In one of their worst performances so far, (from a list which includes the
second period in the Merrimack game and the third period at St. Lawrence), the
RPI Engineers awarded New Hampshire a 6-3 victory at the Houston Fieldhouse.
With the exception of maybe the first three minutes of the first period, and
5 minutes in the third, the Engineers allowed New Hampshire to pretty much run
the show.
 
The game opened with RPI skating with some determination, although New
Hampshire got off the first shot.  But soon thereafter Matthews scored the
first Engineer goal off a deflection on a shot from Jeff Brick at 1:38.  RPI
continued to skate for the next few minutes with each team trading off moribund
power plays.
 
At 11:03 New Hampshire even the score at 1-1 on a quasi 2 on 1.  It appeared
from my vantage point that this was a "soft" goal.  Little for some reason
went down early to block an expected shot from Nolan, who was leading the
charge.  But Nolan, not intending to shoot, passed of to Royal, trailing on the
play, who wristed the puck into the corner of the net as Little lay sprawled on
the ice.
 
The initial New Hampshire goal seemed to act like Thorazine on the RPI team,
and especially the defense.  Not long after, at 15:18, New Hampshire scored a
power play goal.  Royal, camped out in front of Little as the RPI defensemen
watched him, calmly took a centering pass from Clinton, located behind the net,
and stuffed the puck into the net.  Dexter received the second assist on the
play.
 
The second period saw RPI play the worst period at home this year.  I'm not
sure if Buddy intentionally permits his team to rest throughout the middle
stanza, but in both the Merrimack and UNH games, the Engineers gave the game
away in the second. At 6:18 UNH got their third goal off a shot from Whitman,
assists to Royal and Linton.  At this point the RPI defense disappeared.  The
defensemen seemed to rely solely on stick checks; physical play was ignored.
The lackadaisical defensive effort was reward with by the fourth UNH score at
11:47.  RPI, skating another repulsive power play, responded to aggressive
forechecking by the UNH defense, and coughed up the puck directly in front of
Little.  Not one to look a gift horse in the eye, Donavan flipped the puck
into the net.  Missed the assist on the play.
 
RPI managed to limp through the rest of the period without any further damage.
RPI earned another power play, much to the fans' dismay, but could scarcely
get off a shot, let alone a scoring opportunity.  At the end of the period the
score stood at UNH 4, RPI 1.
 
The beginning of the third period opened appropriately, with Xavier Majic
taking a penalty at 0:44.  It was nice to have the opportunity to watch an
intelligent power play, complete with passing and jamming in front of the
net ;-).  Luckily RPI held on, although RPI's defense spent most of their time
standing at the blue line watching pucks approach, and the UNH forwards skate
past them.  The play grew so desperate that the RPI defenseman iced the puck
at 7:25, garnering sarcastic applause from the crowd.  At 14:03 RPI went on
another power play.  And amazingly it resulted in a score.  A fine individual
effort from Tim Regan and Jeff Brick, who screened the UNH goaltender, resulted
in Regan scoring RPI's second goal, with assists to Askew and Majic.  Regan,
who looked like a man on a mission, continued his assault, walking in on the
UNH goaltender and scoring again at 14:23, assist to Richardson.  With the
score at 4-3 RPI was back in it, and RPI began to pinch in with a defensemen.
UNH, playing with the discipline they had shown all night, set up a nifty
counterattack however.  At 18:35 Stewart and Murray hustled down ice, beating
the RPI defense on a 2 on 1, with Murray waiting for Little to commit, then
sliding the puck over to Stewart for an easy tap-in.  The fifth UHN score
emptied the Fieldhouse, although New Hampshire would also score an empty netter
in the waning seconds (didn't get the scoring.)
 
In summary, RPI looks like the team that played in Lake Placid last spring.
For a veteran team, the Engineers are playing fundamentally unsound.  The
defense seems to have collapsed.  Down to just 4 defensemen, with Adam Bartell
still out, both pairings seem to be skating with concrete skates.  Cuthbert
had a particularly bad outing, making extremely poor decisions around Little.
And the defensemen shy away from taking the body, relying only on their sticks
to impede their opponent's forwards.Opposing wingers know they own the
corners--no RPI defensemen is going todeliver any punishment to the diggers
going down low.  And at center ice the D seemsclueless, although the forward
deserve some of the blame as well.  But, savingthe worst for last, the power
play is simply atrocious.  RPI seems to know onlyone play, skate down the slot
and try and jam the puck through a jungle of bigdefensemen.  The forwards
refuse to whip the puck around the perimeter to tryand get the defense out of
position.  And in turn the pointmen refuse to take ashot, or organize a
scoring play.
 
I hate to say this, but...the team needs a little coaching.  They seem to be
playing small, intimidated by the bigger teams they are facing.  Unless they
play with a draining intensity, like the BU game, they simply can't control
the play in their own end.  With the waves of good teams they continue to face
in the next three weeks (potentially 3 out of the top 5) the entire season is
at stake.
                    _
            "NYS   // Hockey"
        Go 'Gate  //   Brian Morris
          Go RPI //      Albany, NY
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