period -1-
G 3:07 Harv. (0-1) Conklin(Allman,Nowak)
G 3:31 RPI (1-1) Tapper(Murley,Munn)
G 6:17 RPI (2-1) Reigstad(Riva)
G 6:51 RPI (3-1) Tapper(Riva,Murley)
P 10:54 Harv. S. Moore (high stick)
G 11:28 RPI (4-1) Murley(Riva,St. Hillaire) ppg
period -2-
G 1:10 RPI (5-1) Murphy(St.Hillaire)
P 1:54 RPI Murphy (interference)
P 1:54 Harv. Cantanucci (high stick)
P 2:46 RPI bench (too many men on the ice)
P 5:55 RPI Murley (tripping)
P 6:36 Harv. Millar (holding the stick)
G 7:12 Harv. (5-2) Capouch(Schwefel,Chodorow) 4 on 4
P 12:05 RPI Reigstad (interference)
G 16:08 RPI (6-2) Riva(Tapper,Murley)
G 18:14 RPI (7-2) Riva(Murphy)
period -3-
P :21 RPI Munn (cross check)
P 1:46 RPI Murray (cross check)
G 4:09 Harv. (7-3) S. Moore unassisted
P 12:22 Harv. Morrell (interference)
G 13:25 Harv. (7-4) Allman unassisted shg
P 14:08 RPI Tapper (roughing + 10 min. misconduct)
P 14:08 RPI Riva (hitting the goaltender + fighting major + game dq)
P 14:08 RPI bench (unsportsmanlike conduct)
P 14:08 Harv. M. Moore (roughing + roughing + 10 min. misconduct)
P 14:08 Harv. Adams (fighting major + game dq)
P 15:21 Harv. Chodorow (interfering with goaltender)
P 17:37 Harv. Stonehouse (roughing)
P 17:37 RPI Gardiner (holding the stick)
P 18:52 RPI Gosselin (high stick)
saves 1 2 3 t
Prekaski(RPI) 9 12 12 33
Prestifilippo(Harv)9 11 2 22
officials: Bill Doiron, Mike Emanatian,Brian Shea
attendance 2074
RPI came into this ECAC contest on a 3 game losing streak and
needed to get some fire into their offense against a slumping
Harvard to build up some confidence before heading to Colgate and
Cornell this weekend. They got their offense. Coach Fridgen shuffled
the first two lines moving Pete Gardiner with Alain St. Hillaire
and Mark Murphy and moving Brad Tapper to the Danny Riva- Matt Murley
line. The moves paid off.
Danny Riva had 2 goals and 3 assists, Brad Tapper had 2 goals and 1
assist, Matt Murley had 1 goal and 3 assists, Alain St. Hillaire had
2 assists and Mark Murphy had 1 goal and 1 assist.
The Engineers totally outclassed Harvard for the first 2 periods
in what looked to be a laugher (more about the third period later).
The first 3 minutes of the game saw each team cautiosly feeling out
the other team out. At 3:07 Harvard's Trevor Allman was breaking in on
Scott Prekaski with a trailing Brice Conklin. RPI defense Jared Reigstad
fell down as the play approached his net allowing Allman to feed a pass
across the goal mouth to Conklin who had the whole net to shoot for.
Giving up this goal seemed to provide the Engineers with a wake-up call.
Just 24 seconds later, Matt Murley dug the puck out of the corner
and put a pass on the stick of Brad Tapper who had been pushed to the ice
in the slot. Tapper, managed to poke the puck past Prestifilippo while
lying on his stomach in the slot to tie the game at 1-1.
At 6:17, Danny Riva dug the puck out of the corner and passed back to
Jared Reigstad at the point. Reigstad let a soft wrister go from the point
that floated over Prestifilippo's shoulder unseen and untouched to give
RPI the 2-1 lead. Just 34 seconds later, RPI went up 3-1 on a goal by
Brad Tapper out in front. From where I was sitting, it sure looked like
the puck went in off Tapper's skate, but the referee called a goal and no-one
from Harvard seemed to protest, so maybe it hit a Harvard skate before
going in. RPI scored their 4th straight goal on the power play at 11:28
when Danny Riva took a shot from point. The puck deflected off a Harvard
defenseman right onto the stick of Matt Murley standing all alone on
Prestifilippo's left. Murley buried it in the empty net for a 4-1 Engineer
lead.
RPI continued where they left off in period 2 scoring just 1:10 into the
period
giving them a 5-1 lead. Finally, at 5:12 of the second, Harry Schwefel found
Pete Capouch all alone in front of RPI netminder Scott Prekaski. Prekaski
guessed low and Capouch went high beating Prekaski over the shoulder and
brought Harvard back 5-2. RPI scored again at 16:08 of the second with
the first of Danny Riva's 2 goals putting RPI up 6-2. And at 18:14, a bad
bounce during a Harvard line change allowed Riva and Tapper to break
in 2 on none with Riva getting his 2nd goal of the period putting RPI up 7-2.
Now, what do you do when you come out for the 3rd period, up by 5 goals,
completely dominating the other team? There aren't a lot of choices.
You can either continue as before, pressing the offense and running up the
score. You can settle back on defense, relax a bit and coast the rest of
the way. Or you can experiment with some different lines just to see
how things work out. The Engineers chose a different course. They decided
to abandon all the good things they had done for the first 40 minutes
and give Harvard a chance to get back in the game. The fact that Harvard
only got 2 goals in the 3rd was due only to Harvard's inability to put the
puck in the net. Any team other than Harvard might have been able to make
up the 5 goals and pull this game out. The Engineers put a man in the
penalty box just 21 seconds into the period when they allowed Harvard
into the slot and had to take a cross check penalty to keep Harvard
from a point blank shot. A similar situation a minute and a half later
put the Engineers down by 2 men. During the power play, the puck left
the RPI defensive zone for a total of 6 seconds. Harvard just dominated
possession and were getting quality shot after shot. Even after the
penalties expired, the puck stayed in the RPI defensive zone but Harvard
just couldn't get its act together. Finally, RPI defenseman Brian Pothier
must have felt sorry for the Crimson when he put an attempted
clearing pass right on the stick of Steve Moore who beat Prekaski high
to bring the score to 7-3.
The same type of play continued through the period with RPI generating
no offense and no defense. At 13:25 while RPI was on the power play,
Harvard grabbed the puck in center ice and broke in on RPI 3 on 2. Trevor
Allman just skated right around RPI defenseman Brian Pothier, took
the puck right across the slot unmolested and lifted a backhand over
Prekaski's shoulder for a short handed goal (the second RPI has given up
in 2 games).
At 14:08, events happened that point out how quickly a referee can lose
control. Brad Tapper had just dug the puck out of the corner in the Harvard
defensive zone and tried shovelling a pass across to Danny Riva who was
streaking down the middle toward the net. The puck deflected off a Harvard
defenseman and never reached Riva. But it didn't matter. Six feet away
from the net, Harvard defenseman Mark Moore, who was trailing Riva, gave
Riva a vicious cross check across the back of the neck, pushing Riva,
completely out of control right into JR Prestifilippo who went sprawling
left as Riva crumpled to the right. None of the players nor the referee
must have seen this. All they saw was Riva hit the goalie and all hell
broke loose. Harvard's Craig Adams jumped on Riva who was on the ground
holding his neck and pulled his helmet off and started smashing his
head against the ice. Mark Moore jumped on the pile and when RPI's
Brad Tapper joined in, Moore paired up with Tapper and they started
going at it. By the time things calmed down, everyone except the RPI
goalie was in either a fight or a pushing match. Eventually, enough
RPI players got into the scrum to get Adams off Riva allowing Riva
to his feet who immediately went after Adams. The resulting melee
included majors and disqualifications against both Riva who must
sit out the Friday game against Colgate and Adams who will miss Harvard's
game against Clarkson. The saddest part of the whole thing was that
Mark Moore received a double roughing minor for participating in the
Adams/Riva fight and then taking on Brad Tapper away from the main fight.
He was never penalized for the vicious cross check that propelled Riva
into Prestifilippo to start with. To add insult to injury, Riva was also
assessed a minor for hitting the goalie and the bench received an
unsportsmanlike call for commenting on the referee's officiating skills
(or maybe it was Doiron's ancestry or his mother's sexual preferences).
It's easy to see how a referee could miss that cross check, but he conferred
with both assistants at great length and obviously, they all missed it.
I wonder what game they were watching.
So the RPI team breaks out of their offensive doldrums with a big win
but must go into Friday night's game against Colgate without their
leading scorer, Danny Riva and breaking up the top scoring line of Riva,
Murley and Tapper. It's too bad for the Engineers since they had
a good shot of playing Colgate tough if they could regain the edge
they had in the first 2 periods. Without Riva, they'll have an
uphill battle.
Mark Lewin
RPI '69
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