1st period
G RPI 1-0 1:04 Gardiner (Aldous,Riva)
P RPI 3:27 Reigstad tripping
P Harvard 7:50 Chodorow slash
G Harvard 1-1 9:53 J. McCarthy (S. Moore)
P Harvard 10:29 Hyland holding
P Harvard 14:11 Morrell tripping
G RPI 2-1 15:20 Aldous (Healey,Garver) ppg
saves
Jonas(Harvard) 9 Prekaski(RPI) 13
2nd period
P RPI 3:11 Murray interference
P Harvard 6:54 Storey holding
P RPI 11:54 Reigstad late hit
P Harvard 11:54 Sproule late hit
G Harvard 2-2 13:34 McCarthy (Millar,Schwefel)
G Harvard 2-3 15:58 McCarthy (Conklin,Sproule)
P Harvard 16:49 Storey holding
G RPI 3-3 18:08 Healey(Murphy) ppg
saves
Jonas(Harvard) 4 Prekaski(RPI) 15
3rd period
G RPI 4-3 3:16 Murphy (Healey,Murray)
P Harvard 5:00 M. Moore tripping
G Harvard 4-4 8:00 Sproule (Morrell)
P Harvard 12:39 Bala holding
G RPI 5-4 14:17 Murphy (Healey,Garver) ppg
G RPI 6-4 16:31 Shepherd (Brad Tapper,Caley)
P RPI 19:42 Aldous cross check
saves
Jonas(Harvard) 10 Prekaski(RPI) 8
total saves
Jonas(Harvard) 23 Prekaski(RPI) 36
Mark Murphy, filling in for the injured Alain St. Hillaire,
scored 2 goals and added an assist as the Engineers defeated
visiting harvard tonight 6-4 in one of the stranger games I've
seen in a while.
When I was sitting at the game, I remarked how slow and boring
the game was, yet when I wrote up the box, it looked exciting.
During the game I commented how absolutely dismal RPI's power play
looked. At one point, it looked so bad that every time RPI went on
a power play, people in the crowd started yelling "decline the
penalty". Yet, 3 of RPI's 6 goals were power play goals.
The truth of the matter is that RPI played hot and cold all night.
As the children's story goes: when they were good, they were
very good. When they were bad, they were AWFUL.
RPI opened the scoring at 1:04 of the first period when Danny
Riva got the puck back to Chris Aldous on the point who flipped
it lightly toward the net where Pete Gardiner tipped it past
Harvard goalie Oliver Jonas for a 1-0 lead. That was the high
point for a while as RPI's intensity and focus seemed to go downhill
for the remainder of the period. Harvard tied the score at 9:53
with the goal going to Jeremiah McCarthy on an assist from Steve Moore.
Things kept getting worse although steady goaltending from Scott
Prekaski and the inability of the Harvard forwards to put together
any sustained offense saved the day for the Engineers. RPI actually
went ahead at 15:20 on the power play when Matt Garver shoveled the puck
behind the net to Eric Healey who found Chris Aldous back on the point.
Aldous lightly lifted the puck toward the net but Jonas must have been
screened, as the puck went by him for a 2-1 lead.
In the second period, things just got worse. RPI couldn't get out of
their own way. They kept giving up breakaways and odd man rushes to
the Crimson but missed shots and solid goaltending kept Harvard
from running away with the game. The game was Harvard's to take
at that point, but the Crimson just wouldn't take it.
Harvard did manage to tie the game at 2-2 at 13:34 while both teams
were a man short. The goal was scored by Jeremiah McCarthy (his second
of the night) from Rob Millar and Harry Schwefel. Just over 2 minutes
later Harvard took the lead on McCarthy's 3rd goal of the evening
from Brice Conklin and Doug Sproule. One of my companions for the evening
(whose son is a freshman at that other engineering school up in Potsdam)
almost lost his horrid Golden Knights cap in celebration. Only sheer luck
and the fact that he is much bigger than I am, saved the cap from sailing
out onto the ice. Losing the lead must have finally jolted the Engineers
and they seemed to perk up and become focused after that. At 18:08, on the
power play,RPI goalie Scott Prekaski cleared the puck and found Mark Murphy
racing down the right side. Murphy drew the defense to his side and slid
the puck across to Eric Healey who tied the game at 3-3 to finish out the
2nd period.
Coach Fridgen must have read the riot act to the Engineers in the intermission
because they came out flying and focused and intense and played a good, solid
period of hockey in the third. At 3:16, Eric Healey took a pass from
George Murray and worked his way from the left face off circle into the
high slot and put a nice shot into Harvard goalie Oliver Jonas. Jonas made
a nice stop but couldn't control the rebound and Mark Murphy poked the puck
past him to put the Engineers up 4-3. To Harvard's credit, they never
folded. At 8:00 , the Crimson tied the game at 4-4 on a goal by Doug Sproule
and Graham Morrell. But the Engineer first line was clicking and they all
got into the act at 14:17 when Doug Garver got the puck out to Eric Healey
and went up ice 2 on 1 with Mark Murphy on the power play. The defenseman
took the man and Healey got the puck over to Murphy who put it past Jonas
for a 5-4 lead. About 2 minutes later, sophomore Doug Shepherd scored his
1st goal of the year from Brad Tapper and Steve Caley to close out the
scoring.
The Engineers miss the injured Alain St-Hilaire and it caused them to juggle
lines to fill in for him. Also missing from the lineup tonight was Doug
Battaglia (anyone know why?) and perhaps the results of these 2 missing
forwards explains some of the sloppy play early in the game as the new lines
had to get used to one another. They finally did get their act together
and played a strong third period and hopefully built up some positive
momentum to take them into tomorrow night's game against Brown.
Mark Lewin
RPI - class of '69
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