RPI OT Win Caps a Wild Comeback Jayson Moy Was there a sense of urgency for RPI after Friday's loss to Union College? Was the top of the ECAC standings looking farther and farther away after the 1 and 2 teams Brown and Harvard swept their weekend ECAC games? If it wasn't before Sunday afternoon's game at Yale, then it sure was after 2 periods of play when the Bulldogs held a commanding 4-1 lead. Yale thoroughtly outplayed RPI through two periods tallying 1 Power Pllay goal, 1 Short Handed goal, and 1 4 on 4 goal. If not for Bryan Richardson's lone goal, the Engineers would not have even been on the board. Yale opened the scoring at 3:58 on the power play as Zoran Kozic's 5th goal of the season delighted the Ingalls Rink crowd. Bryan Richardson tied it up at the 17:28 mark after freeing the puck from along the boards and beating Yale goalie Todd Sullivan. The spot of the goal was above Sullivan's right shoulder and just underneath the crossbar, and area of perhaps 8 square inches. Even though the game was tied at 1, Yale had outhustled and manhandled RPI in every facet of the game except on the scoreboard. While it didn't show there after 1 pperiod, it sure showed after 2 periods. Jason Cipolla made it 2-1, and Andy Weidenbach scored short-handed to give the Eli a 3-1 lead. Jeff Sorem made it a 3 goal lead with his 4 on 4 goal, and at the end of 2 it was 4-1. Then a funny thing happened. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Men's Ice Hockey Team showed up. It started on the power play as Kelly Askew scored from the ppoint at the 6:24 mark. 1:35 later, Jeff Matthews pounded home a rebound and the Engineers were within one. A sigh of relief came from the home crowd as Brad Dunlap poked a rebound past Bryan Masotta, and Yale had made it a two goal cushion once again. It seemed as if the door had been slammed shut, but Kelly Askew stuck his foot in it. 2:44 later, he skated in from the right point and put one past the stick side of Sullivan. The onslaught continues as Pat Rochon's blast from the blue line hit the post and caroomed onto the stick of Eric Perardi. And from the top of the crease, Perardi tied the game. After 20 shots in the 3rd period, and 47 for the game, the Engineers had come back to force overtime. Yale came out on fire in the OT, but never managed to get a shot on Masotta in the first 35 seconds. Askew once again took the puck along the boards, and went past defenseman Dan Brierly. He got a shot off, but it was blocked in front by Wayne Clarke and Ray Giroux. Jeff Matthews found it, and from 10 feet away, put one past Sullivan on the stick side to win the game. This was Matthews' third game winning goal this season, and it capped one of the biggest comebacks in RPI history. "I just wanted to get it high. I tried to chip it over him upstairs. I was making 100 percent sure that one was going in the net - if not through the net," Matthews said. While this was a stirring victory for RPI, Yale coach Tim Taylor suffered a heartbreaker for himself and his team. " You have to give RPI a lot of credit, but it's obviously a devastating loss to us. We just don't believe in ourselves and wait for the worst to happen. And it does." The Engineers travel to Colorado Springs, CO to play a pair against the Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy before beginning the stretch run of the ECAC season with home games against Vermont and Dartmouth. If the Engineers begin a streak, one can probably look back at this springlike Sunday afternoon and see the turning point of the 1994-95 RPI Hockey season. ****************************************************************************** * Jayson Moy RPI '89 '93 * One of the Voices of Rensselaer Engineer * * [log in to unmask] * Hockey, Baseball, Basketball and Football * * "The Asian Invasion" * on 91.5FM WRPI, Troy *EASM* * ******************************************************************************