RPI hosted the UNH Wildcats in Troy tonight trying to regain
their national respectability after being drubbed by BU 2 weeks ago
in Boston.
 
The Engineers came out flying aored at 1:13 of the first period
on a goal by Brian Tapper on an assist from Danny Riva. The puck
bounced off three different skates in the slot before finding its
way through UNH goaltender Sean Matile. With 3 minutes gone
in the first period, the Engineers got a 2 man advantage when UNH
was called for chatging and hitting after the whistle (the hitting
after the whistle call was legitimate but I never saw the original
charge). At 3:36, RPI went up 2-0 on a power play goal scored by Danny
Riva with assists going to Mark Murphy and Brian Pothier.
 
The early game was very physical, which is not usually RPI's style,
especially against what looked to be a much bigger UNH team. But RPI
was checking well and making things happen for themselves. About 9 minutes
in, UNH defenseman Christian Bragnalo was sent to the box for interference
(I felt the call was questionable myself) but UNH took advantage of the first
of many RPI defensive lapses when Tom Nolan scored a short handed goal from
Jayme Filipowicz at 10:38 to pull the Wildcats within 1 goal. That goal
seemed to rock the Engineers and you could see the momentum shift. UNH
started back checking effectively and started taking control. Their
timing was still off though as they were called numerous times for offsides.
Those offsides probably saved the Engineers in the 1st period
 
The highlight of the first intermission was a Halloween costume contest
held on the stage in the Field House. The winners were "three blind refs:,
3 guys dressed as referees wearing Ray Charles glasses and
carrying walking sticks. The only thing missing was the name Harry Ammian
on their striped shirts (that's an ECAC joke, folks).
 
The second period started out with UNH and RPI talking matching minors
followed by RPI's Allaine St. Hillaire taking a hooking penalty. The UNH
forwards did a beautiful job of criss-crossing through the slot until
Tom Nolan found himself all alone and tied the score at 3:00 on assists from
Jason Krog and Mark Mowers. For the next 10 minutes, the Engineers couldn't
get out of their way. They were bumping into each other, passing a half
step behing their linemates and just couldn't do anything right. They
struggled
just to get out of their own zone and had virtually zero offense.
 
Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Things started clicking and
the Engineers took over the play. At 9:03, RPI went up 3-2 on a beautiful
goal by freshman Brad Tapper from Doug Battaglia and Steve Caley.
 
At 14:26 UNH tied the score on a wraparound goal by Jason Krog with an assist
from Mark Mowers. This was caused by a total defensive lapse by the Engineers
behind their own net.  But rather than folding, RPI came back 15 seconds later
to retake the lead 4-3 on a goal by Patrick Brownlee with an assist from
Danny Riva. I missed the goal entirely as I was still writing down the UNH
goal.
 
At 18:44, another RPI defensive breakdown as a long clearing pass from Derek
Bekar found Jason Krog alone on the blue line. He skated in on Joel Lang and
tied him in knots before putting the puck in to tie the score 4-4.
 
That seemed to take the steam out of RPI for a while. They came out in the
third
period and didn't put a shot on goal for the first 7:42 of period 3 including
one power play and 3/4 of another .  The game was very physical and the
referees,
who had called quite a bit in the first period, seemed to have lost their
whistles
and just let them play. With 5 minutes left, Tom Nolan weaved his way through
center ice and the RPI defense, handcuffed Lang and beat everyone in sight
except
the right goal post. The Field House was dead silent and the sound of the puck
 bouncing off the pipe could be heard everywhere followed immediately by
several
thousand people breathing a sigh of relief.
 
For the last 5 minutes of the game, UNH rotated their top lines while the
Engineers
kept using all 4 lines right until the end. The Nolan-Krog-Mowers line was
just
too fast for the Engineers 4th line but good defensive play kept them off
the board.
However, at 19:07, when RPI's first line of Healey-Garver-St. Hillaire was
one the ice against Krog-Mowers-Nolan, Matt Garver went after a loose puck
deep
in his own zone. Garvers was assigned to Mowers but left him alone in the
right slot
to chase the puck. Tom Nolan got to it first and fed Mowers who was all alone
and poked it past Lang with :53 seconds left to give UNH their first lead
of the night.
An assist was also given to Steve O'Brien.
 
The game ended 5-4 UNH and a dejected RPI squad now heads down the Hudson
tomorrow
night to face Division 1 independent Army.
 
RPI came into this game looking to be recognized nationally and they
succeeded.
Unfortunately, pollsters who look at the box score won't see that. RPI played
even with UNH most of the game and dominated a good porion of the first and
second period. However, they still haven't shown the discipline they need
if they want to rise to the top.  They made several defensive lapses that
allowed UNH to score and gave up one short handed goal in the first and was
saved by the post in the third from giving up a second SHG.  Their lines of
Healey-Garver-St. Hillaire and Battaglia-Caley-Brad Tapper have gelled so
well that Coach Fridgen will have trouble when J.F. Gosselin returns
(anyone know what his status is?).  They need to shore up their defense
to play more consistently. If they can do that, they'll still be playing
in April.  But April is a long time from now......
 
 
Mark Lewin
RPI - class of '69
 
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