Hockey is a strange game.  One night a team can turn its fortunes around on the
flukiest of bounces, and re-energize a floundering season.  Such was the case
tonight as a dispirited RPI team, dominated for the past three games, rises up
like Lazarus and steals a win from a stubborn St. Lawrence team.  And it goes
without saying that the two stars of the game would be the most unlikely of
choices.
 
As the first period commence, most RPI fans were hoping merely that the E        Engei
the Engineers would merely end the 180 minutes plus of scoring futility.  While
the Engineers appeared to be more determined than previously, there scoring
ineptitude continue through the first ten minutes.  However it must be said that
they did begin to generate some opportunities, most notably a point-blank blast
at the 3:35 mark which SLU's Bracco stopped.  Both Bracco and RPI's Joel Laing
turned in strong performances tonight, Bracco coming up big repeatedly in close-
in situations, and Laing using a hot glove to snatch pucks out of the air.  SLU
would ultimately get the first score, not unexpectedly, as an RPI skater coughs
up the puck to Scott Stevens (got to love that hockey name).  Laing makes the
initial save but Ryan Cassidy buries the rebound past Laing, at 9:28.
 
In previous games the script would call for RPI to fold, but tonight the
Engineers managed to keep their composure, and keep working.  At the 15:28 mark
the hard work pays off, and the Houston Fieldhouse erupts as the moment the fans
have been praying for takes place.  As the Engineers exert extreme pressure on
Bracco, firing three shots in succession, Alain St. Hilaire bulls his way to
the front of the net and pushes the puck into the goal for a score.  Healy will
receive the assist.  RPI's number one line will figure on four of the six goals
tonight.  The period will end with the Engineers and Fighting Saints tied at one
goal apiece.
 
The second period sees the Engineers trying to establish an offensive flow, but
thwarted by a very confident Bracco.  However RPI's Mark Murphy singlehandedly
re-ignites the Engineer offense on a sterling effort.  Taking the puck away from
a SLU skater near the blue line, Murphy stickhandles through two SLU defenseman.
and gets off a shot which Bracco handles.  The rebound goes to the side of the
net, which is gathered in by Murphy, who continues behind the net.  Murphy
then skates back to the front and shoots it past a surprise Bracco for an
unassisted goal.
 
RPI's unaccustomed advantage will result in some physical play in the next
minutes, as freshman defenseman Brian Pothier levels an SLU player in the
corner.  But the offense can't expand their lead, despite a power play advantage
at 11:10.  At 13:39 Bracco makes three consecutive saves on the Engineers, the
last shot ringing off the post, with the Saints then going on the counter-at
attack and crowds the goal in front of Joel Laing.  McLaughlin flips the puck
into the goal with DiFrancesco getting the assist, at 13:49.  St. Lawrence
presses its attack after tying the game, and forces the puck in the RPI zone.
Forward Scott Stevens literally skates circles around the passive RPI defense,
taking the puck behind the goal, then around to the top of the face-off circle,
then over to the side where he unleashes a shot.  McLaughlin will end up with a  a
goal on a rebound, with Stevens and Cassidy, who was the SLU skater who made
the skating play rather than Stevens as I review my notes, receiving assists,
at 15:06.  Shortly thereafter RPI is rewarded a power play on a holding call to
Ken Ruddock.  The Engineers will really work the puck in the SLU zone, holding
it in for nearly the full two minutes, but goal Bracco will stop all the shots
and St. Lawrence will end the second period on top 3-2.
 
The third period will be the dramatic one for the Engineers, probably the best
third period of the last two years.  The period begins innocuously enough for
the Saints.  Play is pretty even over the first third, and goalie Bracco
repeatedly frustrates the Engineer's quality efforts, with the Engineers
beginning to get active in the shot department.  At the 6:00 mark a face-off
in the SLU zone is won by Steve Caley, and the puck goes to defenseman Pat
Brownlee.  Brownlee sends a long slap shot toward Bracco, which he stops, but
fails to prevent from trickling over the line.  RPI ties the game up on the
first goal of the season from a defenseman who has been struggling, on a weak
shot that gets past a goalie who has been playing very well upto this point.
 
Brownlee's goal serves to fire up the Engineers, and they begin to take the
game away from the Saints.  Eric Healy, who has nine or ten shots on goal
tonight, leads the attack on Bracco, along with his linemates Sta. Hilaire and
Gardiner.  Healy despite his quality effort, will not score tonight.  But
unexpectedly his linemate Pete Gardiner, becomes the scoring machine which
lifts RPI to victory.  At the 13:14 mark the St. Hilaire line sends a score of
shots at Bracco from the front of the net.  This time Gardiner gets his short
wrister past Bracco for a goal, St. Hilaire and Healy getting assists.  RPI's
defense picks up its play and Chris Aldous sends an SLU skater sprawling on a
textbook hip check, and then gains the puck deep in the SLU zone.  Aldous snds
a hard angled shot at Bracco, which incredibly ricchchets off the post to
Gardiner, who had snuck in front, who then deflected the puck past Bracco for
the insurance goal.  The Engineers at this point overpowered the Saints for the
remaining minutes with St. Lawrence barely able to get the puck out of its zone.
At the 19:00 minute mark Bracco was pulled for an extra skater but Gardiner
again got off two shots on the unattended goal.  The first shot hits the post,
the second was carried into the net by the freshman, who was rewarded with a
natural hat trick for his effort.  Shepherd and Caley receive gift assists on
the empth net goal, at 19:15.
 
An unexpected result perhaps, but certainly not undeserved.  The Engineers
worked very hard for the victory, overcoming both the Saints and their own
psyche to emerge with a split for the North Country weekend.  With the two p
points the Engineers should remain at or near the top of the ECAC standings,
after the upsets of Friday nights.  Next up for the Engineers is a pair of away
games with HE foes Northeastern and Merrimack next weekend.
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Brian Morris                        RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty
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