Official release from the RPI SID


MEN'S HOCKEY SKATES TO 2-2 TIE WITH BROWN
Bears score late in third period to tie league contest


The Brown Bears scored at the 15:17 mark of the third period to force a 2-2 tie with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) men's hockey game this evening at the Houston Field House in Troy, NY.  RPI, which has played three straight overtime games, is now 7-5-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the ECAC while the Bears are 4-6-2 overall and 3-4-1 in league action.

The Engineers broke on top early in the first period when freshman defenseman Matt McNeely scored his first collegiate goal at the 1:03 mark.  McNeely, a native of Almonte, Ont., took a pass from Conrad Barnes and scored on a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the right face-off circle.  The Bears tied the score just eight minutes later when sophomore Pascal Denis tallied on a rebound of a Mike Meech wraparound.  Junior Jason Wilson also earned an assist on the goal.

RPI scored the only goal of the second period when senior captain Matt Murley scored on a rebound from the doorstep.  Brown goaltender Yann Danis stopped a shot from Barnes but couldn't control the rebound and Murley, who missed the previous four games with mononucleosis, notched his eighth of the season.

The Bears came back to tie the game again, this time with just over four minutes left in the third period when sophomore Shane Mudryk slammed home the puck with the visitors on the power play.  Mudryk took a cross-crease pass from Paul Esdale and scored his second of the season.  Brent Robinson, a sophomore, also earned an assist on the game-tying goal.

Danis finished with 32 saves for Brown, including 13 in the second period, while Kevin Kurk stopped 19 shots for RPI.

Rensselaer returns to action on Saturday night when they will host league-leading Harvard University in an ECAC matchup at the Houston Field House.  The Bears will be at Union College, which lost to the Crimson, 3-2, tomorrow night.  Both games begin at 7pm.