Know Your Enemy: Quinnipiac

Well, that has to be the proverbial kick in the plums. For the second time in four seasons, Quinnipiac was one of the last two teams standing in the nation. And for the second time in four seasons, Quinnipiac had to watch someone else raise the national championship trophy, this time at least with the consolation that it wasn't their most hated rivals from literally down the road - and that they finally got to raise a trophy of their own three weeks earlier by finally winning their first ECAC championship.

Quinnipiac
Nickname: Bobcats
Location: Hamden, CT
Founded: 1929
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2016
Last Frozen Four: 2016
Coach: Rand Pecknold (23rd season)
2015-16 Record: 32-4-7 (16-1-5 ECAC, 1st place)
Series: Quinnipiac leads, 12-6-9
First Game: October 16, 1999 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: February 19, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Last QU win: February 19, 2016 (Troy, NY)

2016-17 games: December 2, 2016 (Hamden, CT); February 18, 2017 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Connor Clifton, sr.; F Tim Clifton, sr.; F Tommy Schutt, sr.; D Derek Smith, sr.; F K.J. Tiefenwerth, sr.; F Tanner MacMaster, jr.; D Kevin McKernan, jr.; F Bo Pieper, jr.; F Landon Smith, jr.; F Andrew Taverner, jr.; F Tom Aldworth, so.; F Scott Davidson, so.; D Chase Priskie, so.; D Luke Shiplo, so.; D Karlis Cukste, fr.; G Andrew Shortridge, fr.

Key losses: F Sam Anas, F Travis St. Denis, D Devon Toews, G Michael Gartieg, D Alex Miner-Barron, F Soren Jonzzon

Previous KYE installments:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12
• 2012-13
• 2013-14
• 2014-15
• 2015-16

RPI came so frustratingly close to scoring a season sweep of Quinnipiac - two minutes and 14 seconds, to be exact. That's something no team has done since St. Lawrence and Cornell did it in 2012 - and as noted above, an individual win over the Bobcats by RPI hasn't been accomplished in over six years. Instead, the Engineers secured one measly point. That in and of itself speaks volumes of what the Q was capable of last season. It usually seemed like they were never out of any game they were in, no matter how dire things looked.

And they really weren't. Of their four losses on the season, two were by a single goal, and the other two were games that were within a goal heading into the third period. On Twitter, we started using the slogan "kill it with fire" when talking about the Bobcats, especially after they took a 5-2 deficit at Dartmouth with 15 minutes left and won in regulation (with an empty-netter for extra cushion). One certainly could be excused for giving Quinnipiac every potential to come back from a 4-1 third-period hole in the national championship game against North Dakota, but they'd finally met their match in terms of a defense that could withstand the comeback attempt.

In Anas, St. Denis, and Toews, the Bobcats lose three players that combined for 53 goals (more than Arizona State had all year) and 129 points last season. Jonzzon added another 10 goals. That's a lot of juice right there that's now out the door. A sizable part of the offense. But there's plenty returning - six players who tallied 20 or more points last year (both Cliftons, Landon Smith, Priskie, Tiefenwerth, and MacMaster), and 10 players who scored 5 or more goals. It's possible the Q won't be scoring at will as they were wont to do with some frequency last season, but they're not likely to be even remotely helpless up front.

And there's one other element about last year's Quinnipiac team that made them so good - depth. Shiplo in particular is a great example of that. He played in only 13 games last year and scored five goals in that time, but was frequently unable to crack the lineup despite solid play when he was out there. With Toews gone, expect him to get a lot more playing time this year in a similar role. Cukste comes in as Toews' direct replacement, a Baltic beast from Latvia with size and talent who could well compete for plenty of ice time himself. The depth that the Bobcats had among defensemen certainly is something that will play this year as well.

The situation in net is more unknown. In all likelihood, incoming freshman Shortridge is the favorite - he was the top choice goalie for the BCHL's Vernon Vipers last year, finishing 6th in the league with a .915 save percentage. The other options are junior-transfer Chris Truehl, who started at Air Force in 2014 as a sophomore before deciding that the military life wasn't for him (military service at the academies doesn't become a requirement until starting your junior year), and junior Sean Lawrence, whose numbers in limited appearances backing Garteig certainly leave the door open for the job to be someone else's.

Truehl's transfer to the Q is not unusual - part of what has made the Bobcats successful in recent years has been the ability to draw transfers from other programs. The third-leading scorer on the 2013 national championship game team was Jordan Samuels-Thomas, a transfer from Bowling Green. 2015's squad featured Justin Agosta, who transferred from UNH for one season in Hamden. Junior forward Kevin Duane transfers in this year from BU, and next season the Q gains junior-to-be defenseman John Furgele from UNH.

Quinnipiac looks an awful lot like Yale does coming into the 2017 season, only with far more depth along the blue line - plenty of offensive capacity, with questions between the pipes. If Shortridge, or whoever wins the starting job, is able to emulate the man they're replacing in Garteig, Quinnipiac is probably not going to skip much of a beat from last season - perhaps not quite as dominant after losing some very key forwards, but certainly still a force to be reckoned with. Even if the goaltending isn't as strong, this is still a team that would be shocking to see move outside of the top half of the league.

As mentioned above, Quinnipiac has been a serious bugaboo for the Engineers over the past several years, but RPI does seem to be close to solving that riddle. But there's no doubt at all that Jason Kasdorf's heroic play - he made 73 saves in the two games - was a big part of those games being close. Unless the Engineers get some similar goaltending exploits or manage to exploit differences in the Bobcats' last line of defense, the story may not change much from past experiences.

Moving Parts

Yesterday, some big news hit the college hockey world - Notre Dame is moving out of Hockey East after the 2016-17 season concludes and joining the Big Ten as an associate member for hockey.

For those of you who have your ear to the ground, the move isn't terribly shocking. There have been murmurs that the Irish were unhappy in Hockey East for a little over a year, and obviously the Big Ten's struggles across their first three seasons have been well documented. This is a move that seems to make sense for both parties involved.

During the 2011 schism in the college hockey world caused by the formation of the Big Ten, Notre Dame's final landing spot was much debated. At the time, the Big Ten wasn't an option for them because the conference was not open to adding anyone who wasn't a member in every sport. That changed in 2013 when the Big Ten added Rutgers and Maryland to its ranks, two schools that sponsored lacrosse. With only five schools playing the sport, they added long-time independent Johns Hopkins (a D-III school in every other sport) for lacrosse only as an affiliate member to make six.

The Big Ten has lusted after Notre Dame's storied football program for decades, but that's always been a non-starter. So it's no surprise that the Big Ten, three years into a hockey experiment that has seen the conference embarrassed for basically all of the last two seasons with just one NCAA bid both years, was willing to admit the Fighting Irish this time around.

On Notre Dame's side, there's the understandable travel issue. While they had no problems financially taking a trip to New England every other weekend, and other teams didn't mind having to trek to Indiana once a year, the Irish had a problem with being the only team that had to go on long road trips all the time - a competitive balance issue. The travel within the mostly-Midwest Big 10 shouldn't be too much of an issue.

But that does now leave Hockey East with 11 teams, and moves the Big Ten to seven. The dominoes are starting to fall once more - and an odd number of teams is usually difficult to deal with on the long-term, due to issues with scheduling and playoff seeding. So what happens next?

Arizona State: The Sun Devils completed their first Division I season this year as an independent and they will do it again next year, this time with some additional home games against D-I teams. After that, they've said they want to be in a conference, and the Big Ten has long been touted as an understandable landing point. The one sticking point was considered to be the open question of whether the Big Ten would be OK with having affiliation in hockey. That question has certainly been resolved.

ASU may be in the hinterlands when it comes to hockey, but on the larger scale, they're a big deal - a power school in a power conference. But unless (until?) their Pac-12 brethren start adopting hockey, they need somewhere to reside. The only two conferences that ever made sense on a power and location basis were the Big Ten and the NCHC - the WCHA as it exists now is certainly too small to interest Arizona State.

With Notre Dame's decision and the news that ASU's discussions with the NCHC haven't been plentiful lately, it does seem like the Sun Devils becoming a second affiliate is a lot closer to reality. But it's not certain by any stretch of the imagination. ASU likely needs to start making some progress on their still nebulous plans for an on-campus rink. Their current homes are a tiny rink in Tempe that is the smallest in Division I and the Gila River Arena in Glendale (where the Coyotes play) that is the largest, impossible to fill.

But... who else could it be? Well, Miami has had some notable concerns about their travel situation in the NCHC. They've been strong enough in hockey for the last decade that the Big Ten might be willing to consider them as an affiliate (recall that Johns Hopkins is a lacrosse powerhouse, and Notre Dame is Notre Dame). That quality might open the door to North Dakota (who has traditional rivalries with Wisconsin and Minnesota) or Denver (certainly a storied enough program) as well, who would arguably have a better claim. Both of those schools, however, were among the driving forces behind the NCHC's very creation, and the NCHC certainly isn't having any problems.

Or, the Big Ten could stay with seven. It would be odd, but so is what they've already got going.

That leaves... Hockey East. With 11 teams, they're certainly going to want to get themselves back to 12. Five years ago, we pontificated on who the 12th team would be if Notre Dame was the 11th (basically at the bottom of that link). The answer ended up being UConn - but only after a serious change in their status quo fomented by their hockey loving governor.

Now, the question can be asked again, with UConn off the table. The top three answers are more or less the same.

Quinnipiac: Last time out, we thought Hockey East would arguably be more interested in RPI than in Quinnipiac despite the Bobcats having the newer facilities and the New England location. But in the last five years, there's no question that the Q has established themselves as a powerful program, and the opening in Hockey East probably couldn't have come at a better time if you're on the "Quinnipiac to Hockey East" bandwagon.

We still have to wait and see how the 2016 NCAA tournament plays out, but as the #1 overall seed, Quinnipiac have certainly made themselves the favorites to win the national championship. They played in the national championship game in 2013. The women's team is certainly on the rise, having just won the ECAC championship for the first time. Looking at things from Hockey East's perspective, there's no way at all that, among currently existing programs, they'd have anyone but the Bobcats at the top of their list.

The bigger question is this: does Quinnipiac really want to leave the ECAC? Five years ago, Hockey East was an obvious step up from the ECAC. Today it's still a step up, but it's not nearly as big - the gap has been closed slightly. And as things stand, it's hard to argue that Quinnipiac isn't one of the clear cut top programs in the league - which wouldn't necessarily be the case in Hockey East. Is it better to be a big fish in a smaller pond or a medium-sized fish in a bigger pond? That's the question that Quinnipiac will likely be asking itself.

Hockey East does have some benefits that the ECAC can't offer - national exposure is still far higher in Hockey East. But the ECAC also offers Quinnipiac guaranteed games with Yale every year, something they seem to cherish. The Yale-Quinnipiac "rivalry" is still very one-sided even despite (perhaps even because of) the 2013 national championship game. It's basically RPI-Union from the late-1990s, with Yale playing the role of RPI. Will Yale ever really care about Q though, at least enough to play them regularly in different conferences? It's hard to get an Ivy League team to care about a non-Ivy. That's just history working against the non-Ivy, and history trumps geography big time.

Holy Cross: The Crusaders are still kinda there in the discussion if only because they're right smack in the middle of the league's footprint. But nothing has changed in Worcester since 2011. They're still kinda middling in Atlantic Hockey. They're still playing in the same small rink on campus attached to their basketball court (which will be renovated soon, but not made bigger or more impressive). Their women's team is still in Division III. If anything, things may have dipped a bit for Holy Cross. Paul Pearl, an alum who was head coach of the team for almost 20 years, left in 2014 to become an assistant at Harvard. And they haven't been back to the NCAA tournament since that well-known upset of Minnesota in 2006.

The hangup in 2004 when Holy Cross applied to the ECAC was that they weren't interested in paying equal attention to their women's team. There doesn't seem to be anything that's changed there, which makes CHC a tough sell to Hockey East.

RPI: Much has changed for the Engineers in the last five years. Back then, we thought RPI might have made the most sense for Hockey East, and they probably still did if UConn's sudden epiphany had not happened. Much of what we wrote back then remains true.

But from RPI's perspective, the allure of staying in the ECAC has certainly changed. While five years ago we pondered that an RPI move to Hockey East could strengthen the program simply by playing in a higher-end conference, today the Engineers are playing in a conference that has produced two of the last three (and are favorites to make it three of the last four) national champions. The move would be slightly more lateral than it had been back then, and that makes the difference in the academic profile a bit more difficult to deal with.

And this time around, they're definitely second banana to Quinnipiac as things stand, at least from a Hockey East perspective.

More on this in the near future. As with five years ago, the topic of RPI to Hockey East deserves a more detailed look at this blog.

So... what if there's an open spot in the ECAC? What happens then?

Holy Cross: Basically, the same as above. There's no way Holy Cross goes anywhere unless they agree to move women's hockey to Division I, and if they're happy with where it is right now, they're probably happy being in Atlantic Hockey.

RIT: If only Rochester were closer to... Albany, or Worcester, or something, RIT is the totally obvious choice. Academics, history, everything's there. They'd be an 8th program without athletic scholarships.

The problem - and this is a problem - is that the ECAC has a really good thing going with its travel partner system, and RIT doesn't fit into it well. It might work if RPI ends up bailing for Hockey East, but almost certainly wouldn't if it's Quinnipiac. Without RPI, Union is orphaned, and one could see a Colgate-Union pairing and a Cornell-RIT pairing sort of working (or Colgate-RIT and Cornell-Union). If Quinnipiac bounces, Princeton could go back with Yale, but who does RIT pair with that doesn't turn that road trip (and likely, others) into a nightmare? It's a logistical problem for a league that depends on some easier travel schedules to stay a manageable bus league.

If RIT comes large with an ECAC bid, the league could certainly bend quite a bit in order to make it work, especially since they'd add a solid following. There's a lot that RIT has going for it and, geography aside, they bring everything you'd want to the table. But whatever they come up with has got to fit with the Ivy League's preferences, too. The Ivies have the power to blow up the league, so that makes their opinion matter just a little bit more.

Bentley or Sacred Heart: They fit the footprint, but not the gusto. Bentley at least is taking steps in the right direction on getting themselves an on-campus rink, but neither are ready for a step out of Atlantic Hockey.

Army: They've been in the ECAC in the past, and they're a fellow Patriot League member with Colgate, but if you can find anything that would suggest that they'd have a better time in the ECAC than the last time they were there that led to their departure, we'd love to hear about it.

Mercyhurst, Niagara, Canisius, or Robert Morris: No shot. Too far away for all of them. Canisius at least has a sparkly new rink, but that's about it.

American Interna OK, I can't even get to the joke here.

So the quick answer is that there's no really good answer to who makes the ECAC "whole" again if Quinnipiac or RPI leave. And that's problematic for the five non-Ivies that would be left - because if the Ivy League isn't satisfied with how things shake out, they've always got the option of striking out on their own, an option which arguably created Hockey East in the first place.

The real answer of "which team would best make #12" is a team that hasn't been around since 1978: Penn. The Quakers would pair supernaturally well with Princeton, and everything else would stay the same. Unfortunately there's no magic pixie dust that can be used to re-create a team at Penn in order to save the ECAC's bacon. Not to mention that Penn's addition would only make for a stronger possibility of an independent Ivy League down the road, possibly one day made whole if they ever learn about hockey in Morningside Heights.

Bottom line? It's time to tread carefully right now, especially if you're Hockey East and Quinnipiac is unavailable, because there's no other really good answer for #12. If you're Quinnipiac and RPI, you've got to ask yourself if moving to Hockey East is really the best long-term plan, and if not, is the ECAC going to stay iron clad after Hockey East gains a new member?

Women's Hockey - ECAC Quarterfinals (26/27 Feb)

RPI - and more specifically Lovisa Selander - gave a valiant effort in the Engineers' ECAC Quarterfinal matchup against Quinnipiac, but in the end fell short in a pair of overtime games.

The Bobcats defeated RPI 3-2 in overtime on Friday afternoon, then the Engineers held on well into double-overtime on Saturday before eventually succumbing in a 2-1 loss.

Friday

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Schwalbe/Thomas
Grigsby/Mankey/Raspa
Hylwa/Horwood/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

A pair of late second period goals gave RPI an unlikely 2-0 lead, but Quinnipiac scored two in the first half of the third to tie things up before eventually going on to win it in overtime with Emma Woods' goal at 2:04 of the extra period.

Lovisa Selander finished with 57 saves on 60 shots, while the Engineers managed a record-low seven shots against Sydney Rossman.

The first RPI goal came off the stick of Jaimie Grigsby when she broke in all alone on Rossman with two minutes left in the second period. Taking the puck straight down the middle, she fired a quick wrister past Rossman for the 1-0 lead.

Josefine Hansen made that lead 2-0 a short 1:29 later with a rocket of a slapshot from the blue line that found the top corner of the net.

The Engineers ended the second period up 2-0 despite being outshot 36-5. Unfortunately that would catch up with them in the third as the Bobcats bounced back to tie the game.

In addition to the overtime game winner, Emma Woods got the Bobcats on the board at 3:52 of the third, on a third try in front of the crease after Selander stopped Taylar Cianfarano's point blank chance.

Nicole Connery tied the game at two at 7:39 with a sharp angle shot that snuck over Selander's shoulder and just under the crossbar.

After regulation ended with the teams tied at two, it didn't take a lot of overtime for Quinnipiac to earn the win. At 2:04 of extra time, Cianfarano put another shot on Selander which was turned away, but the puck caromed off a crashing Woods' leg and into the net. Though the officials reviewed the play, the goal stood and the Bobcats took a 1-0 series lead heading into Saturday's game.

Saturday

Rooney/Gruschow/Grigsby
Tomlinson/Schwalbe/Thomas
Horwood/Mankey/Raspa
Hylwa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

If 57 saves weren't enough on Saturday, Selander made 66 more on Saturday, but it still wasn't enough to carry RPI to a win on Saturday as Quinnipiac defeated them 2-1 in double overtime, ending the Engineers' season.

Jaimie Grigsby scored her second goal of the weekend just 25 seconds in, getting the puck past the defense to beat Rossman in similar fashion to her goal the day before, but Quinnipiac tied it before the midpoint of the first, then the teams went scoreless for over four periods before Nicole Brown finally won it for the Bobcats.

Cianfarano's goal came after she nearly turned the puck over in the RPI zone, but recovered it and put it through traffic in the slot to beat Selander.

After facing an onslaught of shots from the Bobcats, turning away 50 from the start of the second period through the second overtime, Selander was finally solved again at 13:24 of the fifth period when Brown picked up her own rebound and snuck it backhand past the sliding RPI netminder.

With the other series complete, St. Lawrence will face Quinnipiac in the ECAC semifinals while Colgate will go up against Clarkson. Both games, along with the championship game, will take place in Hamden as Quinnipiac hosts as the #1 seed.

The losses spelled the end of the Engineers' season and they will look toward next year with a positive outlook with Selander in net, but needing to solve some offensive and defensive woes if they are to move up in the ECAC.  It was a common theme for RPI to be heavily outshot this season, reflected in Selander setting the school record for saves in a season with 1058, and a .939 save percentage that was good for seventh in the nation, despite the team finishing eighth in the ECAC.

Outstanding goaltending will not take the Engineers anywhere if they can't shore up the play in front of Selander in the coming seasons, as Union has proven over several years with dismal finishes despite having several top notch goaltenders come through the program.

-----

RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Quarterfinals - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/26/16 - 2pm
QU 3, RPI 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5618
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f26

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/26/womens-ice-hockey-no-4-quinnipiac-edges-womens-hockey-in-ot.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/26/no-1-qu-womens-ice-hockey-overcomes-two-goal-deficit-to-beat-no-8-rensselaer-in-overtime-3-2.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsPBqlwVfhY

RECORD: 10-16-7

-----

RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Quarterfinals - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/27/16 - 2pm
QU 2, RPI 1 (2OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5619
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f27

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/27/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-sees-season-end-in-double-overtime.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/27/nicole-brown-lifts-no-1-qu-womens-ice-hockey-past-no-8-rensselaer-in-double-overtime-2-1.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWql2dydO0

RECORD: 10-17-7

-----

ECAC Semifinals

#6 St. Lawrence vs. #1 Quinnipiac
#4 Colgate vs. #2 Clarkson

Men's Hockey - Quinnipiac/Princeton (19/20 Feb)

It's not always just how good you are or how well you're playing that determines success. The opponent plays a role in your success or failure as well. This past weekend may have been one of the best examples of that possible. With the Quinnipiac/Princeton travel pairing not only on opposite ends of the ECAC standings but more or less on the opposite end of the national rankings as well, the Engineers got the mostly expected outcomes with different compete levels. On Friday against Quinnipiac, RPI played a mostly complete game in which they played their hearts out only to come up on the short end of a 5-4 result in overtime. The following night, a rough outing with plenty of mistakes turned into a 2-1 victory against Princeton.

Quinnipiac
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Liljegren-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Miller-Ohrvall
Gillespie-Fulton-Rodriguez

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

With Drew Melanson and Parker Reno both still sidelined, the Engineers rolled with the same lineup they did in both games the previous weekend at Harvard and Dartmouth, hoping to more replicate their Friday night result than their Saturday night outcome.

The game got off to an ominous start for the home team. Just 47 seconds in, Travis St. Denis, who had a hat trick last season at the Field House, scored on a deflection to put the Bobcats up 1-0. That lead extended to 2-0 when Kevin McKernan fired a loose puck in the slot over a prone Jason Kasdorf before the game was even 10 minutes old. While the Engineers hadn't been playing poorly to that point, it did appear that they were going to be outclassed.

But a fortuitous bounce late in the period kept hope alive. Shortly after the expiration of RPI's first power play of the game, a shot by Jake Wood from the top of a faceoff circle glanced off the skate of Jimmy DeVito and in, cutting Quinnipiac's lead in half with the junior's second goal of the season.

The second period was a bit of a reversal of fortunes. While Quinnipiac didn't play poorly during the middle frame, the Engineers looked ready to outclass the best team in the nation, and they certainly did on the scoreboard. Early in the period, RPI got the game tied up at two with Alex Rodriguez's third goal of the season, a quick putback after a wrap-around attempt by Kenny Gillespie.

Then the fireworks began. A penalty to St. Denis for roughing as the game became much more physical was followed soon after by two penalties on Quinnipiac against one for the Engineers (Jesper Ohrvall) after a fracas in the Bobcats' end. That gave the Engineers a five-on-three power play for over a minute, and during that extended two-man advantage, RPI hit two posts and saw Milos Bubela absolutely robbed by Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig, who made several incredible saves to keep the game tied.

The Bobcats managed to avoid going behind during that sequence, but in the middle of the period, RPI took the lead anyway when Zach Schroeder potted his fourth of the year by backhanding a bouncing loose puck in the slot (that had squirted out from behind the net) to the back of the cage, putting the Engineers ahead 3-2 for RPI's third lead in as many games against a #1 ranked opponent this season.

Defense became the name of the game for the rest of the second period and well into the third, but the RPI lead held up until seven minutes into the final stanza, when Tim Clifton put home a rebound on a four-on-three power play to tie things back up. From there, the game became a chess match featuring terrific end-to-end action.

With four minutes left in regulation, the Engineers sent the puck down into the attacking zone, and a great individual effort by Viktor Liljegren resulted in the would-be icing call being waved off. Seconds later, he dug the puck out of the corner and just powered a shot that beat Garteig to give RPI a 4-3 lead with just 3:44 remaining in regulation.

Just about 30 seconds later, the Engineers did ice the puck, and with an incredible 3:15 left in a one-goal game, Quinnipiac pulled their netminder for the extra attacker and called timeout. The gambit worked. With their possession powered top line out and the extra skater, the Bobcats held the zone for 1:11 (with just one RPI icing call in the middle) and played their strengths perfectly, scoring the tying goal on a blast from the point by Devon Toews with not one, not two, but three players screening Jason Kasdorf on the shot. RPI held the lead for only 1:40 after Liljegren's go-ahead goal.

On the ensuing center ice faceoff, Bubela was called for delay of game after playing the puck with his hand, forcing the Engineers to kill his minor penalty for the remainder of regulation. They escaped unscathed, but they fell in heartbreaking fashion after QU captain Soren Jonzzon ripped a slapper from the faceoff circle with no screen, a shot that Kasdorf stops nearly all the time, only it found the whole between his glove and leg to hit the back of the net just 15 seconds into overtime.

Ultimately, RPI lost one of the best games they played all season simply because the opposition was able to rise above it with even more superior play.

Princeton
Bourbonnais-Schroeder-Nanne
Liljegren-Bubela-DeVito
Wood-Miller-Ohrvall
Gillespie-Fulton-Rodriguez

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

The inspired play didn't seem to carry over into Saturday night's contest against a much weaker opponent in Princeton on Senior Night. The Tigers are accustomed to giving up gobs and gobs of shots per game, keeping Colton Phinney, one of the best goaltenders in the country that most college hockey fans don't know because of the quality of his team, exceptionally busy.

But on Saturday night, RPI managed just 23 shots combined against Princeton - not a bad number for them against an average team, but certainly below average for what the Tigers typically give up. This was something of an indicator of how generally malaised the RPI offense looked in the first two periods or so against Princeton.

While the Tigers certainly weren't lighting the world on fire themselves, they were the ones to get the lion's share of the quality scoring chances in the first period, and they got the first goal of the game early in the second period as Ben Foster wristed one home from the right-side faceoff circle to make it 1-0 Princeton.

The Engineers' lackluster play helped keep things 1-0 until late in the second period, where a good pass got things square once more. Jimmy DeVito made a quick pass from behind the Princeton cage and practically just as the puck was moving to the front of the net, Milos Bubela poked it in to knot the score.

Bubela would score again early in the second period to put the Engineers ahead as the third period started much better from the RPI perspective and continued to improve as the final 20 minutes wore on. The senior's second goal on Senior Night was again set up by DeVito, who drew the defenders away on the break and then slipped the puck past them to Bubela, who had snuck behind the defense and was alone in the slot. Bubela beat Phinney on the short side to give the Engineers their first lead of the night.

The much improved third period helped secure that lead immensely, as RPI spent much of the period on the attack. Though they couldn't find an insurance tally, they did outshoot Princeton 18-6 in the final period, keeping the pressure off Jason Kasdorf in the final frame. The Engineers held off the extra attacker late, and held on for the 2-1 victory, picking up a badly needed two points and keeping themselves in the hunt for a first-round bye - although they'll almost certainly need to finish the season with a sweep and they'll certainly need some help on Saturday in order to get there.

RPI is hoping to get Parker Reno back into the lineup for this coming weekend against Colgate and Cornell, but the timetable on Drew Melanson is a bit more stark - he won't be back this season, apparently, unless the Engineers can make it to Lake Placid (or, theoretically beyond).

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 33 pts (14-1-5)
2. Yale - 29 pts (13-4-3)
3. Harvard - 26 pts (11-5-4)
4. St. Lawrence - 23 pts (10-7-3)
5. Dartmouth - 22 pts (11-9-0)
6. RPI - 22 pts (8-6-6)
7. Cornell - 21 pts (8-7-5)
8. Clarkson - 19 pts (8-9-3)
9. Union - 16 pts (5-9-6)
10. Brown - 11 pts (3-12-5)
11. Colgate - 10 pts (4-14-2)
12. Princeton - 8 pts (3-15-2)

#1 Quinnipiac at #17 RPI

ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/19/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 5, RPI 4 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game (RPITV)
Highlights (RPITV)
Appert post-game interview (RPI Athletics)

RECORD: 15-12-6 (7-6-6 ECAC, 20 pts)

Princeton at #17 RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/20/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Princeton 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game (RPITV)
Highlights (RPITV)
Appert post-game interview (RPI Athletics)

RECORD: 16-12-6 (8-6-6 ECAC, 22 pts)

Upcoming games
26 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - at #16 Cornell
04 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 1
05 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 2
06 Mar - ECAC First Round Game 3 (if necessary)

Women's Hockey - at Princeton & Quinnipiac (19/20 Feb)

RPI managed one final point on the road against Princeton and Quinnipiac to end the regular season, and it turned out to be a difference-maker as the Engineers finished in the final playoff spot by just a single point.

That point came in a 3-3 tie against Princeton on Friday, before the Engineers were outclassed by Quinnipiac to the tune of a  4-0 loss on Saturday.

Princeton

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mankey/Schwalbe
Grigsby/Hylwa/Thomas
Raspa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

Despite being outshot 53-27, RPI managed to put three pucks past Kimberly Newell to earn a 3-3 tie against Princeton Friday evening. Shayna Tomlinson had two goals for the Engineers while Alexa Gruschow had a goal and an assist.

The game got off to a quick start, with the teams trading a lot of shots early in the first, but it was Princeton eventually breaking through when Fiona McKenna snuck a bad-angle shot off the rush past Lovisa Selander for a 1-0 lead.

Tomlinson scored both of her goals in the second period. The first came at 6:15 - from an even worse angle than McKenna's goal, as Tomlinson found the top corner from below the bottom of the faceoff circles.

Her second was a deflection, tipping a point shot from Amanda Kimmerle to put RPI ahead 2-1.

Princeton tied the game at 11:42 on a Kiersten Falck goal, but Gruschow answered just 41 seconds later to regain the lead for RPI.

Karlie Lund spoiled the potential upset for the Engineers by tying the game once again with 3:01 left in regulation. The teams only managed one shot each in overtime as the game ended with a 3-3 final.

Quinnipiac

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Mankey/Schwalbe
Grigsby/Hylwa/Thomas
Raspa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After destroying Union 9-0 on Friday, Quinnipiac kept rolling on Saturday by defeating RPI 4-0, outshooting the Engineers 52-14 in the process.

Emma Grecco scored the first goal and eventual game-winner, firing a blast from the point through traffic and past Selander.

RPI had three consecutive power play opportunities in the middle of the first period, including nearly a minute of 5-on-3, but couldn't capitalize - and in fact only managed six shots in the opening frame despite the power plays.

Things got worse in the second as Quinnipiac piled on three more goals and outshot the Engineers 21-2. A faceoff win led to a quick opportunity for Nicole Brown, who made a couple quick moves for an easy backhand past Selander to make it 2-0 just 3:20 into the second period.

Less than a minute later, Kristen Tamberg scored on a cross-ice feed from Brown - a power play goal to make it 3-0. Nicole Connery extended the lead to four at 16:08 with a quick shot off a feed from behind the net that the RPI defense never picked up.

Selander held the lead to four despite facing another 21 shots in the third period, finishing with 48 saves on 52 shots Saturday and a combined 98 for 105 on the weekend.

RPI's one point weekend was not enough on its own to secure a playoff spot - instead it came down to a Clarkson goal, scored in the final minute of their game against Yale, to knock the Bulldogs out of the playoffs and land the Engineers in the eighth and final spot. With that, the playoff matchups for next weekend's ECAC quarterfinals are set:

#8 RPI at #1 Quinnipiac
#7 Cornell at #2 Clarkson
#6 St. Lawrence at #3 Princeton
#5 Harvard at #4 Colgate

All four series will run Friday through Sunday (if necessary) at the home rink of the higher seeds. The championship weekend will be the following weekend at the home rink of the highest remaining seed.

The road to the championship weekend will be an extremely tough one for the Engineers, as it runs through an extremely strong Quinnipiac team which has been ranked in the top 5 nationally since Thanksgiving and just soundly defeated them in the regular season finale.

RPI will be counting on Selander to hold strong in net, but they are going to need to find a couple goals to have any chance - in the two matchups with the Bobcats this season, the Engineers were held scoreless and outshot by a combined 92-29 margin.

-----

RPI at Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Hobey Baker Rink (Princeton, NJ)
2/19/16 - 7pm
RPI 3, Princeton 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5208
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wprnren1.f19

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/19/WICE_0219164838.aspx?path=whock
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210729407&DB_OEM_ID=10600
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrjX65P0eXc

RECORD: 10-14-7 (8-8-5 ECAC)

-----

RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/20/16 - 4pm
QU 4, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5209
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f20

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/20/WICE_0220164401.aspx?path=whock
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/20/WIH_0220162156.aspx?path=whockey
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V9g6F9C4Xs

RECORD: 10-15-7 (8-9-5 ECAC)

-----

Final ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 36 pts (16-2-4)
2. Clarkson - 33 pts (14-3-5)
3. Princeton - 30 pts (14-6-2)
4. Colgate - 29 pts (12-5-5)
5. Harvard - 27 pts (12-7-3)
6. St. Lawrence - 23 pts (9-8-5)
7. Cornell - 22 pts (9-9-4)
8. RPI - 21 pts (8-9-5)
--
9. Yale - 20 pts (9-11-2)
10. Dartmouth - 15 pts (6-13-3)
11. Brown - 5 pts (1-18-3)
12. Union - 3 pts (0-19-3)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals
Feb. 26 - at Quinnipiac (2pm)
Feb. 27 - at Quinnipiac (2pm)
Feb. 28 - at Quinnipiac (2pm) (if necessary)

Let's Shock The World (Again)

Quinnipiac is good at hockey right now, there's no denying that. Whether it's the men or the women, they're dominating the ECAC and that's a long way from where they were a decade ago when they joined our little club.

But we haven't lost to them this year. Not yet, anyway.

It's going to be hard to keep that intact this weekend. The women put up a brave stand against the Bobcats in January, fighting their way to a 0-0 draw in Troy. It won't be nearly as "easy" to do that on the road tomorrow - but hopefully, if everything shakes out well, the playoffs won't still be on the line. They can help themselves with that by getting at least some result against an almost as difficult Princeton team tonight. (As an aside, don't expect Quinnipiac to let off the gas pedal tomorrow. Barring a miracle, they will have nothing to play for in terms of ECAC positioning, but they're still trying to fight off Clarkson in the Pairwise.)

Nine seconds. Before last weekend, that's as close as anyone came in regulation to handing Quinnipiac their first loss in ECAC play (and they still haven't lost one in regulation). Can home ice make the difference tonight? If so, RPI's back in the fight for the top four. If not, it's a three-game fight to the finish to ensure the best placement possible that has to start with a win over a Princeton team that's starting to swirl the bowl.

The last two weekends of the season always end up with heightened importance. There's been a stumble for the men of late. Now's not the time to lose one's head.

Men's Hockey - at Quinnipiac/vs. Union (21/23 Jan)

The Engineers came out of a big weekend with a couple of great results, though they were mere inches and scant seconds away from coming away with an even bigger result. On Thursday of last week, RPI gave #1 Quinnipiac all they could handle, taking a (brief) 2-0 lead and very nearly pulling off the second upset over a #1 team this year, but gave up the lead with less than 10 seconds remaining, settling for a 2-2 tie. They rebounded nicely two days later, picking up a third win this year over Union in a solid if frequently not exceptional game in Albany, 5-2.

Quinnipiac
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Miller-Bubela-Wood
Ohrvall-DeVito-Liljegren
Rodriguez-Fulton-Gillespie

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

Quinnipiac came into Thursday's conference game just two days removed from a harrowing 3-3 tie at Maine in which the Bobcats had to notch two goals in the final 7:01 - including an extra-attacker goal on the power play with less than a minute remaining - to keep their 1-loss record intact. The Engineers, on the other hand, were in need of a far better performance than they had at home against Colgate the previous Saturday.

Onslaught is the best word to describe the first period from Quinnipiac's perspective. The Bobcats maintained puck control for a majority of the period, and unleashed 13 shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, all turned aside by Jason Kasdorf. The first period was a question of survival for RPI as the Q looked to establish dominance early. They did look the better of the two teams, but getting out of the period at a score of 0-0 was a huge boost to the Engineers.

As the 2nd period rolled on, the storm drew down and RPI was able to start operating on more or less equal footing with the home team - and they got the first bounce for a goal to go their way as Zach Schroeder opened the scoring with just over three minutes left in the period on an odd man rush, putting the Engineers ahead 1-0 despite being outshot 30-16 in the first two periods.

Five minutes into the third, RPI got an insurance tally when a shot by Milos Bubela banked off Mark Miller's chest and into the net, putting the Engineers up 2-0. But that lead would last only 31 seconds, as Quinnipiac got themselves on the board with Soren Jonzzon scoring moments after a draw in the RPI end to bring the Bobcats back within one.

Kasdorf led the charge defensively, but the Engineers gave him plenty of support as Quinnipiac pushed for the tying goal. It started to look like a potential redux of Tuesday for the Bobcats when Jared Wilson was called for slashing with 3:01 left in regulation. The Q immediately pulled their netminder to create the same 6-on-4 situation that had helped them tie the score in the final minute against the Black Bears.

RPI's penalty kill, strong all season long, held up once again, and very nearly sealed up the victory. The usual caveat on pulling your goaltender while on the power play is that the penalty killers can take shots on the open net without worrying about icing - and the Engineers came oh so close to potting one when Lou Nanne sent one the length of the ice, and missed the net by mere inches with about 30 seconds left on the Wilson penalty.

The Engineers killed the penalty completely, but still had 60 more seconds to survive with the extra attacker on the ice. Ultimately, they would need to make it a total of 181 seconds with six skaters attacking for the #1 team in the nation. They made it 172. Sam Anas, one of Quinnipiac's most dangerous attackers, poked in a loose puck on the goal line with 9.3 seconds remaining in regulation to break the hearts of Engineer Nation and send the game into overtime.

Just 14 seconds into the overtime period, QU gained a golden opportunity to steal the win when Schroeder was called for boarding - a penalty the officials discussed at length but chose to call a minor. Again, the RPI penalty kill stood strong, and the Engineers themselves got a power play chance with just over a minute left in the OT period, but neither team were able to put one home for the victory. Kasdorf made 3 saves in overtime to give him a total of 46 saves on 48 shots for the evening.

To come so close to victory on the road against a team RPI hasn't beaten since 2010 was rough, but ultimately, it was a solid result in the grand scheme of things.

Union
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Miller-Bubela-Wood
Ohrvall-DeVito-Liljegren
Rodriguez-Fulton-Gillespie

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

Hampered by injuries and perhaps emboldened by the figurative level of success RPI found two days prior against Quinnipiac, the Engineers ran the same lineup against Union in the Mayor's Cup game.

It took RPI just 50 seconds to open the scoring at the Times Union Center as Lou Nanne jumped on a rebound from a shot by Chris Bradley for his third goal of the year, making it 1-0 Engineers before many in the crowd even had the time to settle into their seats. But that lead didn't last terribly long - Eli Lichtenwald jumped on a rebound that should have been cleared into the corner about a minute and a half later, and just like that, it was a 1-1 game.

Mike Prapavessis showed off some sweet moves with about 7 minutes left in the first, toe dragging around his man to create open ice at the top of the slot, and he rifled one home to make it 2-1 Engineers. But once again, it would be a short-lived lead, as Union's Ryan Scarfo scored on the power play two minutes later to knot things up once again.

From there, the game devolved into a complete mess flow-wise, as neither team seemed able to exert any significant attacking pressure. Union managed only feeble attempts on goal, while RPI was at times utterly unable to win faceoffs anywhere on the ice. The deadlock would remain until 13 minutes into the second period, when Jimmy DeVito pounced on a loose puck and beat Alex Sakellaropoulos for his first goal of the year, making it 3-2 RPI.

The lack of flow persisted from that point well into the third period, and for the same reasons. As time ticked by, it seemed as though the game was setting up for an explosive ending, but once more RPI managed to control the right bounce at the right time to let things set up for a simply ugly victory instead. Phil Hampton saw a shot by Jesper Ohrvall deflect right to him in the faceoff circle to the left of Sakellaropoulos, and he one-timed that rebound home to give RPI a 4-2 edge with just under 4 minutes left to play.

Drew Melanson added an empty netter, his fourth goal of the season, with 1:10 left to seal things up tight for the Engineers, who won the Mayor's Cup for the second time in four tries and exorcised the demons of last year's abysmal third period, in which RPI allowed six goals in the final 20 minutes.

The Engineers have 6 of their last 10 games on the road, and that starts this coming weekend when they take on a Brown team they need to find a win against, and a Yale team that could provide a significant boost if RPI can manage to sweep the season series. They fell behind Harvard in the ECAC standings after the Crimson swept their weekend set at Colgate and Cornell, but they do still have a game in hand against Harvard. There's a bit of separation beginning to develop between the top 6 and the bottom 6 within the league, but there are only 3 points separating 2nd place from 6th.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 23 pts (10-0-3)
2. Harvard - 17 pts (7-3-3)
3. RPI - 16 pts (5-1-6)
4. Yale - 15 pts (6-3-3)
5. Dartmouth - 14 pts (7-5-0)
6. Cornell - 14 pts (6-4-2)
7. St. Lawrence - 11 pts (5-6-1)
8. Clarkson - 9 pts (3-6-3)
9. Princeton - 8 pts (3-7-2)
10. Colgate - 8 pts (3-8-2)
11. Union - 7 pts (2-7-3)
12. Brown - 6 pts (2-9-2)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.885)
2. RPI (.667)
3. Harvard (.654)
4. Yale (.625)
5. Dartmouth (.583)
6. Cornell (.583)
7. St. Lawrence (.458)
8. Clarkson (.375)
9. Princeton (.333)
10. Colgate (.308)
11. Union (.292)
12. Brown (.231)

#16 RPI at #1 Quinnipiac 

ECAC Game - TD Banknorth Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
1/21/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Quinnipiac 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 12-7-6 (5-1-6 ECAC, 16 pts)

Union vs. #16 RPI
Mayor's Cup Game - Times Union Center (Albany, NY)
1/23/16 - 7:30pm

RESULT: RPI 5, Union 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
RPI TV highlights
RPI TV full game

RECORD: 13-7-6 (5-1-6 ECAC, 16 pts)

Upcoming games
29 Jan - at Brown
30 Jan - at #11 Yale
05 Feb - St. Lawrence
06 Feb - Clarkson (Big Red Freakout!)
12 Feb - at #7 Harvard

Crossroads of a Season

Tonight, the Engineers get to take their best shot at the top - Quinnipiac. The Bobcats have been totally unreal this season, sitting a monumental 7 points ahead of RPI in 1st place and basically playing king of the mountain with the rest of college hockey. First in the RPI, first in KRACH, first in the Pairwise, first in the polls. They've lost only once all year. It ain't going to be easy. But glory awaits tonight in Hamden if the Engineers can do what they've done all year - find ways to win, and take down top-end squads. They did it at home just last weekend. Doing it on the road would be a huge (and we mean huge) boost, both in the ECAC and in the Pairwise.

RPI hasn't beaten Union three times in the same season since 1997, and even that year they were 3-1-1 against the Dutchmen (they swept a home playoff series, because that's what they did back then). Even when Union was horrible, they still found ways to produce a result against RPI. And these last couple of years, even more so than usual, you can just throw the records out the door. They don't even matter a little bit when these teams play. Both teams have a shot at skating away with the Mayor's Cup.

And last year, at least, it represented a bad turning point for the Engineers. Coming in on a 3-game winning streak after finally snapping a long 9-game losing streak and easily playing some of their best hockey of the season, RPI took a 3-2 edge into the 3rd period and promptly gave up six goals in 20 of the most painful minutes of hockey you'll ever see - and kicking off a brand new 9-game winless streak that wasn't broken until the last night of the regular season.

On the surface, there's not much to this weekend. An odd mid-week league game at a team RPI hasn't beaten since 2010, and then a non-conference game on neutral ice. But mark my words. Two losses at the end of this weekend will sour everyone on this team, while two wins would turn some serious heads. The final results of these two games won't have much more of a lasting impact than in how it propels the Engineers into the remainder of the season.

On the women's side, it's a road trip to Brown and Yale, and a couple of games the Engineers have got to come up with points in if they want to stay in the playoff hunt. Brown should present more of a challenge than Union did last week, but only slightly. Points lost there would hurt a lot. Yale, on the other hand, is a primary competitor for a playoff - and RPI's already coughed up a pair of points to the Bulldogs this year. This weekend's a crucial one in the playoff hunt for sure - they won't have nearly as many opportunities for easy points after this one's over.

No team wants to be peaking in January, but it's clear both teams have a lot to play for and need to be on top of their game now, more than ever before this year.

Women's Hockey - Quinnipiac & Princeton (8/9 Jan)

RPI took what was slated to be one of the toughest weekends of the season and managed to make a decent showing of it, fighting hard to earn a 0-0 tie against fourth-ranked Quinnipiac on Friday before falling short in a late comeback bid in a 3-2 loss against Princeton on Saturday.

Quinnipiac

Rooney/Tomlinson/Mankey
Horwood/Gruschow/Thomas
Grigsby/Hylwa/Tremblay
Wash/Orzechowski

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

Games don't always need a lot of scoring to be exciting, and it was proven on Friday as RPI battled #4 Quinnipiac to a scoreless tie that featured a lot of back-and-forth action and some excellent goaltending, especially from RPI's Lovisa Selander who made 40 saves for her second shutout of the season. Her counterpart in the Quinnipiac net, Sydney Rossman, made 15 saves for a shutout of her own.

The tie broke a 10-game winning streak for Quinnipiac, which still sits atop the ECAC standings.

RPI nearly took a lead in the first period, as Mari Mankey was left alone on the doorstep to take a feed from behind the net, but the senior couldn't get a clean shot off. Quinnipiac had several chances of their own, including shots off the pipe in the first and second period.

Selander made a save on a Quinnipiac 2-on-1 chance early in the third period to keep the scoreboard clean. Her 40 saves were critical as the Engineers were outshot by a nearly 3-1 margin on the evening.

The scoreless tie is the first for the Engineers since a 2008 game against now-defunct Wayne State, while it's the second of the season for the Bobcats, with the first having come in November against Colgate.

Princeton

Horwood/Gruschow/Thomas
Rooney/Mankey/Wash
Grigsby/Hylwa/Tremblay
Orzechowski

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After no goals and just three penalties on Friday, Saturday's score sheet had a lot more to offer as RPI fell short in their comeback bid against Princeton by a 3-2 tally.

Princeton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period, with Jaimie McDonell taking a feed through traffic and putting it past Selander.

With back-to-back RPI penalties late in the first and early in the second, the Tigers' power play went to work and cashed in at 3:36 of the middle frame. Molly Contini tipped home a shot by Karlie Lund, taken after the puck popped out of a scrum in front of Selander.

Things looked bleak for the Engineers as Princeton extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:14 of the second, with Cassidy Tucker getting the puck in front of the RPI net and putting it top shelf for the goal.

RPI settled down after the third goal and stopped the bleeding, holding Princeton scoreless for the remainder of regulation. Ths third period saw RPI launch a comeback bid, started by Katie Rooney at 3:25 of the third. Rooney charged the net as Mari Mankey carried the puck behind the goal line, and quickly redirected it past Kimberly Newell when Mankey fed it to the front.

Makenna Thomas cut the deficit to 3-2 at 16:30 on the power play, deflecting a shot from Hannah Behounek at the top of the circle to bring the Engineers within a goal.

Unfortunately for RPI, that was as close as they would get to the tying goal, as the late push with the extra attacker was cut short by a penalty in the game's final minute.

With the one point weekend, the Engineers fall into ninth place in the ECAC but will have an opportunity to make up a little ground next weekend in the home-and-home against Union. Though the Dutchwomen have no wins and just five ties on the season, they always manage to play RPI tough. If the Engineers want to chart a course for the playoffs, however, these games are pretty strongly in the "must-win" column.

-----

RPI vs Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/8/16 - 7pm
RPI 0, QU 0 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5197
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.j08

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/1/8/WICE_0108165001.aspx?path=whock
QU: http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/1/8/WIH_0108163252.aspx?path=whockey
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqu-NspdTy4
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/1027

RECORD: 5-10-4 (3-4-2 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/9/16 - 4pm
Princeton 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5198
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wprnren1.j09

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/1/9/WICE_0109164157.aspx?path=whock
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210624394&DB_OEM_ID=10600
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zmhQqtFrY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/1028

RECORD: 5-11-4 (3-5-2 ECAC)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 23 pts (10-1-3) (.821)
2. Princeton - 19 pts (9-4-1) (.679)
3. Harvard - 15 pts (7-3-1) (.682)
4. Clarkson - 12 pts (5-3-2) (.600)
5t. Colgate - 10 pts (3-2-4) (.556)
5t. St. Lawrence - 10 pts (5-5-0) (.500)
5t. Dartmouth - 10 pts (4-5-2) (.455)
8. Yale - 7 pts (3-4-1) (.438)
9t. Cornell - 8 pts (3-4-2) (.444)
9t. RPI - 8 pts (3-5-2) (.400)
11t. Brown - 2 pts (1-9-0) (.100)
11t. Union - 2 pts (0-8-2) (.100)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 15 - Union (3pm)
Jan. 16 - at Union (3pm)
Jan. 22 - at Brown (7pm)
Jan. 23 - at Yale (4pm)

Know Your Enemy: Quinnipiac

We round out 2015's Know Your Enemy series with last year's top team from November through February. For the second time in three years, Quinnipiac didn't just finish first in the ECAC standings, they dominated the perch. While the Bobcats weren't quite as dominant last season as they were in 2013 when they advanced all the way to the national championship game, the Q still made clear that they were the league's top program during the regular season. The real goals - hardware - have remained elusive.

Quinnipiac
Nickname: Bobcats
Location: Hamden, CT
Founded: 1929
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2015
Last Frozen Four: 2013
Coach: Rand Pecknold (22nd season)
2014-15 Record: 23-12-4 (16-3-3 ECAC, 1st place)
Series: Quinnipiac leads, 11-6-8
First Game: October 16, 1999 (Albany, NY)
Last RPI win: February 19, 2010 (Troy, NY)
Last QU win: January 9, 2015 (Hamden, CT)

2015-16 games: January 21, 2016 (Hamden, CT); February 19, 2016 (Troy, NY)

Key players: D Alex Miner-Barron, sr.; G Michael Gartieg, sr.; F Soren Jonzzon, sr.;  F Travis St. Denis, sr.; F Sam Anas, jr.; D Connor Clifton, jr.; F Tim Clifton, jr.; F Tommy Schutt, jr.; D Derek Smith, jr.; D Devon Toews, jr.; F Tanner MacMaster, so.; F Bo Pieper, so.; F Landon Smith, so.; F Andrew Taverner, so.; F Tom Aldworth, fr.; D Daniel Fritz, fr.

Key losses: F Matthew Peca, D Justin Agosta, D Danny Federico

Previous KYE installment:

• 2010-11
• 2011-12
• 2012-13
• 2013-14
• 2014-15

For the third straight season, the Bobcats were present at the ECAC semifinals (after surviving an all out war with Union in the quarterfinals) and for the third straight season, they got nothing out of the experience. Many pointed to the injury loss of Anas for the weekend in Lake Placid as a major contributing factor to Quinnipiac's failure to follow up their regular season dominance with their first ECAC title, but his return to the lineup didn't help the Q repeat their magical 2013 run through the NCAA tournament either as they fell decisively to North Dakota - although playing in Fargo essentially made them the road team in what normally would have been a neutral-site matchup.

Among Quinnipiac's losses, Peca's will be felt the most intensely, as he put together a 143-point career in Hamden, but when it comes to offense, there's plenty left to like about the Bobcats. Anas' return for his junior season is cause for optimism enough, but St. Denis and Landon Smith are both crucial offensive elements from last season's squad who will be back as well. Throw in a defense loaded up with upperclassmen who have proven themselves more than up to the task - now with a senior netminder to boot - and you've got a program that's ready to take another crack at the upper echelon.

Overlooked compared to such stacked squads as Yale and Harvard in the preseason polling, it's tough to forget that this is a team which won the ECAC regular season by six points last year, practically running the table. With the exception of a home-and-home series against Merrimack, there wasn't a game weekend on the entire schedule last year in which the Bobcats failed to garner at least at tie - and on every single ECAC weekend, the Bobcats picked up at least two points.

They've been a tough out for years - witness that the Engineers have beaten every other team in the ECAC twice since the last time they beat Quinnipiac (and every other team besides Harvard at least four times). If RPI can't manage a win against the Bobcats on the road in January, it will have been six full calendar years since they've managed the feat by the time the Q comes up to Troy. So until that changes, you've got to pick out the Bobcats as favorites against the Engineers.

But make no mistake about it - the rest of the league sleeps on Quinnipiac to their own despair, too. With the amount of talent that the Bobcats return from what was already a very successful team, a repeat of 2013 - and better - certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility.

Men's Hockey - at Quinnipiac & Princeton (9/10 Jan)

In desperate need to find some way to turn the season around with the ECAC schedule now back in full swing, RPI made at least some process in throwing the brakes on a very rough set of play. Their myriad dismal streaks continued on Friday night against the ECAC team they've now gone the longest without beating, falling 4-2 against Quinnipiac, but the streaks came to a screeching halt the next night as the Engineers took care of business against the worst team in the league by blitzing Princeton, 5-2.

Quinnipiac
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Laliberte-Bubela-Fulton
Wood-Neal-Bourbonnais

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Bokenfohr
Curadi-Wilson

Kasdorf

A major shot in the arm for the Engineers came from the return of Lou Nanne to the lineup from injury - he'd been more or less since the last time RPI played the Bobcats in Troy back in November, save the first period of the BU game. The other big return came in the four senior captains who'd been kept out against Miami, allowing the Engineers to return to a more or less optimal lineup (though they still await the return of Mark Miller from an ankle injury).

At even strength on Friday night in Hamden, the Engineers did a fairly decent job of hanging in there with one of the best teams in the league, but they certainly got themselves into trouble on the penalty kill enough times to get burned. Quinnpiac got themselves on the board first not with a power play goal, but with a terrific individual effort by Matthew Peca just 1:10 into the second period. The coast to coast score by the QU senior broke a scoreless tie that had persisted through the game's first 20 minutes after some sloppy early play from both teams.

The remainder of the Bobcats' goals would be generated more or less by their power play. Devon Toews made it 2-0 twelve minutes later while Curtis Leonard was serving a high-sticking penalty. That goal was mitigated almost immediately by the Engineers, who got a team-leading 5th goal of the year from Milos Bubela just 27 seconds later to make the score 2-1.

A pair of penalties to Zach Schroeder in the third period, however, would make the hole too deep to climb back from. A boarding call 48 seconds into the third culminated in a Travis St. Denis goal, then a tripping call at 8:08 produced a power play that RPI killed off, but led to a goal by Tim Clifton just seven seconds after the game had returned to full strength, effectively a power play goal if not officially one.

Mark McGowan would net his second of the year on a fluky play on the power play in the game's final minute, but it was little more than a consolation effort. The loss was RPI's ninth in a row, and the 12th straight game in which they'd failed to produce at least three goals, tying a 99-year school record.

Princeton
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte
Curadi-Bourbonnais-Wood

Leonard-Prapavessis
Bradley-Reno
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

A road game against the bottom of the barrel was what ultimately brought those regrettable streaks to an end. In addition to being the first non-nationally ranked opponent in over a month, it came with an almost back to full-strength Engineers team. One injury from Friday was to Travis Fulton, but it was easy enough for Seth Appert to slot Luke Curadi, whose play up front had steadily improved, onto the fourth line, and add a much improved Parker Reno back to the lineup on the blue line.

RPI emphatically ended their 3 goal game streak by scoring three goals in the game's first 13:30. Curtis Leonard ended another streak - 11 straight games of RPI not scoring the game's first goal - by collecting his second goal of the season at 5:36 to give the Engineers only their 4th 1-0 lead of the entire season. Freshman Drew Melanson followed up six and a half minutes later with his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0, and Chris Bradley followed on two and a half minutes after that with his third of the year to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead. Oddly enough, despite RPI's struggles to score the first goal, it was the Engineers' third 3-0 lead of the campaign.

Matt Neal made it 4-0 on the power play midway through the second period with his long awaited first goal of the season. From there, the final result was never truly in doubt, but Princeton did make it interesting. Defenseman Tom Kroshus scored a fluke goal in the last minute of the second period, the puck bouncing off the end wall, hitting Jason Kasdorf in the leg and trickling just over the line to make it 4-1. Kroshus scored again seven minutes into the third to make it 4-2, but RPI's hold on the game was rarely tenuous.

Viktor Liljegren collected an empty netter for his fourth goal of the year in the final minute of play to ice the game. Kasdorf, looking to return to his usual form, made 35 saves on 37 shots for the victory, a big step forward for the junior goaltender.

Jacob Laliberte had a very fruitful weekend, collecting 4 assists in the two games, giving him a team leading 9 and tying Melanson for the team's scoring lead at 11.

The ECAC schedule continues this weekend as the Field House plays host to league contests for the first time in two months. Streaky Colgate, winners of four straight, come to Troy on Friday, followed by a Cornell team that's had an even harder time scoring than RPI of late with 4 goals in their last 5 games.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 20 points (10-2-0)
2. Harvard - 14 points (6-1-2)
3. Colgate - 11 points (5-2-1)
4. St. Lawrence - 10 points (5-4-0)
5. Clarkson - 10 points (4-3-2)
6. RPI - 10 points (5-6-0)
7. Yale - 9 points (4-3-1)
8. Union - 9 points (4-5-1)
9. Cornell - 8 points (4-4-0)
10. Dartmouth - 7 points (3-4-1)
11. Brown - 2 points (1-7-0)
12. Princeton - 2 points (1-11-0)

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (.833)
2. Harvard (.778)
3. Colgate (.688)
4. Yale (.562)
5. St. Lawrence (.556)
6. Clarkson (.556)
7. Cornell (.500)
8. RPI (.455)
9. Union (.450)
10. Dartmouth (.438)
11. Brown (.125)
12. Princeton (.083)

RPI at #15 Quinnipiac
ECAC Game - High Point Solutions Arena (Hamden, CT)
1/9/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Quinnipiac 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union
New Haven Register

RECORD: 6-16-1 (4-6-0, 8pts)

RPI at Princeton
ECAC Game - Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton, NJ)
1/10/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 5, Princeton 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 7-16-1 (5-6-0, 10pts)

Upcoming games
16 Jan - #15 Colgate
17 Jan - Cornell
24 Jan - vs. Union (Albany, NY)
30 Jan - at Dartmouth
06 Feb - at St. Lawrence

Firewall

It's go time.

Both the men and the women faced their final non-conference opponents in the past week (the men do still have the Mayor's Cup game against Union, but... come on), so now it's time to get down to the meat and potatoes of the schedule - the final two months of the season where destinies are truly determined.

The women are at home this weekend, taking on #6 Harvard tonight and Dartmouth tomorrow. Harvard may be a bit of a tough haul, but Dartmouth is sitting there just ahead of RPI in that final playoff position (although they could pass Yale after playing Union tonight). If the Engineers are going to overcome their rough start to the season and make the playoffs, points at home against teams like Dartmouth are a must.

The men seem to be in a tailspin, but there are two key elements to that tailspin that seem to be winding up - the injuries and suspensions that have ravaged the roster appear to be concluding, as the suspensions to the captains are done and a report this morning suggests that Lou Nanne and Mark Miller, the only Engineers yet to return from their injuries, could come back this weekend. The other is that RPI's remarkably tough recent schedule - the last four games coming against teams presently in the top five nationally.

RPI has another tough one tonight at Quinnipiac, but the last time out against the Bobcats, the game was fairly even. Tomorrow afternoon's game against Princeton, however, has to be considered a must-win considering the Tigers' record. Princeton gives up a ton of shots, which is just what a team struggling to score goals needs, but their defense has been improved in the last month or so.

It's time for the full race to the finish in the ECAC.

Women's Hockey - Princeton & Quinnipiac, Providence (2/3 Jan and 6 Jan)

A long holiday break drew to a close with RPI hosing Princeton and Quinnipiac before a quick turnaround for a Tuesday night matchup with Providence. After splitting the weekend with a 4-3 win over Princeton on Friday and a 1-0 loss to Quinnipiac on Saturday, they rounded out the three game set with a 3-3 tie on Tuesday afternoon against Providence.

Princeton

Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Raspa
Wash/Renn/Mankey
Rooney/Hylwa/Walsh

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Katie Rooney tallied a pair of goals, with Ali Svoboda and Marisa Raspa each adding a goal as RPI picked up a 4-3 win over Princeton at Houston Field House on Friday afternoon.

Kelly O'Brien earned her third win of the season with 30 saves as the Tigers outshot RPI 33-21.

The Engineers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on, with Svoboda tipping a point shot from Amanda Kimmerle past Kimberly Newell just 24 seconds in to make it 1-0, and Rooney somehow managing to carry the puck through three defenders and past a surprised Newell to extend the lead to 2-0 just over two minutes later.

Princeton went on to knot things up through the middle of the first period, with Hilary Lloyd scoring twice to make it a 2-2 game. Her first goal came early on a power play as she put a rebound past O'Brien to make it 2-1. The second came when RPI failed to clear a puck from their defensive zone. Jamie McDonell took it away and fed it across the slot for an easy one-timer by Lloyd.

Rooney gave RPI the lead once again at 15:52 of the opening frame, finally putting one home after a series of rebounds given up by Newell.

The Engineers' lead disappeared again in the second when Molly Contini scored for the Tigers, but the game wasn't tied for long as Raspa converted a nice 2-on-1 feed from Alexa Gruschow to give RPI the 4-3 lead.

RPI was outshot 12-3 in the third period as they clung to the one-goal lead, but O'Brien made it hold up to help RPI start out 2015 in the win column.

Quinnipiac

Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Raspa
Wash/Renn/Mankey
Rooney/Hylwa/Walsh

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Despite being massively outshot to the tune of 34-8 by Quinnipiac, Kelly O'Brien put up a strong performance and limited the Bobcats to a single goal but the Engineers couldn't get one of their own, falling 1-0 on Saturday.

The game was most lopsided in the first period where the Engineers were outshot 15-1. Despite having to kill a pair of penalties in the first and another midway through the second, RPI held Quinnipiac at bay until 15:12 of the middle frame when Nicole Connery beat a pair of Engineers in a rush down ice and a defensive miscue left Taylar Cianfarano charging the net for the feed from behind the net and a shot that O'Brien had little chance at stopping.

While RPI's play picked up as the game went on, the Engineers failed to score on Quinnipiac netminder Chelsea Laden, who picked up her team record-setting 10th shutout of the season with the 1-0 victory.

Providence

Mahoney/Gruschow/Raspa
Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Wash/Renn/Mankey
Rooney/Hylwa/Walsh

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

Piper

RPI held 2-0 and 3-1 leads but couldn't hold on to them, eventually settling for a 3-3 tie against Providence at Houston Field House on Tuesday afternoon. Ali Svoboda scored a shorthanded goal and Brianna Piper put up 27 saves to earn the tie.

Another early goal got the Engineers on the board as Shayna Tomlinson snuck through the defense for a tap-in on a feed from Jenn Godin along the boards.

Mariana Walsh made it 2-0 late in the frame, capitalizing on a turnover by the Friars to fire one past Sarah Bryant after a stretch of good pressure from the Engineers.

Providence cut the lead in half in the second period, with Beth Hanrahan scoring thanks to a play that was significantly offside but not detected by the officials. Brooke Simpson was a solid four feet offside then proceeded to interfere with Mari Mankey, helping clear the way for Hanrahan to skate down the far side and beat Piper to put the Friars on the board.

RPI regained the two-goal cushion early in the third on Svoboda's shorthanded tally. The play was set up when a Providence player slid the puck back into the defensive zone toward netminder Bryant, who misplayed it and put it right onto Svoboda's stick for the tally.

Providence erased the RPI lead as the third wore on, with Madison Sansone putting home a one-timer off a feed from Hanrahan on a waved-off icing at 8:19 before Hanrahan scored her second of the night (figuring in all three goals) at 15:07, firing a soft shot through the defense who may have screened Piper on the play.

The teams traded seven shots in overtime but neither was able to pick up the winner and the Engineers settled for a tie in their final non-conference game of the season.

The extended home stand draws to a close for RPI next weekend as they host Dartmouth at 7pm Friday and Harvard at 4pm Saturday before taking to the road for the first time since mid-November.

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RPI vs. Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/2/15 - 3:00pm
RPI 4, Princeton 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprnren1.j02
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4440

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/2/WICE_0102153743.aspx
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209830846
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H55-lpHmp8k
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/883-womens-hockey-vs-princeton

RECORD: 4-12-2 (2-5-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/3/15 - 3:00pm
QU 1, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wquiren1.j03
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4441

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/3/WICE_0103151400.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/201501032xxxu8
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg9pATS2RBY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/884-womens-hockey-vs-quinnipiac

RECORD: 4-13-2 (2-6-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Providence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/6/15 - 4:00pm
RPI 3, Providence 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprvren1.j06
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4442

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/6/WICE_0106152722.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/010615aaa.html
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/888-womens-hockey-vs-providence-college

RECORD: 4-13-3 (2-6-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 9 - Dartmouth (7pm)
Jan. 10 - Harvard (4pm)
Jan. 16 - at St. Lawrence (7pm)
Jan. 17 - at Clarkson (4pm)

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ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 20 pts. (9-1-2) (.833)
2. Harvard - 15 pts. (7-1-1) (.833)
3. Clarkson - 13 pts. (6-2-1) (.722)
4. Princeton - 12 pts. (6-6-0) (.500)
5. St. Lawrence - 11 pts. (5-3-1) (.611)
6. Cornell - 10 pts. (5-2-0) (.714)
7. Yale - 8 pts. (4-4-0) (.500)
8. Dartmouth - 7 pts. (3-5-1) (.389)
9. RPI - 4 pts. (2-6-0) (.250)
10t. Colgate - 2 pts. (1-6-0) (.143)
10t. Brown - 2 pts (1-7-0) (.125)
10t. Union - 2 pts. (1-7-0) (.125)

BOHICA

We got two up close and personal examples of Rule 83.5 this past weekend in Troy. One was an exercise in how to apply it. The other was an exercise in how to royally screw things up in ways only the average ECAC referee can.

This is known around these parts as the "Second Union Rule" or the "National Union Rule," as it was adopted following the Union-Michigan State game in the 2012 national tournament where a goal for the Spartans was waved off because Union's Josh Jooris, apparently intentionally according to the NCAA, lifted the net off its moorings just before the puck went in (the "First Union Rule" or the "ECAC Union Rule" provides for all 12 ECAC teams making the post-season tournament).

The rule was redefined as such in the summer of 2012:

83.5 Goal Cage Dislodged - In the event that the goal post is displaced, either deliberately or accidentally, by a defending player, prior to the puck crossing the goal line between the normal position of the goalposts, the Referee may award a goal. 

In order to award a goal in this situation, the goal post must have been displaced by the actions of a defending player, the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in position to shoot) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced, and it must be determined that the puck would have entered the net between the normal position of the goal posts. 

When the goal post has been displaced deliberately by the defending team when their goalkeeper has been removed for an extra attacker thereby preventing an impending goal by the attacking team, the Referee shall award a goal to the attacking team. 

The goal frame is considered to be displaced if either or both goal pegs are no longer in their respective holes in the ice, or the net has come completely off one or both pegs, prior to or as the puck enters the goal. This rule also applies to other types of net anchoring systems.

So there are a few elements to examine here.

First, there's a defined difference between "may award a goal" and "shall award a goal." The referee is given leeway to award a goal but is not required to when this happens with the goaltender in the net. If it's an empty net, he's required.

This is pretty standard, it allows the referees to use judgment when it pertains to the other elements that we're about to discuss.

In order for the goal to be awarded, three things have to be true. First, the goal has to have been dislodged by the actions of a defending player. This would include a defending player pushing an attacking player into the net - the reverse would be cause for disallowing a goal. Second, the puck must have been already shot, or the shooting player must already be in position to shoot, when the net is dislodged. Third, the puck must be determined to have crossed the line where it would have counted had the net been in the proper position.

Let's examine this first in the Princeton game, where a Princeton goal was disallowed.

With RPI leading 1-0, Princeton's Ryan Siiro took a shot toward the RPI cage from the top of the right faceoff circle that was saved by Jason Kasdorf, the rebound falling just to his right. Princeton's Ben Foster worked it free and came around behind the net to the left side.

Foster beat out Jimmy DeVito to grab the rebound, but Craig Bokenfohr and Phil Hampton skated into the area to try and help out - Bokenfohr into the mix with Foster and DeVito, Hampton into the crease. Princeton freshman Eric Robinson arrived late to the party and ultimately checked Hampton into the cage, knocking it loose.

At this point, Foster had the puck to the left of the cage. He passed it to Siiro, who moved into the slot, and Siiro one-timed it into the cage, which was off both of its moorings at that point.

This goal was rightfully disallowed because the circumstances met only one of the three criteria for it to be upheld. Siiro's shot did go where the net would have been, but it was the actions of an attacking player - Robinson checking Hampton - that dislodged the net, and the shot was not imminent when the net was dislodged - Foster had the puck behind the cage and passed it in front only after the net came loose.

Referee CJ Hanafin got this one right from start to finish. He did the right thing by awarding a goal on the ice, then reviewing the play. Under Rule 83.5, this is not a goal, so he disallowed it. For anyone who might still be on the fence, Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty agreed after the game after reviewing video that the goal should not have been awarded. (We like Hanafin a lot because he's an Engineer. Some of us here were crestfallen when we heard he'd become an ECAC referee, but he seems to be raising the bar. He's done well so far and he's been fair.)

Compare this with the disallowed RPI goal the next night against Quinnipiac.

On the power play and with RPI down 2-1, Mike Prapavessis digs the puck out of the corner to the left of the net. He brings it up and around through the faceoff circle and the slot, waiting for his opportunity to catch QU goaltender Michael Gartieg off balance. He gets it when defenseman Connor Clifton, also trying to defend against Prapavessis, falls to a knee and into Gartieg. Prapavessis takes his shot and rings it off the post, the rebound coming straight back out.

Meanwhile, once Clifton and Gartieg collide, QU forward Matthew Peca, standing at the top of the crease, makes a bee-line for the net, sliding into the right-side post to dislodge the net shortly after Prapavessis' shot rebounded off the post. Drew Melanson, now standing over Clifton, does not move with the puck coming directly back to him, and simply puts the puck into the open but dislodged cage.

The goal was awarded on the ice, and it met all three requirements. First, the cage was dislodged by the actions of Peca, who skated straight into the cage unaided. Second, while the shot by Melanson did not come before the cage was dislodged, the rebound from Prapavessis' shot (which happened and hit the post before the dislodging) was coming straight to him already and he did not have to move to take the shot, which occurred a split-second after the net was dislodged. Third, the puck clearly enters the net in a way that it would have been in had the goal been in the proper place.

And despite all of this, the tying goal was waved off. In a search for justification, there are some very, very thin arguments that can be made. All four were posited by our researchers in an attempt to find something that would rationalize the goal being waved off.

1. Melanson is near Clifton just before the latter takes out his own netminder, but he doesn't appear to do anything that would cause Clifton to go down. He does push through Clifton, who is impeding his progress forward, in the bottom of the slot with his stick on the ice. If he'd shoved Clifton into Gartieg, that could be goaltender interference (which was never suggested anyway), but it doesn't seem to be there.

2. While Peca is moving to the net, Melanson's stick is in his vicinity, but it's tough to make even a cursory argument that Melanson did anything to put Peca into the net. It's possible, even likely that Peca was only trying to get himself in a position to defend Prapavessis' initial shot, but he's honestly lucky that he wasn't called for delay of game.

3. One could try to make the argument that Melanson wasn't yet preparing to take his shot at the moment the puck was dislodged, but the shot, based on the trajectory and speed of the rebound and the fact that Clifton and Gartieg were taken out of the play, was clearly imminent at the time the net was dislodged by any reasonable definition of the word.

4. The last question is whether the whistle had blown, or whether there was "intent to blow." That's rendered fairly irrelevant by the fact that the referee behind the net never came close to blowing the play dead (he had his arms at his sides the whole time), and in fact signaled a goal on the ice.

Ultimately, this is exactly the type of situation that the Second Union Rule was intended to fix, and the referees blew it. Compounding the error, it was called a goal on the ice, and then waved off without clear evidence to support a reversal.

By the way, this was not the first time last weekend that Quinnipiac got away with one on a bad call by the referees that directly impacted the scoreline. The previous night in Schenectady, the Bobcats notched the game winner on a play in which the goal-scorer was offsides.

It's not possible to tell with 100% surety from this camera angle because of people standing on the Union bench, but unless the 5'7" Travis St. Denis (bottom of the screen) has abnormally sized legs, he's totally offside right before he takes a pass he ends up putting in the net for the winning goal.

No coach is going to get overly upset over calls that are blown this badly, because most teams still have other opportunities to rectify the problem themselves. Bad calls are part of the game and referees are human, but you'd think they'd at least get the call right with the opportunity to review the play. It's true that the Engineers had other chances before and after this call to get a goal and they didn't. This goal being disallowed wasn't the reason they lost on Saturday. Who knows if QU then goes down and scores off the ensuing faceoff or something. But there's no team that wouldn't prefer to be in a 2-2 situation than down 2-1, and the missed call changes things for the worse for the team being dealt a raw deal. Union in particular had less than a minute to make up for the bad call that put them behind.

So now the league has a team in first place, half of whose wins were assisted by the men in stripes. Are we happy?