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 ______// [log in to unmask] (______/