Last night at the Houston Fieldhouse the RPI Engineers sleepwalked past a
pesky Dartmouth team that seemed poised to snatch a point in its Capital
District roadtrip.  Perhaps the 'engineers were looking ahead to tonight's
encounter with the talented Catamounts, or perhaps the young team was feeling
a little confused, immersed in a stretch run it had never faced before.  At
the end, their most dependable forward saved the game ant the two points to
keep the Engineers at the top of the ECAC standings.
 
It was apparent even before the band finished the last strains of "O Canada"
that the fans were in for a quiet, boring night.  Looking around the bacant
Fieldhouse, only an optimistic 2,698 according to the official attendance,
one could see the devoted already snuggling into their seats for a long
winter's nap.
 
Taking their cue from their silent fans, the Engineers quickly surrender a
goal to Dartmouth.  RPI's Prekaski  elects to take a stroll out of the nets ,
and an opportunistic Sturgis sends the puck back to the now untended goal.
 At just 1:18 Dartmouth enjoys a 1-0 lead.  Nothing more of note takes place
the rest of the period.  The Engineers make a flurry at 12:50, but Dartmouth
carries the play throughout most of the first.  Only their dearth of skilled
finishers keeps Dartmouth from expanding upon its lead.
 
The Engineers briefly awake from their slumber to grab the lead in the
second.  At 5:17 RPI gets on the board scoring the only really interesting
goal of the night.  Pete Gardiner lays a mammoth hit on a Dartmouth
defenseman at center ice, and springs a 2-1 with Murphy heading into the
Dartmouth zone.   Murphy crushes a shot off the blocker of Dartmouth's Wong,
and the puck caroms into the net, tying the game at 1.
 
At 11:37 the plodding pace is again interrupted by an RPI scoring burst.
 Steve Caley steals the puck in deep and hits an open JF Gosselin, who makes
the right decision for a 2-1 RPI lead.  Murphy receives the second assist.
 Forty-five seconds later the Engineers go up by 2 as Doug Battaglia,
standing out front, takes the pass from  Brian Pothier.  Battaglia takes his
time to decide on a wrister to the glove side, and Caley gets the second
assist.
 
Dartmouth's coach Roger Demmant calls his timeout after the third RPI goal,
and manages to return the game to the plodding tempo more conducive to the
Dartmouth offensive style.  How plodding was the game?  In fact there were
only three power plays the entire game, with most of the action taking place
at center ice.
 
At 18:18 Dartmouth gets one back as Chaytors sends a soft wrist shot past
Prekaski., Buckley with the assist.   At this point play stops for good in
order to repair a broken pane of glass.  When play resumes following the
premature intermission RPI regains its two goal advantage.  At 19:12 Alain
St. Hilaire takes the puck down the left side and slides it to Matt Garver on
the wing, who shoots the forehand past Wong's glove.  Healy receives the
third assist.
 
The third period, commencing immediately after Garver's goal, sees the
Engineers  play their worst third period of the year.  Darmouth picks up its
play  and begins to pressure the Engineer defense.  After a slow five
minutes, Dartmouth puts RPI on its heals for the remainder of regulation.  At
5:01 Dartmouth scores its third goal as a 3-1 develops down low in front of
Prekaski.  An RPI defender goes down to block a shot and Giedt sends the puck
high over the prone defenseman and psast the desperate glove of Prekaski.
 Retter and Kelleher receive assists.
 
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