RPI completed its first ECAC sweep of the season and first sweep of
Clarkson and St. Lawrence since 1984 by defeating St. Lawrence by a
score of 4 to 3 in overtime at Houston Field House.
SLU 1 - 2 - 0 - 0 == 3
RPI 1 - 2 - 0 - 1 == 4
Scoring:
1st Period: SLU (1) Meany, from LaCroix and Albert (3:11)(pp); RPI (1)
Brick, from Clarke and Hilditch (8:46).
2nd Period: RPI (2) Robitaille from Brick and Hamelin (4:54) (pp);
SLU (2) Carvel from Wells and C. Lappin (7:45); SLU (3) C. Lappin
from Wells (12:56); RPI (3) Majic from Vaillant and Pasco (16:08).
3rd Period: None.
Overtime: RPI (4) Vaillant from Pasco and Robitaille (3:19)
Saves: Spagnoletti (SLU) 8 - 9 - 5 - 1 == 23
Little (RPI) 10 -11 -13 - 2 == 36
Attendance : 4020
Referee : Pierre Belanger
RPI is again counting its blessing as a solid team effort and
a bit of luck helped the Engineers to their most successful
weekend of the year. RPI executed a game plan intended to shut
down SLU's big guns (Mike Lappin, Dan Laperriere, and Eric
Lacroix) and they did just that. Neil Little played very
well as the Saints dominated the late stages of the game. SLU
put themselves in a position to win the game when RPI's
Robitaille was called for hooking with 5 seconds left in regulation.
Little made several key saves on the Saints' power play at
the start of OT to keep the score knotted at 3. Back at full
strength, SLU continued to apply the pressure until Robitaille
fired a pass up to Pasco who made a nifty move around Chris Lappin
at the RPI blueline. Pasco came up the left wing and finessed a
slot crossing pass to Dan Vaillant who shelved the puck over
a sprawling Spagnoletti. The goal put the Engineers at 6-9-3 in
ECAC (12-11-3 overall), and dropped the Saints to 13-4-1 (17-7-2).
My assesment would be that RPI was a bit outplayed, but not
dominated. Little was definitely a major factor. There were 52
mins. in penalties, including a 10 min. misconduct to RPI's
Ivan Moore. Pierre did a good officiating job, but what else
would you expect from him????
Tony