My own personal take on RPI's 5-4 loss to Union on Friday night.

There were several factors of note in the Friday game:

RPI's freshman goalie, Jordan Alford, looked shaky, even during
warmups. This would be his first ECAC start and he looked like he was
very nervous.  Union scored two goals in the first period off Alford;
the first was a screen but Alford had left too much net showing on his
right and the shot got through. The second was a rebound to  Alford's
left with Jordan Webb lifting the puck over the prone Alford for the
goal.  The RPI defense consistently failed to clear the puck out of
the slot but on this goal, Alford committed himself much too early by
going down.  Ironically, Alford was pulled in the second period when
Union scored their third goal on a defensive lapse when the RPI
defense gave up the puck behind their net and allowed Union forwards
to feed Scott Seney who was standing alone in the slot.  It seemed
strange that Fridgen would pull the goalie after a Union score that
was clearly the fault of the defensmen, not a goalie lapse.

For the first and second period and part of the third, it appeared as
if Union wanted this game more than RPI did.  Union has apparently
learned from their ventures out west at Colorado College and Bowling
Green as they consistently finished their checks and played the body
well.  They played more of a "western" style hockey than I've ever
seen them play.  They were beating RPI to the puck and winning the
battles against the boards.  Only after RPI scored their 4th goal in
the third period (making the score 5-4) did the RPI offense seem to
show up.  RPI put tremendous pressure on Union's defense, skating
around them and winning battles in the corner and along the boards.
The only thing that kept RPI from tying the score was the defense's
ability to clear the puck out of the slot and not give up rebound
shots and good goaltending by Kris Mayotte. Mayotte's play was not
spectacular, but rather solid. He played the angles extremely well and
managed his rebounds well.  He made few spectacular saves because he
didn't need to: the few rebounds he gave up were immediately swept
away by his defense.

The officiating was "interesting" tonight.  I, personally, am in favor
of the NCAA rule changes to try to reduce the clutching and grabbing
and to open up the game more. I, too, am sick of watching games with
no flow because of all the "new" penalties being called but I
attribute that to the coaches and the players who know the rules have
changed but continue their obstructionist play and then are surprised
when they're called for it.  The referee did not influence the outcome
of this game. However, the nit-picking calls seen in prior weeks was
absent tonight.  There were quite a few holding and obstruction calls,
but I thought they were all good calls that would have been called in
prior years.  They did have an obstruction cross checking call.  Now,
c'mon. Cross checking is a penalty but it's not obstruction.  The only
controversial calls of the evening actually went in RPI's favor. RPI's
second goal (or maybe it was the third) was scored on a power play
after Union got called for a trip behind the net. It was a legitimate
tripping call but Union coach Nate Leaman was livid because of two
no-calls just prior to that. RPI was guilty of boarding and holding,
both of which were seen by one or more officials but no call was made.

In general, Union won the game because they outplayed RPI for longer
than RPI outplayed them. It will be interesting to see on Saturday
whether RPI can get their head back in the game.  They will certainly
need to be more focused in the unfriendly confines of Messa Rink.

And, despite a large Union contingent at Houston Field House, I'm
pleased to say that not one orange was thrown onto the ice after Union
goals. Hopefully, that nonsense is over once and for all