What makes Union different this year is a team that has listened to the preaching of its freshman coach: boring, defensive hockey can win games. The success of this year's edition is undeniable; the Dutchman are in the unaccostomed position of challenging for a top four finish in the ECAC, with major wins over teams like Princeton and Clarkson. This year's Engineer team also is listening to its coach: win the third, win the game. Tonight it was the gospel of the young Engineers which prevailed. Next Saturday--well who knows? The strength of this year's Union squad was no surprise to the Engineers--indeed they had already seen them throw a shut-out at the Knick, so they knew they were in for a long night of (take your pick) physical knock-down hockey/clutch and grab. The first two periods were very much controlled by the Dutchman. RPI does come out of the gate with a measure of determination, and is rewarded with the initial goal. After Union stymies the Engineers through the first five minutes, including two Lenor Shtrom saves on Engineer short handed attempts, Steve Caley makes a quick pass at center ice to Pete Gardiner. Gardiner takes it the left wing and manages a shot on goal. Shtrom makes the stop, but fails to control the rebound. Doug Battaglia, who has grown into the garbageman role for the Engineers, deposits the rebound in the net for a 1-0 lead. RPI maintains pressure through the next five minutes, but Union's Shtrom comes up big repeatedly, a close-in save on Chris Aldous particularly memorable. Union's physical defenseman also keep the RPI forwards from driving the net, with Alain St. Hilaire suffering from the union defense as he is unable to get a shot off despite a great feed from Eric Healy. At 15:51 Jean Francois Gosselin is called for holding and Union's power play ties the game up. Union's White skates the puck into the RPI zone and takes it behind the net. White sends it out to Ford on the point who rifles a shot at Prekaski with Antoine deflecting it into the goal. From this point on, the next 25 minutes will be Union's show. The first period winds on into the second, and Union continues to play its style of hockey. Union establishes its plodding, but jarring tempo through the second period, and is aided by two extended stoppages to repair the peg holding the goal, which had been pulled free. At 6:15 after a prolonged Engineer stagnation, Union's Ford goes behind the net and passes out-front to Union's #16, whose name I can't spell. He makes a quick low shot to the glove side of Prekaski for a go-ahead goal, Monteith and Ford receive assists. The rest of the period--Union manhandles the Engineers, blocks the front of the net in front of Shtrom, and generally pushes RPI away from any form of offensive flow. The second period, the danger period for this year's RPI team, ends with the Engineers lucky to be down only by a goal, 2-1. The Engineers do feel good about their third period however. Other than Tuesday night's game, and excepting their blow-out losses, the Engineers are able to win the game by dominating the third period. The start didn't seem to be in that tradition however, as the Engineers begin the period with a power play extending from the second, however they are unable to even set up in the Union zone for the entire duration. But the game changes suddenly at 3:23 as Shtrom makes his first mistake of the night. Chris Aldous sends a hard wrister, unscreened at Shtrom from the left point. The Engineers tie the game, much to the relief of the Houston Fieldhouse crowd, with Riva and Gosselin receiving assists. The Engineers take their confidence--boosting goal and proceed to change the flow of the game. The Engineers continue to spend more energy on their offense, but to Union's credit, their defensive style keeps the Engineers off the board for the next nine minutes. Unfortuantely Shtrom again makes a miscue at the 12:00 mark, and the Engineers are able to extend their lead. Pete Gardiner takes the puck down the left side with speed. Union's defense makes a good play and stops the play, although Gardiner manages a weak shot at Shtrom. Shtrom fails to tie up the puck however and Doug Battaglia is able to clean up. Steve Caley gets another assist. The Engineers are now off to the races, and Chris Aldous storms down the center of the offensive zone and tries to cram the puck past Shtrom. Healy and St. Hiliare quickly get into the thick of it, and St. Hilaire puts the puck into the net for a 4-2 RPI lead, at 13:56. From here on out the Engineer dictate, keeping Union's forwards from converging on the goal, even after Shtrom is pulled at 18:50. At the 19:00 mark Union calls its time-out with a face-off in the RPI zone. Union can't capitalize however, and eventually Doug Battaglia sends a long shot at the vacant Union goal for a hat trick, at 19:28. RPI emerges with a 5-2 victory, setting up the rubber match at Union's Achilles rink next Saturday. Two players stand out for the Engineers tonight, in addition to the solid game put in by goalie Scott Prekaski. Doug Battaglia nets an inelegant hat trick. Doug's goals are not highlight material, but a team can't win with out the mucker role, which Battaglia seems to have adopted. Chris Aldous, on the other hand, is elegant. Tonight he was absolutely huge, +3 or more, including a goal and assist. Aldous is so smooth and consistent, he will proabably be over-looked for all-ECAC honors. However if he continues to step up into the play, like he did tonight, that may change. Finally, for the record, Channel 13 sportscaster Roger Weiland correctly picked the score on last night's newscast, 5-2 RPI. In light of Union's effort against the Engineers I thought that was somewhat optimistic. But the Dutchman still have next Saturday to win the Capital District king-of-the-hill contest. ***************************************************************************** Brian Morris RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.