box (recap and comments after)
period 1
P 4:58 St.L. DiFrancesco (roughing)
P 4:58 RPI Brownlee (roughing)
P 9:04 St.L. Desrosiers (tripping)
P 13:07 RPI Caley (interference)
P 16:05 RPI Brownlee (hooking)
P 17:13 St.L. Desrosiers (interference)
period 2
G :31 St.L. (0-1) DiFrancesco (Oikawa,McGrath)
G :52 RPI (1-1) Riva (Murphy)
P 3:36 St.L. Veneruzzo (hooking)
G 4:37 RPI (2-1) Riva (Murphy,St. Hillaire) ppg
P 7:05 RPI James (interference)
P 10:04 RPI Pothier tripping
G 11:33 RPI (3-1) Garver (St. Hillaire,Coupal) shg
G 11:48 St.L. (3-2) DiFrancesco (Prier,Poapst) ppg
P 14:29 RPI Murphy (hitting from behind)
G 15:15 RPI (4-2) St. Hillaire (Caley) shg
P 16:42 St.L. bench minor (too many men on the ice)
G 17:02 RPI (5-2) Healey (Murphy,Garver) ppg
P 19:35 St.L. Jake Harney (tripping)
period 3
G 1:00 RPI (6-2) Caley (Gardiner,Pothier) ppg
P 2:01 RPI Pothier (roughing)
G 3:59 St.L (6-3) Prier (DiFrancesco,Ladouceur) ppg
G 5:36 St.L (6-4) Oikawa (DiFrancesco,Jake Harney)
G 10:24 RPI (7-4) Healey (Brad Tapper,St. Hillaire)
P 14:51 RPI Murray (elbowing)
P 19:05 RPI Gardiner (roughing)
P 19:05 St.L. Ladouceur (roughing)
P 19:05 St.L. Clarke (roughing)
P 19:05 St.L. Justin Harney (unsportsmanlike conduct)
referee - Murphy
assistants - Shea,Campatelli
attendance 3238
saves 1 2 3 totals
Laing(RPI) 14 6 13 33
Symington(St.L) 8 12 12 32
RPI opened the game flat as they did last night. Last night,
Scott Prekaski saved the Engineers in goal during that looooong
first period. Tonight, Joel Laing played a solid game in the net
but at least the RPI defense decided to show up early. Solid
defense kept St. Lawrence at bay in the first period while
the Larries defense just kept the RPI offense from doing
anything.
St. Lawrence jumped out to a quick lead at :31 of the second
when Matt Oikawa's shot from the high slot was stopped by
Joel Laing, but the rebound went out to Paul DiFrancesco who
spun around backwards throwing the puck towards the crease
on his backhand. It appeared as if the puck either richocheted
off an RPI defenseman or Laing's skate and went in to break the 0-0 tie.
Before that goal was even announced, RPI tied it at 0:52 on a goal by
Danny Riva (from Mark Murphy).
RPI took a 2-1 lead when Danny Riva took a hard shot that St. Lawrence
goalie Jeremy Symington (doesn't that sound like a name that should
be from Masterpiece Theatre?) knocked down but let trickle across the
goal line. At 11:33 Matt Garver put RPI up 3-1 on a short handed goal
from Alain St. Hillaire and Glenn Coupal (his first college point)
but just 15 seconds later Paul Difrancesco got one back on the same power
play when he took a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that Laing
appeared to knock down, but it, too, trickled across the goal line.
At 15:15, Alain St. Hillaire put the Engineers up 4-2 with RPI's second
short handed goal of the game. Two minutes later, Eric Healey put
RPI up 5-2 on a power play goal (too many men on the ice).
One minute into the 3rd period, RPI made it 6-2 when Steve Caley
scored yet another power play goal and it looked as if a rout was on.
When St. Lawrence went on a power play at 2:01 of the third, RPI
missed two point blank chances at scoring a third short handed goal.
Actually, both were nice saves by Symington, the second one swept away by the
defense starting an odd man rush for the Larries that resulted in a
power play goal by Bob Prier was assists to Ladouceur and DiFrancesco.
Before RPI could settle in, St. Lawrence closed the gap to 2 (6-4)
when Matt Oikawa scored from DiFrancesco and Jake Harney.
RPI put the game away at 10:24 when Brad Tapper and Alain St. Hillaire
stole the puck off the side boards and threw the puck to Eric Healey
who was all alone in the slot. Healey beat Symington up high to put RPI
up 7-4 .
A few observations:
The two games this weekend were key games in the ECAC race. Yet,
only 3238 fans turned out for the game tonight (after 4300 last night).
It would have been very easy for RPI to have a letdown after a
very emotional game last night against Clarkson.
To their credit, they did not let down and won a game they had to win.
Paul DiFrancesco, senior captain from St. Lawrence was all over the
ice tonight. He scored 2 of the Larries' 4 goals and had assists on the
other two. The rest of the ECAC must be real glad he's a senior this year.
RPI's special teams really stepped up to the plate tonight (how's
that for a mixed metaphor?) scoring 4 power play goals and 2 short
handed goals.
How badly did the Engineers miss Alain St. Hillaire when he was
injured through the month of January? Friday night he had one goal
and 2 assists. Tonight, he had another goal and 3 assists.
With 3 weekends left in the regular season, RPI is in good shape
to determine their own destiny. Next weekend, they travel to
Hanover,NH to face a surprisingly improved Dartmouth team and
then on to the dreaded Cat House in Burlington to face Vermont.
The following weekend takes the Engineers on the road to face the
the teams just ahead of them (Colgate) and just behind them
(Cornell) at the always quiet and serene Lynah rink.
The last weekend finds the Engineers back in Troy to face Princeton,
and first place Yale.
Mark Lewin
RPI - class of '69
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