You can attempt to explain the RPI Engineer's fortunes this weekend in several ways: 1. The freshman are beginning to catch on to Coach Dan Fridgen's system. 2. The team is starting to gel, especially the #1 line. 3. The team has taken the work ethic to heart. 4. The quality of the opposition was less-than-stellar. 5. All of the above. Of course, the answer, as any skilled test taker knows, is 5. RPI is a team on the rise, but it's difficult to judge just how high, the only quality win the 5-3 victory at Cornell. RPI did defeat Vermont at Gutterson, but that win seems somewhat tarnished in light of the major problems the Catamounts seem to be suffering of late. Next weekend's hosting of Princeton and travel partner Yale may give a better indicator of where the Engineers are headed. But first, last night's game. A review of Friday night's contest will follow in a subsequent post. RPI fans are beginning to regain their confidence in their historically successful team, and most expected their team would regain the Cup which had eluded them since 1993. Few expected much from a Brown team which had only gained its second victory of the year the previous night, but Brown proved at least initially, that they were not going to cede the title without a fight. In fact Brown got on the board first, at 12:05 of the first. After a relatively quiet first five minutes, freshman Brian Pothier was whistled for a very weak hooking call by referred Mike Noeth. In fact, I thought this crew did a nice job of officating the game, but this call wasn't on their highlight reel. Brown managed to keep the puck in the RPI zone to exert some heavy pressure on goalkeeper Joel Laing, and after Brown's John DiRenzo had shot the puck in close, Jade Kersey sent the rebound past Laing after Laing couldn't come up with the puck as it sat in the crease. Assist also to Smith. RPI responded quickly with a series of Eric Healy goals his fifth and sixth of the Tourney, which garnered him the MVP award. Healy's first, at 13:21, was somewhat flukish, a result of the great communication which has taken root in RPI's first line. Alain St. Hilaire sends the puck across the goalmouth to a Matt Garver, who had set up directly in front of netminder Jeff Holowaty. Garver however watches the puck go under his stick, and onto the stick of Eric Healy, flying down the left slot. Healy's soft hands quickly redirects the puck into the left corner. Healy gets another goal at 14:03 on the power play. After Holowaty, and most of the Brown defense, go down to block a phantom shot, Healy, with all the time in the world, wheels and deals sending the puck over the prone Holowaty. Pothier initiates the play with a fine shot from the right slot, and St. Hilaire picks up the third assist. RPI plays out the period with good pressure on Brown, but without the finesse to net another score. Brown quickly ties up the game as the second period begins, so fast that the writer was still enjoying his intermission refreshment. Noble scores the goal, with Longfield and DiRenzo picking up assists. Doug Battaglia answered just 30 seconds later, compliments of a nice feed from freshman Steve Caley. Caley hit Battaglia cutting to the goal, and Battaglia took care of the rest. Tapper gets the third assist, at 1:49. Brown re-asserts itself for the rest of the period. Although the Engineers manage a few scoring chances, Brown carries the play. Dan Fridgen uses his third and (gasp) fourth lines extensively through the second, giving his first line a little rest for the third. Brown took advantage of the flat footed Engineer play tying the game at 3 at the 11:27 mark. Counterattacking after an abortive RPI scoring play, DiRenzo, again involved in the Brown scoring play, sends a partially screened shot at goalie Laing, who makes the save, but loses the rebound. Brian Noble finds the puck, and shoots it into the net for Brown's third score, with Hayes getting the third assist. After the shaky second, the Engineers open the third with confidence. The third period has becoming RPI's province, with only the lapse against Colgate marring their record. Once again the scoring opens quickly, with freshman Steve Caley making a terrific play at the blue line to keep the puck on-side, and then spinning and feinting his way toward goalie Holowaty. Doug Battaglia, who has suddenly experienced the joys of offense thanks to his linemate, receives the dish in the slot, and sends the puck into the goal. Tapper gets the third assist, at 1:55. A penalty to Brown's Damian Prescott sends the Engineers out on a power play, which began to make some noise during the Tourney. Brian Pothier again sends a hard shot from the center of the face-off circle which Holowaty handles. Alain St. Hilaire handles the rebound and RPI goes up 5-3 at 5:16, Aldous getting the third assist. Holowaty makes his only mistake at 11:47 as Pete Gardiner skates over the blue line and unleashes a slap shot which mysteriously goes through Holowaty's pads. Battaglia and Caley receive gift assists. With RPI up 6-3, the classlessness of Brown coach Bob Gaudet, IMHO, interferes with the play. At 15:25 Bill McKay gets called on a roughing penalty. Soon after tiny Matt Garver skates into the corner, and gets into it with Garrow and another Brown skater. Amazingly Garver gets a double minor for roughing, something he probably cherishes, but simultaneously McKay gets a 10 minute misconduct. Nine seconds later Clapton gets called on an elbowing infraction, which smacks of coaching from Gaudet. The climax of the ugly series is an Anderson slash on Eric Healy, actually a puck shot off his arm after the whistle sounded, and an accompanying misconduct to Kersey. The ending doesn't exemplify the Brown team's play, and the players line up for the post-game awards without further extracurricular activity. A minor quibble on the all-tourney team: I'm not sure if I would have voted in Joel Laing. While he certainly played a good game, the Brown scores came off rebounds he couldn't find, a problem he has had in the early going. Fellow goalkeeper Scott Prekaski had a similar game on Friday, only suffering from a loose third period when the RPI players began to hunt for padding to their stats sheet. Defenseman Brian Tapper played well re-awakening his potent offense. But the entire RPI defense played well, with Brian Pothier really getting involved in the offense, and Chris Aldous continuing to play flawless defense on his end of the ice. Battaglia was a choice from a number of RPI forwards who had good games, most notably Matt Garver, with six assists, Steve Caley, who set up Battaglia on all those goals, and Dan Riva, with a pair in Friday's game. A tough choice when the whole team gets involved in the scoring. ****************************************************************************** Brian Morris RPi Engineers--Big and Nasty [log in to unmask] =====>Still waiting for my Bradley tickets. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.