period -1-
P 8:36 Niag. Rows (late hit)
G 9:59 RPI (1-0) McPherson(Shepherd,Pothier) ppg
P 11:39 RPI St. Hillaire (interference)
P 18:50 RPI Munn (tripping)
G 19:46 Niag. (1-1) Sivonen((Isherwood,Rows) ppg
period -2-
P 1:33 Niag. Rows (tripping)
P 11:23 Niag. MacKenzie (holding the stick)
G 12:32 RPI (2-1) Gardiner(Riva,Murley) ppg
P 14:06 RPI Gosselin (holding the stick)
G 14:28 Niag. (2-2) Sivonen(Handrahan,Rows) ppg
P 16:30 Niag. Marshall (interference)
P 17:22 RPI Henkel (elbow)
P 18:53 Niag. bench minor
G 19:28 Niag. (2-3) Isherwood (unassisted) shg
period -3-
P 9:31 Niag. McDonald (tripping)
P 12:40 RPI Dupee (charging)
P 20:00 RPI St. Hillaire (5 minute major elbowing)
unknown whether the major carried a game dq
saves 1 2 3 total
Gardner(Niag) 7 15 10 32
Prekaski(RPI) 11 5 12 28
officials: Hansen,Cadman,Kotyra
If the RPI team had a plan for offense on Friday night against Niagara,
they certainly kept it a secret from the fans. The statistics showed
a close exciting game but I would rather watch a turkey bake than
sit through another game like the one played Friday night at Houston Field
House. For starters, the Purple Eagles outskated, outpassed and out-hustled
the Engineers. They impressed me as very fast and their rushes up ice
were orchestrated beautifully. Yet, once the Purple Eagles set up in the
offensive zone, they seemed at a loss of what to do. They just didn't
know how to work the puck in toward the net. Fortunately for them, their
special teams put 2 power play goals into RPI's net and a defensive letdown
coupled with some heads up skating by junior Mike Isherwood gave Niagara
a short handed goal and all they needed to beat the hapless Engineers.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side, Niagara bottled up center ice so
effectively that the Engineers could get no sustained offense going the
whole evening. The Engineers two goals, both power play tallies, came
mid way through the first and mid way through the second period.
On the first RPI goal, Brian Pothier dug the puck out behind his net,
fed it to Doug Shepherd breaking out of his zone who hit Andy McPherson
at the Niagara blue line for a breakway score. The second goal came on one of
the few nice offensive displays all evening on the part of RPI. Matt Murley
came up with the puck in the corner of the Niagara zone, cleared it back to
Danny
Riva on the point who shovelled a quick pass to Pete Gardiner standing at
the top
of the opposite face off circle. Pete Gardiner beat Niagara goalie Greg
Gardner
over the right shoulder for the tying goal.
However, a few minutes later, RPI skating a man down, attempted to ice the
puck.
As the puck went sailing through center ice, a Niagara defenseman appeared
to touch the puck with a high stick. The RPI bench started yelling and the
officials' arm went up signalling the infraction which would have placed the
face off in the Niagara defensive zone. One of the Niagara coached yelled
something that the referee took exception to and a bench minor was assessed,
ending Niagara's power play. Forty seconds later however, RPI went on the
power
play and, as they were setting up to break out of their own end, the RPI
defense
coughed up the puck to Niagara's Mike Isherwood behind the RPI net. Isherwood
carried the puck around the net and stuffed it past Scott Prekaski who was
forced to cover both Isherwood and a second Niagara forward standing all alone
in the slot. The short handed goal proved to be the game winner.
Despite their lack of any sustained offense, RPI still came close to
stealing the
game in the third period when, in a 3 minute span, they managed to find
Pete Gardiner alone in the slot who proceeded to shoot high and wide missing
the net by 4 feet. They then managed to get Danny Riva open on Gardner's
left and beat him only to have the puck go off the post and richochet out to
center ice. They then broke in, two one one, with Matt Murley feeding Dany
Riva
who had Gardner beat but the pass was in Riva's skates and he couldn't
get a shot away.
All in all, I was impressed with Niagara's speed both setting up their
offense,
and back checking to keep the Engineers from getting anything going.
They need to find a couple of big men to park in the slot to get the
"blue collar" goals ala Phil Esposito. Their problem on offense is finishing
the play. They get up ice fast, they set up and then just don't know where
to go from there.
RPI, on the other hand, was unimpressive. Last weekend, they were beaten by
Union through lack of effort. That did not appear to be the case this time.
Individually, the Engineers all played hard. They just didn't seem to play
together.
The Engineers need to sit back and take stock. They have the raw talent
to do well, but potential doesn't win games, hard work and team work wins
games
and that has been sorely lacking recently.
Next up is Harvard at home on Tuesday night, followed by a road
trip to Colgate and Cornell next weekend.
Mark Lewin
RPI '69
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