> the RPI SID:

 JONAS SHUTS OUT MEN’S HOCKEY, 1-0
  Harvard netminder stops 27 shots to lead visitors

Harvard senior goaltender Oliver Jonas made 27 saves to lead the Crimson men’s hockey team to a 1-0 shutout victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in an Eastern College Athletic Conference game before a crowd of 3,516 at Houston Field House in Troy, NY.

With the victory, Harvard improves to 12-13-1 overall and 11-7-1 in the ECAC, which puts them in a third place tie with Cornell with 23 points apiece.  Both teams are currently three points behind second place Clarkson.  The Engineers, meanwhile, fall to 14-13-2 overall and 8-9-2 in the league.  Their 18 points places them in a sixth place tie with Yale, four points behind Dartmouth for fifth place and the final position for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The game’s only goal came from Harvard sophomore Brett Nowak, who tallied at 3:31 of the second period.  Nowak picked up a Harry Schwefel drop pass at the blueline, skated to the top of the right wing circle and beat RPI goaltender Nathan Marsters over the left shoulder.  For Nowak, a New Haven, Conn., native who missed the last four games with a high ankle sprain, the goal was his fourth of the season.

Jonas kept the Engineers off the board by making several spectacular saves, including stops on two breakaways.  The Munich, Germany native finished with 27 saves as RPI was blanked 1-0 at home for the first time since the 1920’s.  Marsters made 33 saves, including 12 in the second period, in the losing effort.

Rensselaer, which is now 1-4-1 in its last six games, returns home for their regular season finale on Saturday against ECAC foe Brown at 7pm.

The Crimson will play at Union College in another league matchup at 7pm on Saturday.

  --
  Kevin Beattie
  Sports Information Director
  Rensselaer