MEN’S HOCKEY SLAMS UMASS, 9-2
Engineers score six in the first period on way to victory
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) hosted the University of
Massachusetts in a non-league Division I men’s ice hockey game at the Houston Field House and the Engineers exploded for six goals in the first period, including four by junior Matt Murley, on their way to a 9-2 victory before a crowd of 3,248. RPI improves to 4-3-0 while UMass is now 3-6-2.
Murley, who entered the game with four goals on the season, got the Engineers on the board early when he snapped a wrist shot past Minutemen goalie Markus Helanen on the power play just 2:17 into the game. Murley doubled the lead five minutes later when he scored from just outside the crease.
With RPI holding a 2-0 lead and skating on the power play, the game turned ugly when three players from each team were assessed fighting majors and disqualified. By NCAA rules, Rensselaer’s Scott Basiuk, Danny Eberly and Ben Barr, along with UMass players Luke Duplessis, Thomas Pock and Randy Drohan will now be forced to sit out the next game for their respective teams. Duplessis was also given a cross checking penalty and the Minutemen bench was assessed a two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty. In total, the first period featured 20 penalties for 106 minutes. RPI had six power plays in the period.
Rensselaer took full advantage of their power play time in the first as junior defenseman Jim Vickers scored his second of the season at the 13:57 mark. Just 34 seconds later, Murley recorded the natural hat trick when he batted in a loose puck from the slot area. Freshman Ryan Shields made the score 5-0 and chased Helanen when he tallied his first career goal, which he batted in from the slot, at the 15:13 mark.
Murley welcomed UMass’s new goaltender, Mike Johnson, by sliding the puck past the junior netminder just 15 seconds after he entered the game. RPI sophomore Carson Butterwick assisted on the goal, giving him three in the game’s first stanza.
The second period saw the Minutemen cut the lead to 6-2 on goals by sophomore J.R. Zavisza – the first of his career – and junior Martin Milijko – a 5 on 3 marker - but a power play goal by Marc Cavosie increased the Engineers’ lead to 7-2 after two periods. Nolan Graham scored early in the third period to give Rensselaer an 8-2 lead. Murley, a Troy, NY, native, assisted on Graham’s goal for his fifth point of the night and the 100th of his career. He now has 34 goals and 66 assists in 78 career games. Chris Migliore added a shorthanded goal for the game’s final margin.
Rensselaer starting goalie Kevin Kurk made 16 saves on 18 shots in 56:41 while little-used Jim Palmer stopped 3 shots in the final 3:19. For UMass, Helanen finished with 14 saves in 35:13 of action and Johnson stopped 17 shots.
The Engineers return to action next Saturday night when they’ll host Mercyhurst at 7pm at Houston Field House. UMass plays on Tuesday at Vermont (7pm).
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Kevin Beattie
Sports Information Director
Rensselaer
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Box score: attendance 3116
Officials: Dan Murphy-Morgan waters-Mike St. Louis
period 1
P 2:05 UMA Jalkanen (hooking)
G 2:17 RPI (1-0) Murley (Henkel,Vickers) ppg
P 2:21 RPI Budish (obstruction hooking)
G 7:18 RPI (2-0) Murley (Graham,Butterwick)
P 10:28 UMA Pock (boarding)
P 12:11 UMA Scaparotti (roughing)
P 12:39 RPI Barr (fighting major + disqualification)
P 12:39 RPI Eberly (fighting major + disqualification)
P 12:39 RPI Basiuk (fighting major + disqualification)
P 12:39 UMA Pock (fighting major + disqualification)
P 12:39 UMA Drohan (fighting major + disqualification)
P 12:39 UMA Duplessis ( cross checking + fighting major +
disqualification P 12:39 UMA bench minor
G 13:57 RPI (3-0) Vickers (Henkel, M. Cavosie) 5x3
G 14:31 RPI (4-0) Murley (Butterwick,Collova) 5x3
G 15:13 RPI (5-0) Shields (Barnes, M Cavosie) ppg
15:13 UMA timeout
15:13 UMA goalie change Helanen out; Johnson in
G 15:28 RPI (6-0) Murley (Graham, Butterwick)
P 15:40 RPI E. Cavosie (interference)
P 18:55 UMA Zavisza (obstruction hooking)
period 2
G 3:47 UMA (1-6) Zavisza (Scaparotti,Crumb)
P 6:34 UMA bench minor (too many men)
P 9:09 RPI E. Cavosie (hooking)
P 9:27 RPI Cunning (delay of game)
G 10:48 UMA (2-6) Miljko (Jalkanen,Nizwantowski) 5x3
P 14:00 RPI Migliore (roughing)
P 14:00 UMA Turner (slashing)
P 15:30 UMA Shaw (roughing)
G 17:23 RPI (7-2) M. Cavosie (Vickers,Henkel) ppg
period 3
0:00 UMA goalie change - Johnson out; Helanen in
G 1:57 RPI (8-2) Graham (Murley,Butterwick)
P 3:07 UMA Jalkanen (slashing)
P 12:19 RPI Cunning (hooking)
12:19 RPI goalie change Kurk out; Palmer in
P 18:12 RPI Shields (boarding)
G 18:38 RPI (9-2) Migliore unassisted shg
saves: 1 2 3 T
RPI(Kurk/Palmer) 4 7 8 19
UMA (Helanen/Johnson) 13 12 6 31
Not a whole lot to add on this one. The box score says it all.
RPI dominated early. At 12:39 of the first after a scramble in the slot, Marc Cavosie had his helmet knocked off. UMass defenseman Luke Duplessis cross checked Cavosie across the back of his neck. Sticks and gloves were dropped and in the ensuing fight, both teams lost 3 players with fighting majors and game disqualifications. UMass, who had only dressed 5 defenseman saw two of their defenseman thrown out. In addition, Umass went another man down due to the original cross check in addition to the man already in the box. To add insult to injury, referee Dan Murphy called a bench minor on UMass for mouthing off (I think it was Coach Cahoon who got the call but I'm not positive). RPI scored 2 goals 5x3 and another 5x4 to take a 5-0 lead and the game was just about over.
Matt Murley's line played real well with Murley putting on a stick handling exhibition, scoring 4 goals and adding a later assist. The icing on the cake was Chris Migliore's short handed goal to put the Engineers ahead 9-2.
Not much positive to say about UMass tonight. They started out bad and went downhill from there. They'll just have to write off tonight as one of those nightmare games and put it behind them. UMass travels to the CatHouse to play Vermont on Tuesday while RPI faces Mercyhurst at home.
next Saturday.
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