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MEN’S HOCKEY FALLS TO NORTHEASTERN IN OT
Huskies advance to the finals of 50th Annual RPI/HSBC Tournament

Northeastern freshman Scott Selig scored 17:20 into the first overtime   to help the Huskies defeat the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s hockey team, 3-2, and advance to Saturday’s finals of the 50th Annual Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament.  A forward from Duxbury,Mass., Selig scored on a wrist shot from close range to end the game, which was witnessed by a crowd of 4,196 at the Houston Field House in Troy, NY.

Northeastern, which improves to 7-6-3, will play St. Lawrence (4-7-3), who defeated Notre Dame, 6-3, in the other first round game, on Saturday at 7:30pm in the finals of the oldest college hockey tournament in North America.  RPI, which saw a six-game unbeaten streak snapped (5-0-1) falls to 8-4-1.  The Engineers, who are ranked 11th in the nation, will play the Fighting Irish (4-13-4) in Saturday’s consolation game (4:30pm).

After a scoreless first period in the day’s second game, Rensselaer got on the board with a shorthanded goal by forward Andrew McPherson.  A junior from Dauphin, Man., McPherson broke into the Northeastern zone on a 2-on-1 with classmate Jim Henkel.  After Henkel’s initial shot was stopped, McPherson picked up the rebound and deposited it past Huskies’ netminder Mike Gilhooly for his third goal of the season.  Henkel, who
earned the lone assist, notched his eleventh helper and thirteenth point in 13 games this season.

The third period saw the Huskies fire out and tie the game when senior Graig Mischler took a pass between the faceoff circles and beat RPI goalie Nathan Marsters at the 1:45 mark.  Leon Hayward earned the primary assist on Mischler’s third goal of the year while Rich Spiller had the secondary assist.  Rensselaer managed to regain the lead when Troy, NY, native Matt Murley knocked in the rebound of a Carson Butterwick shot
four-and-a-half minutes into the third period.
Defenseman Francois Senez also assisted on the goal.  For Murley, the Engineers’ leading scorer, the goal was his twelfth of the season.

Northeastern again fought back to tie the game when Mike Ryan came out from behind the net and slid a backhander past Marsters for his eighth goal of the season.  Selig ended the game after Ryan stole the puck and fed his linemate in front for a quick wrister.

Gilhooly stopped 37 shots for the victory while Marsters finished with 27 saves.

Northeastern has won Rensselaer’s annual tournament once (1974) while St. Lawrence, which entered the tournament on a three-game winless skid (0-2-1), has won three times (1978, 1980, 1991).  In fact, the Saints are 7-0-0 all-time in the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament.

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  Kevin Beattie
  Sports Information Director
  Rensselaer