into the top corner of the net.

However, Rensselaer would equalize less than a minute later thanks to defensemen Kaz Sobieski, who whipped in a slapshot from range to trigger the foghorns. The Engineers would take the lead soon after when the puck fell to Matthew Buckley, slotting it past the RedHawk goaltender. Rensselaer would extend their advantage again less than four minutes into the second period when graduate Luciano Wilson found an open Filip Sitar, converting his shot to make it 3-1 Rensselaer.

At this point, the game — which had seen both teams move the puck up and down the rink — seemed to have set Rensselaer in the driver's seat. The Engineers had done well to capitalize on the post-goal lull from Miami

Instead, the Engineers would flounder, relinquishing the lead in a ruinous seven-minute stretch.

After a squabble in front of Rensselaer’s net, Jimmy Goffredro was given a two-minute minor thanks to tackling a RedHawk player reminiscent of something choreographed from the WWE. Miami would take advantage of this opportunity to close the deficit to one during the power play. Miami continued to poke holes in Rensselaer’s defense, equalizing and then taking the lead before Rensselaer could stabilize.

Rensselaer would attempt to pry its way through the RedHawks defense for the remainder of the game, however, the visitors defense would frustrate the Engineers. After Lang pulled Bruveris with two minutes left in the game, the RedHawks stole the puck from the Engineers and capitalized on the empty net to make the score 5-3, putting the game out of reach for Rensselaer.

Unfortunately for Rensselaer, the offense continued to be stymied by Miami’s defense on Saturday’s rematch, and lapses on defense continued to haunt the Engineers.

Less than a minute into the game, an ill-advised pass from defensemen Trevor Russell was intercepted by a RedHawk, who maneuvered the puck past freshman goalkeeper Nate Krawchuk to put the RedHawks in front. The Engineers would fire a withering fifteen shots throughout the rest of the period, including four from Tyler Wallace. However, Miami would end the period unscathed.

Halfway into the second period, the RedHawks would double their lead on a 2 v 1 advantage. Down two goals, the Rensselaer offense lacked the clinical edge from parts of yesterday’s game. The dam finally broke in the third period, as Miami scored a third goal twenty seconds into the period before tacking on two more before the match ended.

The Engineers flashed their potential, particularly throughout the first game. The way they moved the puck was more fluid compared to preceding years, and Rensselaer won the majority of the faceoffs against Miami in the series. Sobieski and Luciano starred this weekend, finishing the series with two points apiece, with the latter also tallying two blocks to his name. But the team must continue to develop chemistry on both sides of the puck if they are to put away games like their opener.

While their first opponents surprised both the Engineers and the greater hockey community, the pedigree of their opponents next week—#9-ranked Boston College and #14-ranked Providence College—are well established. The Engineers will face off against the two on October 17th and 18th on home ice.