RPI vs. Mercyhurst  at Houston Field House, Troy, NY
Saturday, 11/25/2000

Officials: John Melanson, Brian Bouyea, Morgan Waters
Attendence: 2965

period 1
G  2:11 RPI (1-0) Hammarstrom unassisted
P  7:05 RPI  Migliore (elbowing)
P  9:36 MH   Lyke  (hitting from behind)
P 12:48 MH   Gould (charging)
P 19:20 MH   Chambers (holding the stick)

period 2
P  4:47 RPI  Graham (slashing)
P  8:12 MH   Hiscock (hitting after the whistle)
P  8:12 RPI  M. Cavosie (hitting after the whistle)
G 15:39 RPI (2-0) M. Cavosie (E. Cavosie,McPherson)
P 17:55 RPI  Vickers (hooking)
G 19:51 RPI (3-0) Butterwick unassisted (shg)

period 3
   0:00 MH  goalie change Aubrey out,Cifelli in
P  2:49 MH   Varteressian (boarding)
P  7:45 RPI  M. cavosie (high sticking)
G 10:40 RPI (4-0) Graham(Murley)
G 11:56 RPI (5-0) McPherson (M. Cavosie)
  11:56 MH  timeout
P 14:03 RPI Murley (unsportsmanlike conduct)
P 14:35 RPI Migliore (boarding)
P 15:48 MH  bench minor (too many men on the ice)
P 19:56 RPI Migliore (slashing)
P 19:56 MH  Brown (slashing)

saves               1   2   3   T
RPI(Marsters)       5   10  6   21
MH(Aubrey,Cifelli)  8   8   17  33

The following is the press release from The RPI SID:

  MEN’S HOCKEY SHUTS OUT MERCYHURST, 5-0
  Freshman Nathan Marsters makes 22 saves for second career   shutout

  The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s hockey team   hosted Mercyhurst College in a non-league Division I game at
 the Houston Field House and the Engineers won their second
 straight game, 5-0, before a crowd of 2,965.  RPI got 22 saves
 from freshman Nathan Marsters to improve to 5-3-0.  The Lakers,
 meanwhile, saw their seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) snapped
 as they fell to 5-2-2.

  Marsters, a Granby, Ont., native, stopped five saves in the
 first period, ten in the second and seven more in the third for
 his second career shutout.  He blanked Army, 3-0, on October 28
 for his first career shutout.

  RPI freshman forward Mikael Hammarstrom gave the Engineers an
 early 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Marc Cavosie in the
 left circle, skated along the blueline and beat Mercyhurst
 goaltender Peter Aubry  low to the glove side.  For
 Hammarstrom, a native Gavle, Sweden, the goal was his first of
 his collegiate career.

  The score remained 1-0 until late in the second period when
 Cavosie knocked in the rebound of an Andrew McPherson shot.
 Cavosie was lying on his stomach when he tipped the puck past
 Aubry from just outside the goal crease for his seventh goal of
 the season.  Eric  Cavosie, Marc’s older brother, also assisted
 on the tally.

  Rensselaer’s lead was increased to three goals when Carson
 Butterwick beat Aubry on a wrist shot from the right circle for
 a shorthanded goal with just eight seconds remaining in the
 middle stanza.Butterwick, a sophomore, picked up a loose puck
 at center ice, skated into the offensive zone and scored off
 the glove of the Lakers’ netminder.

  RPI opened up their lead to 5-0 with two goals midway through  the third period.  Nolan Graham tallied from the bottom of the
 left faceoff circle at the 10:40 mark before Andrew McPherson
 scored on a rebound of a Marc Cavosie shot 1:16 later.


  For the Lakers, who play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic
 Conference, Aubry made 16 saves in two periods of action while
 Matt Cifelli stopped 17 shots while playing the third period.


  Rensselaer returns to action next Friday night at 7pm when
 they host Eastern College Athletic Conference opponent and
 Capital District rival Union (6-1-1) at the Houston Field
 House.  The Engineers will also be home next Saturday night to
 play Quinnipiac (7pm).

  Mercyhurst will also host two games next weekend.  They’ll
 play Wayne St. in a non-league affair on Friday (7:30pm) before
 taking on Iona in a MAAC contest on Saturday (7:30pm).


  --
  Kevin Beattie
  Sports Information Director
  Rensselaer

---end RPI press release--begin Lewin editorial

This game was not as lopsided as the score suggests. RPI did get on the board early and did outplay the Lakers for the better part of the game but Mercyhurst showed signs of life on numerous occasions and RPI showed signs of their usual 2nd period malaise. Until Butterwick picked up the puck in center ice and scored an unassisted short handed goal with 8 seconds left in the second period, there was still a feeling that this game was still a game. The short handed goal seemed to break the Laker's spirit but they came back strong in the 3rd period, not trying to win so much as to avoid the humiliation of the shutout. They started taking chances on offense with the point men pinching in. Those chances backfired allowing RPI to score their 4th and 5th goals. Still the Lakers kept on coming. They had a golden opportunity with 5 minutes left in the game when RPI took two dumb penalties and the Lakers had a 1:40 5 on 3 advantage. They applied quite a bit of offensive pressure for 1:12 and took a really stupid bench minor fopr too many men on the ice.  That pretty much ended their chances for the night.

> a fan's point of view, this was not an exciting game. Both teams played well but the Field House atmosphere was just subdued with all the students home on break.  Next week Union comes across the river and the students will be back and looking for revenge for the loss earlier this year in Schenectady.