RPI vs. St. Lawrence at the Houston Field House, Troy, NY
Friday, January 29, 1999
officials: Melanson, B. Jones, Cadman
attendance 4038
period -1-
P 3:52 St.L Prier (interference)
G 4:20 RPI (1-0) Riva(St. Hillaire,Gardiner) ppg
P 6:06 RPI Munn (hitting from behind)
G 11:06 RPI (2-0) Shepherd(Vickers,Gossilin)
G 13:53 St.L Oikawa(Windle)
P 14:12 St.L LeRoy (hitting from behind)
G 17:21 RPI (3-1) Dupee unassisted
period -2-
P 1:51 RPI Gosselin (roughing)
P 10:20 RPI Gardiner (holding)
G 11:36 St.L (3-2) Fyfe(Clark,Poapst) ppg
P 15:03 St.L Fyfe (boarding)
G 15:35 St.L (3-3) Desrosiers(Anderson) shg
P 17:43 RPI Pothier (hitting from behind)
G 19:37 St.L (3-4) Fyfe(Natali) ppg
period -3-
P 1:27 St.L Gellard (interference)
G 13:17 RPI (4-4) Reigstad(St. Hillaire,Murphy)
G 19:56 St.L (4-5) Windle(Desrosiers)
saves 1 2 3 t
Laing(RPI) 14 10 6 30
Heffler(St.Lawrence) 15 11 12 38
The end of Friday evening saw the top of the ECAC
standings get very crowded as RPI, St. Lawrence and
Princeton share the top spot with Clarkson one point back.
The Engineers and Skating Saints battled it out in Troy and
the game was finally decided by which team was better at
capitalizing on their opponents' mistakes.
Both teams came out flying in the first period and it became
quickly apparent that this was a game that all players were
psyched for. The Engineers got on the board first at 4:20
of the first on the power play when Danny Riva took a shot
from the point that was deflected past Heffler for a 1-0
Engineer lead. From my seat, I thought that Pete Gardiner
deflected it in but Riva got the goal so it must have gone
off a St. Lawrence skate.
RPI went up 2-0 at 11:06 when Doug Shepherd grabbed the puck
in center ice and carried into the Saints end. Shepherd put a few
moves on the retreating defenseman who fell down allowing Shepherd
to skate in on Heffler and put one over his left shoulder.
Several minutes later, the Engineers (smelling the kill) either
made their first mistake or got their first bad break (it depends
on your point of view) when their defensemen started pinching in.
A bad bounce on a centering pass bounced over an Engineer's stick
in the slot and was picked up by a Saint's forward. A two on one
developed with Matt Oikawa and Jason Windle that resulted in a goal
by Oikawa closing the gap to 2-1. The Engineers recaptured the two
goal lead at 17:21 when an errant clearing pass was picked off by
Keith Dupee at the Saints blue line.
Dupee skated in alone and beat Heffler high left to put the Engineers up 3-1.
Then came the dreaded second period. All year long, the Engineers
have had their biggest problem in the second period. They seem to
lose focus and then have to spend the third trying to undo the
damage they've caused for themselves. The second period began
innocently enough and the game was roughly even for the first
10 minutes. Then, with Pete Gardiner in the box on a hold, the
Saints' power play went to work.
You could tell right from the start that they would score.
The Saints moved the puck in their zone extremely well and had the RPI
defense tied in knots.
The Engineers got a few breaks when the puck rolled or bounced and they
cleared it to center ice. But their luck wouldn't hold when Al Fyfe got
a pass just to Laing's right and deked him right and slid the puck past him
to close the gap to 3-2. The tide turned at 15:35 of the second. Al Fyfe was
in the box for boarding. The Saints sent Erik Anderson deep into the Engineers
zone and dug the puck out and got it back to Matt Desrosiers at the point.
Desrosiers took a weak shot from the point that took a strange bounce past
Laing (confirming the fact that Laing really is, only human). The short handed
goal not only tied the game but seemed to take the wind out of the Engineers
sails. A few minutes later as Fyfe exited the penalty box, a Saints defenseman
hit Fyfe on the RPI blue line giving Fyfe a breakaway. Fyfe was denied
by Laing who made a save in a position that I would have bet the human
body couldn't get into (or out of). From the point of the short handed goal,
the Engineers seemed to completely lose their concentration.
It became apparent that their only hope was to hold on until the intermission
when they could hopefully get their composure back. They almost made it but
not quite. At 19:37, just as the St. Lawrence power play was to expire,
Vic Natali found Al Fyfe standing in the crease (more on this later). Fyfe
beat Laing to give the saints a 4-3 lead.
The buzz during the intermission was what to expect in the third. The
third period has been a good period for the Engineers defensively. But this
was the first time since the Engineers began their "defense first" game plan,
that the Engineers would have to go into the third period down a goal.
It was going to be a test of character that could very well set the tone
for the rest of the season. The Engineers were up to the challenge, using
the intermission to get their bearings back. The third period was outstanding
hockey (by both teams). At 13:17 of the third, Pete Gardiner (who played
an outstanding game all night) dug the puck out of the corner with 3 Saints
hanging all over him. He got the puck to Mark Murphy who slid it to
Alaine St. Hillaire along the boards who got the puck back to Jared Reigstad
at the point. Reigstad put some moves on the 2 remaining Saints to get a
clear
shot on Heffler from the high slot to beat Heffler for the tying goal and
sending the Field House faithful into a frenzy.
A scary moment occurred in the third when Al Fyfe, trying to sidestep Joel
Laing,
lost an edge and went down into the end boards head first. He was slow getting
up and it seemed obvious, even as he skated back to the bench under his own
power,
that he was still somewhat disoriented. Just as he entered the St. Lawrence
bench area,
he collapsed to his knees and the game stopped as the RPI trainer and a doctor
from the stands went to the bench area to check him out (ostensibly for a
concussion).
Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case and the game continued about
10 minutes later with Fyfe remaining on the bench.
As time wore down, it looked as if both teams were content to let the game
go into
OT. With 30 seconds left, the Saints picked up the puck on their own side
of center ice, carried across the red line and dumped the puck deep into the
Engineers zone. The Engineers defense chased it down and attempted to clear.
The puck was picked up at the blue line by the St. Lawrence defense and sent
in deep a second time. The Engineer defense again attempted to clear and again
the clearing attempt was picked off, this time by Matt Desrosiers who had
a good look a the net. Desrosiers took a high shot at the net and Jason Windle
deflected the puck down and past Laing with 4.1 seconds left.
Laing immediately went running after referee Melanson complaining about
the high stick. But Melanson had signalled the goal and a goal it was.
I couldn't see the goal clearly to tell whether the stick was high
(perhaps someone from the west end of the Field House can comment). However,
I did catch the replay on the 11PM news which was from a slightly different
angle and, if it was knocked down with a high stick, it certainly wasn't
apparent from that angle. Nevertheless, the goal did count and, high stick
or not, the Engineers failure on 2 attempts to clear the puck was the real
cause of the loss.
The referee, Melanson (I can't find his first name), was also the referee
at last Saturday's WMU game. He has established himself as a referee whose
style is "let them play". He seemingly ignores elbows, charging and all
but the most blatant high sticks and interference calls. He does not
(to his credit) tolerate hitting from behind or boarding. This isn't whining
since he does this consistently for both teams. The smart teams will learn
his style and adjust accordingly. My gripe (ok so it is whining)
is that he also fails to call man in the crease on a consistent basis.
He does call it on occasion and, again, he doesn't show any favoritism on
his non-calls, but it's the inconsistency I complain about. Tonight,
it cost the Engineers on St. Lawrence's 4th goal
when Al Fyfe was clearly in the crease before receiving the pass from Natali.
That was not the only time the call was missed (on the part of both teams)
but THIS one resulted in a goal and the game was decided by one goal.
Was this the reason the Engineers lost? Not entirely. It was certainly
one of the reasons. The main reasons were the Engineers losing focus
for about half the second period allowing a quick, talented
St. Lawrence team to get back into a game that a focused Engineer defense
could have prevented. These are 2 teams that are evenly matched.
They meet again in 2 weeks in Canton and there's no reason to believe that
the meeting up north will be any less crucial in the ECAC standings.
But now, the Engineers have to put a heartbreaking loss behind them.
Arch rival Clarkson comes to town tonight. Due to the number of
Clarkson alumni in the local area, this game is always the biggest game of
the year. Also, Clarkson is notorious for starting their season poorly and
finishing
strong. This year, the Knights have waited a bit longer than usual to begin
their run but they are now only 1 point out of first so there should be
no lack of intensity on the Field House ice (or in the stands tonight).
Mark Lewin
RPI '69
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