Official press release from RPI's SID

MEN'S HOCKEY HOLDS OFF PRINCETON, 5-4
Engineers win Game 1 to take first round series lead

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) scored three power play goals to
take a 5-2 lead and the Engineers hel off a late charge by Princeton
University for a 5-4 win in game one of a best-of-three first round
Eastern
College Athletic Conference (ECAC) playoff series at the Houston Field
House in Troy, N.Y.

With the win, the Engineers improve to 20-13-2 overall and have now won
at
least 20 games in four of the past six years. Rensselaer, the fifth
seed,
is now one win from advancing to next week's best-of-three second
round. RPI, which would travel to fourth-seeded Dartmouth, hosts
Princeton
in game two on Saturday night at 7pm. If a third game is necessary, it
will be held on Sunday night at 7pm in Troy.

Rensselaer jumped out to 1-0 lead 4:56 into the first period when senior
Ryan Shields swept the puck past Princeton netminder Eric Leroux. The
play
started when RPI defenseman Blake Pickett blocked a clearing attempt on
the
right boards and sent a shot towards the net. The shot was blocked to
Shields, who scored his sixth goal of the season from the right edge of
the
left faceoff circle. The Engineers had numerous other scoring chances
but
Leroux, a sophomore, made several outstanding saves. He finished with
nine
in the period, as did Rensselaer's Nathan Marsters.

The Engineers made it 2-0 at 6:26 of the second period when sophomore
forward Kevin Croxton slammed home a Kirk MacDonald pass for a power
play
goal. MacDonald received a Nick Economakos pass while skating towards
the
net and dished to a wide open Croxton, who was standing just to the left
of
the goal. The marker was Croxton's team-leading 17th of the season while
the assists were the 17th for both MacDonald and Economakos. Sophomore
forward Sebastian Borza cut Princeton's deficit in half when he
collected a
clearing attempt and slapped a shot over the glove-side shoulder of
Marsters. For Borza, who scored at 8:40 of the middle frame, the goal
was
his second of the season. RPI regained its two-goal margin when
sophomore
defenseman Brad Farynuk scored on a slap shot from the right point with
the
Engineers on the power play. Economakos and Scott Basiuk assisted on the
goal, which came at the 16:59 mark.

Croxton scored his second of the night at 4:48 of the third period for a
4-1 lead but the Tigers got the goal back when Patrick Neundorfer scored
approximately three minutes later. Croxton tallied his 18th of the
season
on a rebound of a Basiuk slapshot while Neundorfer picked up a carom of
a
Darroll Powe shot at 7:30 of the period. Neundorfer's goal, which was
also
assisted by Seamus Young, gave Princeton the momentum until a roughing
penalty at 12:30 shifted it back to RPI. The Engineers took advantage
when
Economakos backhanded the puck past Leroux at the 13:23 mark. MacDonald
and Ben Barr were credited with the assists on the power play goal.
Goals
by Princeton's Powe at 16:32 and Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer at 17:48 swung
the
momentum back to the Tigers but the visitors could not get the
equalizer.

Marsters finished with 22 saves for the win while Leroux stopped 18
shots
in the loss.


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