Know Your Enemy: St. Lawrence

In the X-Men saga, there's no greater arch-nemesis of the title group than Magneto. He's the perpetual enemy, so ubiquitous that he's been a part of pretty much every X-Men movie that's ever been made. Well known among supervillains that five years ago he topped an online ranking of the greatest comic book villains of all time - and yet, throughout the years, on occasion, he's been one of the X-Men's strongest allies, even at times a member of the team. And that kind of has to be the feeling in Canton right now. For 14 seasons and the beginning of a 15th, Mark Morris led the hated Clarkson Golden Knights, and 11 times over that stretch, he led them to a better finish in the league standings than the Saints - not to mention wins in the 1991 and 1999 ECAC Championship games over SLU. And now he's back - in the ECAC, in the North Country (where he grew up), and leading the charge at St. Lawrence, not Clarkson.

St. Lawrence
Nickname: Saints
Location: Canton, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2007
Last Frozen Four: 2000
Coach: Mark Morris (1st season)
2015-16 Record: 19-14-4 (11-8-3 ECAC, 4th place)
Series: SLU leads, 81-57-6
First Game: January 3, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: November 6, 2015 (Canton, NY)
Last SLU win: February 5, 2016 (Troy, NY)

2016-17 games: November 12, 2016 (Troy, NY); January 27, 2017 (Canton, NY)

Key players: D Gavin Bayreuther, sr.; F Woody Hudson, sr.; D Ben Masella, sr.; F Drew Smolcynski, sr.; D Eric Sweetman, sr; D Nolan Gluchowski, jr; G Kyle Hayton, jr.; F Ryan Lough, jr.; F Mike Marnell, jr.; D Matt Purmal, jr.; F Joe Sullivan, jr.; F Michael Laidley, so.; F Jacob Pritchard, so.; F Taggart Corriveau, fr.; D Ben Finkelstein, fr.

Key losses: F Brian Ward, F Tommy Thompson, F Alex Hagen, F Sean McGovern, F Christian Horn

Previous KYE installments:

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

Morris was wildly successful at Clarkson. Never had a losing season in 14 years, with 11 20-win seasons, three ECAC titles, and seven NCAA appearances, including an appearance in the 1991 Frozen Four. And then an incident with a player at a practice in 2002 ended his career in Potsdam. He hasn't stopped coaching since then, stringing a gig at the Northwood School in Lake Placid (2004-06) into the head position with the then-AHL Manchester Monarchs. After eight seasons in Manchester (and seven playoff appearances), he became an assistant with the Florida Panthers, and spent last season as the head coach of the Charlotte Checkers, Carolina's top AHL team. So he's still got that track record as a very successful coach.

He comes in replacing a St. Lawrence grad, Greg Carvel, who left Canton somewhat unexpectedly to become the new head coach at UMass in Hockey East. This, by far, is the biggest news at SLU from this off-season - but it obscures the fact that Morris is inheriting one of the best teams in the ECAC that still has plenty of punch.

With the departures of Alex Lyon, Jason Kasdorf, and Michael Garteig, one could make a very strong argument that Hayton is the best returning netminder in the conference - a guy who would probably could have been a shoo-in for all-ECAC honors in practically any other season given his resume from last year, but was ultimately behind all three of the aforementioned goalies at awards time.

On top of this, there's probably no more stacked blue line in the entire ECAC than at SLU. Three seniors and two juniors - Bayreuther, Masella, Sweetman, Gluchowski, and Purmal - return having played in every or nearly every game last season (Bayreuther and Sweetman in particular have dressed for all 112 games in the last three years). Finkelstein joins the fray as SLU's lone NHL draftee this season, but there are other likely options for the sixth D-man as well, including another senior in Mike Graham who has seen action in exactly half of SLU's games over the last three years. All of that is a combination of experience and talent that no one else in the league can boast.

In 2015, SLU found success with Hayton as the backstop and a balanced attack. The attack last year wasn't quite as effective as that - fewer 10+ point producers, fewer 5+ goal scorers, but not by much. The three leading point-getters, Bayreuther, Smolcynski, and Ward, were a bit more separate from the pack, but again, not by much - and seven of the top 12 scorers from last season return as either juniors and seniors, with another, Pritchard, clearly among the top young forwards in the ECAC heading into his sophomore season. Only two freshmen had as many or more points in league play as did Pritchard, and we've already sung both of their praises - Yale's Joe Snively and Brown's Tommy Marchin.

Ward and Thompson especially may stick out as solid losses for St. Lawrence, but their depth up front should be enough to absorb their absence. About the only area of concern for the Saints is the abysmal power play they had last season. If you thought RPI's power play was bad, you might have missed St. Lawrence, who connected at only 11.8% (against the Tute's almost-as-bad 12.3%) for the year, and crucially went 1-for-17 during a five-game losing streak in January that probably spiked any opportunity SLU had for earning an at-large bid to the NCAAs.

There's frequently a lot of questions that pop up about any team when they have turnover at the head coaching position, but there's almost no one that questions Morris' bonafides, and his constant success as a coach combined with the talent that has already been on display at Appleton Arena in the last couple of seasons leads one to believe there's probably not going to be much of a hiccup - though there's always some risk for a failure for even outstanding coaches to mesh with players he didn't bring in himself, it just feels unlikely here. There's just too much talent in place. The potential exists for bumps down the road, as a pair of SLU recruits have already decommitted (likely to follow Carvel to UMass), but unless Morris suddenly has issues adapting to the changes in the recruiting environment since he left Clarkson, that probably won't be much of an issue, either.

St. Lawrence now has all of the pieces in place and the requisite question marks at opposing schools to make a serious run at the very top of the ECAC, and there's little doubt that they should be among the pre-season favorites to finish atop the league, make a run to Lake Placid, and potentially make their first NCAA appearance in a decade.

It combines to make the North Country, for the first time in quite some time, the feared road-trip it traditionally always was. Give the Saints the slight edge thanks to their advantage in net - and perhaps, with their new ally behind the bench.

Men's Hockey - St. Lawrence/Clarkson (5/6 Feb)

It's tough to pick out a more overly gut-wrenching weekend in recent Engineers' history than this past weekend. Not just at home, but Freakout! weekend against long-time rivals. No goals given up in the 1st or 2nd period both nights - no points in the ECAC standings, leading to a three-position drop in the ECAC standings and an eight-spot fall in the Pairwise. Two games that seemed like they could possibly be in the grasp slipped away in the third period, as RPI gave up the game's first goal against St. Lawrence on Friday in the 3rd period on the way to a 3-0 loss and gave up a 2-0 lead in the 3rd in the Freakout! against Clarkson to fall 4-2.

St. Lawrence
Melanson-Schroeder-Nanne
Miller-Bubela-Wood
Ohrvall-DeVito-Liljegren
Bourbonnais-Fulton-Gillespie

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

Riley Bourbonnais returned to the lineup for the first time since a knee injury sidelined him several weeks ago, a needed boost for a team that has at times struggled mightily to score without him. Regardless, the Friday night game between RPI and St. Lawrence was widely predicted to be a low scoring affair, and through 40 minutes that prediction proved perfectly accurate.

Neither team was able to put one past Kyle Hayton or Jason Kasdorf in the first two periods, with the netminders combining to blot out 47 shots in first and second frames. The only action on the score sheet in that first 40 minutes were three penalties called in the second period, the only penalties that would be called throughout the contest as the ECAC's penalty drought continued throughout the weekend.

The scoreless duel continued well into the third period as visions of last year's Game 1 of the ECAC quarterfinals began to emerge, a goaltending battle between the same two netminders that was not broken until the final minute of regulation.

St. Lawrence, however, would put an end to that comparison with just over five minutes remaining in regulation, with Tommy Thompson finally breaking the deadlock off a one-timer from a perfectly placed pass through the slot by Mike Marnell.

The Engineers had far more time to even things up than they had in last year's playoffs, but St. Lawrence scored a second goal in transition about two and a half minutes later to seal things up as Thompson again potted a one-timer from nearly the same place on the ice, this time taking a feed from Christian Horn who was gliding behind the RPI net, a brilliantly timed play that made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors. The Saints would add an empty netter less than a minute later to produce the final scoreline.

RPI simply could not solve Hayton, whose rebound control was superb all night long. An extreme few of his 34 saves were second efforts. Kasdorf followed on with 31 saves in a noble but losing effort for the Engineers.

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

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Grant
Moore-Hampton

Kasdorf

In desperate need of a bounce-back performance in the Freakout! against Clarkson, the Engineers lost the services of Drew Melanson after he took a puck to the shin blocking a shot in the final moments of the Friday night game - a serious Catch-22 situation. On one hand, you don't want players to quit playing full bore no matter what the situation is in the game. On the other, it was an injury that literally came in the dying moments with a 3-0 scoreline. Regardless, it saw the return of Riley Bourbonnais to the top line in Melanson's stead.

RPI has been very good this season when scoring the game's first goal, and after more than 7 full periods worth of offensive futility, they finally got themselves back on the scoresheet with the game's first goal on Saturday. A shot from just in front of the blue line by Chris Bradley 14 minutes into the first period was saved by Greg Lewis, but the rebound popped right to Milos Bubela just to Lewis' right, and he slammed it into the open cage to give RPI the 1-0 advantage.

The Engineers carried that advantage into the second period, where Bubela scored again on a very similar play to make it 2-0 RPI. This time it was Kenny Gillespie taking the initial shot, coming on from the boards to Lewis' left, and once more Bubela was waiting on the doorstep as the trailer to pick up the rebound and put it in for his 7th goal of the season.

RPI's play wasn't overly stellar throughout the middle period, but their defense was strong. They did a superb job keeping the Golden Knights from getting any real quality scoring opportunities throughout the first 40 minutes, and while Jason Kasdorf had to make 16 saves in the middle frame, he was rarely tested to any great degree.

The letdown came in the third period, and it started early. With RPI clearly missing a step in their game and Clarkson hungry for a goal that would cut their deficit in half, the opening eight minutes of the 3rd period made things very clear that the trailing team were the aggressors, and that aggressive play eventually paid off as Ben Dalpe ended RPI's shutout bid with 11:41 left in regulation, getting Clarkson on the board.

The goal given up did little, if anything, to roust the Engineers from their rough play, and less than two minutes later, a general defensive breakdown led to the tying goal as the Golden Knights effectively used forechecking and good passing to help Kelly Summers pot his 2nd goal of the year on a one-timer.

Less than a minute later, an elbowing call against Riley Bourbonnais put Clarkson on the power play, and they delivered a death blow with Terrance Amorosa scoring on a blast from the point to complete the comeback, the third goal in just over four minutes.

Kasdorf was pulled for the extra skater relatively early - with just over two minutes left in regulation - but RPI never really got anything going with the sixth attacker, and Clarkson scored on a bizarre clearance that turned 45 degrees after it entered the zone and just beat out a streaking Phil Hampton to enter the net and give Clarkson the 4-2 victory, a deflating loss for the Engineers before their biggest home crowd of the season.

The three-game losing streak could not have come at a worse time, as the stretch run is now fully engaged, and four of the Engineers' final six games are on the road, including this coming weekend against Harvard and Dartmouth, two teams moving in the opposite direction of RPI. Now just one point removed from 8th place just two games after what had been an opportunity to move into 2nd and 5 points ahead of 4th, the Engineers are in desperate need of a turnaround against even more difficult circumstances.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 28 pts (12-0-4)
2. Yale - 21 pts (9-4-3)
3. Harvard - 21 pts (9-4-3)
4. Dartmouth - 18 pts (9-7-0)
5. St. Lawrence - 18 pts (8-6-2)
6. RPI - 18 pts (6-4-6)
7. Clarkson - 17 pts (7-6-3)
8. Cornell - 17 pts (7-6-3)
9. Union - 11 pts (3-8-5)
10. Colgate - 10 pts (4-11-2)
11. Princeton - 8 pts (3-11-2)
12. Brown - 7 pts (2-12-3)

St. Lawrence at #14 RPI

ECAC Game - Houston Field House
2/5/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: St. Lawrence 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Highlights - RPI TV
Full game - RPI TV

RECORD: 14-9-6 (6-3-6 ECAC, 18 pts)

Clarkson at #14 RPI
ECAC Game - Ingalls Rink (New Haven, CT)
2/6/16 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Clarkson 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Albany Times Union

VIDEO
Full game - RPI TV
Post game - RPI Athletics

RECORD: 14-10-6 (6-4-6 ECAC, 18 pts)

Upcoming games
12 Feb - at #9 Harvard
13 Feb - at Dartmouth
19 Feb - #1 Quinnipiac
20 Feb - Princeton (Senior Night)
26 Feb - at Colgate

Women's Hockey - at Clarkson & St. Lawrence (5/6 Feb)

In the effort to hold on to the eighth playoff spot, points are obviously important, and RPI managed to steal one on Saturday in a 1-1 tie against St. Lawrence. Lovisa Selander made 48 saves in the game.

It was a better result than Friday night, which saw the Engineers give up three goals each period to Clarkson en route to a 9-1 loss.

Clarkson

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

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander/Bombay/Till

Alexa Gruschow scored for RPI in the first period, but the Engineers couldn't hold Clarkson from scoring at will in a 9-1 loss Friday night in Potsdam. Lauren Lefler notched two goals and a assist while Genevieve Bannon and Renata Fast both went 1-2-3 for the Golden Knights.

Fast and Bannon got the Golden Knights off to a 2-0 lead early in the first period. Cassidy Vinkle found Fast with a blind backhand pass for the first tally, then Bannon beat Selander five-hole less than two minutes later to make it 2-0.

Gruschow's goal came at 7:21 when Shayna Tomlinson made a slick backhand pass of her own to hit Gruschow on the doorstep to beat Shea Tiley and cut RPI's deficit to one.

The Clarkson lead was back to two by 8:47 of the first when Lefler scored her first of the night. That marked the end of the night for Selander, who was pulled in favor of Kira Bombay after surrendering three goals on four shots to start the game.

Clarkson went on to score three more goals in each of the second and third periods, starting off with a power play goal in each. Loren Gabel and Jessica Gillham scored 23 seconds apart early in the second to make a 3-1 lead into a 5-1 lead, and Shannon MacAulay tacked on one more later in the middle frame with a smooth backhander from just outside the blue paint to beat Bombay.

Erin Ambrose picked up another power play goal at 8:14 of the third, firing a rocket through traffic from the point. Lefler's second of the game came at 15:25 as she found a loose puck behind Bombay in the crease and poked it home, and Kelly Mariani closed out the scoring just 39 seconds later to give the game its final 9-1 score. Sara Till came into the game after the ninth goal, playing the final 3:56 and stopping the one save she faced.

The loss was RPI's most lopsided since being shutout 10-0 at Clarkson on November 5, 2011.

St. Lawrence

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

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

After being relieved of her duties early Friday night, Lovisa Selander bounced back with a spectacular effort on Saturday, making 48 saves to help RPI hold on for a 1-1 tie against St. Lawrence in Canton. It was a long time to hold on, too, as Laura Horwood's tally for the Engineers came just 26 seconds into the game.

Horwood's goal came on the game's opening shift as she crashed the net and received a feed from Shayna Tomlinson behind the net. The junior was able to capitalize on SLU's Grace Harrison losing track of the puck to put it in the back of the net before the netminder could figure out where it had gone.

RPI killed two consecutive penalties early in the second to maintain the lead, but after the teams traded additional penalties, the Engineers found themselves in a 4-on-3 shorthanded situation where the Saints were able to capitalize. Hannah Miller earned that goal with a blast from the faceoff dot which threaded through traffic and past Selander to tie the game at one.

The Engineers and Saints traded penalties in the third, and as the clock wound down on regulation, RPI went on the power play with just 11 seconds left on the clock. That power play would carry over into overtime, but the Engineers couldn't score on their three overtime shots.

Of Selander's 48 saves, 23 came in the second period alone, with 14 more in the third.

With the one-point weekend, the Engineers remain in eighth place, three points behind sixth-place SLU, two points behind seventh-place Yale, three points ahead of Cornell and four in front of Dartmouth with four games to play.

RPI's final home games of the season come next weekend against Harvard (7pm Friday) and Dartmouth (4pm Saturday). An RPI win over Dartmouth next weekend would ensure the Big Green could not overtake the Engineers in the standings, at worst leaving it to tiebreakers to decide a potential tie. But more importantly the Engineers likely need to take two points next weekend to keep ahead of Cornell, which has winnable games against Brown, Yale, and Dartmouth left on the schedule, while RPI closes with a tough road trip to Princeton and Quinnipiac.

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RPI at Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
2/5/16 - 7pm
Clarkson 9, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5214
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wclkren1.f05

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/5/WICE_0205164405.aspx
Clarkson: http://clarksonathletics.com/news/2016/2/5/WHOCK_0205162633.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfOE0OtmE-A

RECORD: 9-14-4 (7-8-2 ECAC)

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RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
2/6/16 - 4pm
RPI 1, SLU 1 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5205
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wrenstl1.f06

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/6/WICE_0206160518.aspx
St. Lawrence: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2016/2/6/WHOCKEY_0206161426.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qib5xohFNg

RECORD: 9-14-5 (7-8-3 ECAC)

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ECAC Standings (all teams have 18GP)

1. Quinnipiac - 29 pts (13-2-3)
2. Clarkson - 26 pts (11-3-4)
3. Princeton - 25 pts (12-5-1)
4. Colgate - 23 pts (9-4-5)
5. Harvard - 22 pts (10-6-2)
6. St. Lawrence - 20 pts (8-6-4)
7. Yale - 19 pts (9-8-1)
8. RPI - 17 pts (7-8-3)
9. Cornell - 14 pts (5-9-4)
10. Dartmouth - 13 pts (5-10-3)
11. Brown - 5 pts (1-14-3)
12. Union - 3 pts (0-15-3)

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Upcoming Schedule

Feb. 12 - Harvard (7pm)
Feb. 13 - Dartmouth (Senior Day) (4pm)
Feb. 19 - at Princeton (7pm)
Feb. 20 - at Quinnipiac (4pm)

Making It Mean

It's Freakout! weekend again. We hardly need to elaborate.

But for the men, there's an important point that needs to be made. After this weekend, the next three games are Harvard on the road, Dartmouth on the road, Quinnipiac at home (as in #1 Quinnipiac). That's a tough slog for anyone. And here's RPI. 1 point out of 2nd (Harvard), 1 point ahead of 4th (Yale). Points are going to be hard to come by in the next three games after this weekend - not that they're impossible or anything, just that they're not going to be quite as forthcoming as they should be at home on Freakout! weekend against a St. Lawrence team that's winless in 6 of their last 7 on the road and a Clarkson team that was 2-6 in the eight games before their current 5-game unbeaten streak (four of which were at home, three of those against Brown, Colgate and a free-falling Cornell).

No points are easy. It's just... RPI could probably use a bit of a cushion, and now, if they're going to be a serious player for a bye.

The women have a war on their hands for a playoff spot, and if they don't have one by season's end, they'll have to stare at being swept on the season by Yale as the culprit. And the North Country is never a picnic. But they've nabbed a win over Clarkson this season and St. Lawrence is but a point ahead in the standings. We've seen results from longer odds before.

February's always a time to be a mean team to play against. Let's get mean.

By the way... Tom is currently (as of this afternoon) doing an Ask Me Anything on the college hockey Reddit. Drop by and ask him, er, anything. 

Men's Hockey - at Clarkson/St. Lawrence (6/7 Nov)

Adversity has arrived in Troy, and one week into said adversity, the Engineers are holding up pretty well. Losing two of their top centermen in the Halloween night game against Union, heading on a long road trip, losing their netminder during Friday's game, blowing a two-goal lead, picking up penalty after penalty on Saturday, and allowing late goals in both the first and second periods, one would be forgiven for expecting that the outcome for RPI was pretty bad. Instead, the Engineers returned home from the North Country with three big points, holding on after an injury to Jason Kasdorf on Saturday for a distasteful but acceptable 2-2 draw with Clarkson, followed by a gutsy, come-from-behind and never-say-die effort in Canton that resulted in a 4-3 overtime win.

Clarkson
Liljegren-Bourbonnais-Wood
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Fulton-Schroeder-Gillespie
Ohrvall, Clary

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Moore-Hampton
Grant

Kasdorf

Evan Tironese and Milos Bubela both sustained injuries against Union on Black Saturday that would keep them out for the weekend road-trip to the North Country. Combined with the injuries to Jimmy DeVito and Alex Rodriguez that have kept the junior from making his season debut and the freshman from making his collegiate debut, and the Engineers have 11 healthy forwards. All of them dressed against Clarkson. While Meirs Moore has played forward this season when pressed into it, Seth Appert chose to keep him on the blue line and dress seven defensemen instead.

RPI struck first for the fourth time in five games as Travis Fulton scored his second goal of the season at 7:12 of the first period, the lone assist going to Moore as the Engineers took a 1-0 lead against the Golden Knights. On the other side of the ice in the first period, Kasdorf made 13 saves on as many shots to preserve the lead into the first intermission.

Early in the second period, Riley Bourbonnais fed Jake Wood to create a breakaway opportunity that the resurgent junior pairing cashed in with to put the Engineers ahead 2-0, Wood's third goal of the year five minutes into the period. But that cushion did not last long as Clarkson's Brett Gervais put one past Kasdorf three and a half minutes later to cut the RPI lead in half at 2-1.

The momentum gradually shifted in Clarkson's direction, and the RPI penalty kill had a big moment at the start of the third period by killing off a penalty to Bourbonnais that had been assessed at 20:00 of the second period. The Golden Knights kept up the pressure, and the turning point came at 7:05 of the third - not on a goal, and not even on a penalty, although one was called on the play.

Near the end of an RPI power play, Clarkson's Jeff DiNallo attempted a counter-attack. Holding the puck, DiNallo went straight in on net and plowed into Kasdorf full force. DiNallo would come out of the game immediately, although he would return. A minute later, after trying to play through, Kasdorf too would come out of the game. No penalty was called on DiNallo for goaltender interference or charging the goaltender, but a penalty was assessed to Bourbonnais instead for slashing.

RPI, now being backed by freshman Cam Hackett making his collegiate debut in relief, killed the ensuing penalty and a questionable matching minor call moments later, but the Clarkson momentum continued to build. Hackett made the first eight saves he was called upon to make in the period, but the ninth shot eluded him, a blast from the point by Clarkson's Terrance Amorosa that he was just out of position to nab with 1:56 left in the third period. That tied the game at two.

Hackett and the Engineers managed to escape from Cheel with a solid point after holding up during the overtime period, but there was certainly a feeling of a bad tie despite the circumstances, as RPI did briefly hold a two-goal edge and the tying goal was widely seen as one that Kasdorf (or any other goaltender who wasn't coming into the game cold) likely would have been able to stop. The allowed goal was hardly a knock on Hackett, however, who looked very good despite the pressure point at which he made his debut.

After the game was over, DiNallo was issued a one-game suspension - to be served against Union the following night - for running Kasdorf.

St. Lawrence
Liljegren-Bourbonnais-Wood
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Fulton-Schroeder-Gillespie
Ohrvall, Clary

Bradley-Prapavessis
Wilson-Reno
Moore-Hampton
Grant

Hackett

Kasdorf would go on to be listed on the next night's lineup chart with the hope that he could at least skate during warmups and see if he was ready to go, but that skate did not end up taking place and from the very start, it was Hackett ready to make his first collegiate start, with Sam Goodman as the backup for the evening.

While Friday's game featured relatively few penalties being called, Saturday night's officials began getting involved very quickly and frequently. For the second time in four games, Jake Wood was called for a penalty in the opening 30 seconds of the game, this time taking a boarding call 20 seconds in. St. Lawrence would ultimately pick up three power plays, and the Engineers two, during the game's first 16 minutes, leading to a relatively total lack of momentum build in the first 20 minutes.

St. Lawrence would, however, open the game's scoring in the waning seconds of the period as Jacob Pritchard scored with 7.5 seconds remaining on the clock to give SLU the 1-0 edge heading into the locker room. But the late goal didn't keep RPI in a funk as was so often the case last season. After killing yet another penalty early in the period, the Engineers struck twice in the span of 1:03 to turn the tables. 13 minutes into the period, Jared Wilson's second goal of the season tied the game, and shortly thereafter, Drew Melanson finally snapped a very long scoreless drought - 12 games - by scoring on a rebound to make it 2-1 Engineers.

Once again, a late goal threatened to derail RPI - St. Lawrence's Michael Ederer tied the score with 1:02 left in the period, and it got worse as SLU took the lead about six minutes into the third period on a goal by Drew Smolcynski. But as in the second period, the late goal and the trailing score did not put RPI away as in the recent past. With just under seven minutes left in regulation, Riley Bourbonnais struck for the Engineers, knotting the game back up at three.

Meanwhile, Hackett especially coming up especially big for the Engineers throughout the second and third periods. In the final 40 minutes alone, Hackett made 29 saves on 31 shots, finishing the night with a solid 37 saves, more than doing his part to not only keep RPI alive, but well in the game.

Both teams had individual power play opportunities late in the third period following the Bourbonnais goal, but neither were able to convert. For the second night running, the Engineers were off to overtime, this time as the team tying the game rather than the team losing the lead. A second draw surely would have led to a relatively successful conclusion to a very trying weekend, but just a minute into the extra time, the local boy stepped up again for RPI.

Mark Miller, a native of nearby Massena who has frequently had some outstanding moments in the North Country, added another memorable one by shoveling home a shot by Drew Melanson, giving RPI a 4-3 victory and, against all expectation coming into the weekend and given what happened over the course of the weekend, three ECAC points in two road games.

Kasdorf's availability (along with that of Bubela and Tironese) isn't known for sure for the upcoming home weekend against Yale and Brown. One report by the Troy Record suggests that he's unlikely to play against Yale, but a report from Canton had it that Kasdorf could have played against St. Lawrence if it had been a playoff game. Both could be accurate.

At any rate, Yale represents the biggest challenge to the Engineers in terms of a power team since they welcomed Boston College to the Field House. The Bulldogs have opened the season with solid offensive numbers and have yet to allow three goals in a game. But RPI is at least playing closer to their potential than their more frequently expected floor, and they're starting to turn a couple of heads. Another strong ECAC weekend, especially on Friday, and expectations change.

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

By winning percentage
1. Quinnipiac (1.000)
2. Harvard (.875)
3. RPI (.875)
4. Yale (.750)
5. St. Lawrence (.500)
6. Cornell (.500)
7. Colgate (.500)
8. Clarkson (.250)
9. Union (.250)
10. Dartmouth (.250)
11. Princeton (.000)
12. Brown (.000)

RPI at #17 Clarkson

ECAC Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
11/6/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 2, Clarkson 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Watertown Daily Times

RECORD: 3-4-1 (2-0-1 ECAC, 5 pts)

RPI at #15 St. Lawrence
ECAC Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
11/7/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, St. Lawrence 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Watertown Daily Times
North Country Now

RECORD:4-4-1 (3-0-1 ECAC, 7 pts)

Upcoming games
13 Nov - #10 Yale
14 Nov - Brown
20 Nov - at Bentley
24 Nov - New Hampshire
27 Nov - vs. Western Michigan (South Bend, IN)

Women's Hockey - St. Lawrence & Clarkson (6/7 Nov)

After taking three points from Cornell and Colgate, RPI returned home to face their biggest challenge of the early season as St. Lawrence and fourth-ranked Clarkson came to town.

After falling short in a 2-0 loss to the Saints on Friday, the Engineers clawed out a 2-1 win over Clarkson on Saturday behind a spectacular effort from freshman netminder Lovisa Selander.

St. Lawrence

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

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

The weekend opened on a tough note as RPI struggled against St. Lawrence, getting shut out 2-0 by the visiting Saints. Selander finished with 31 saves but it was not enough for an Engineer squad that couldn't get one past Saints goalie Sonjia Shelly.

The first period flew by without scoring or penalties, and it wasn't until after the midpoint of the second period that SLU tallied the game's first goal. Taking advantage of a turnover at the RPI blue line, Kailee Heidersbach fed the puck to Kennedy Marchment at the top of the RPI crease, then Marchment gave it right back to Heidersbach across the crease for an easy tap-in past Selander.

Brooke Webster added a second goal for the Saints early in the third period, poking home a loose puck after a shot from Amanda Boulier made it past Selander to settle in the crease. The RPI defense tried to swipe it clear of the crease but couldn't get to it before the charging Webster had it in the back of the net.

The Engineers finished the game having been outshot 33-16 by a SLU squad that, despite a mixed bag of results early on due to playing a tough early schedule, looks poised to be one of the league's better teams.

Clarkson

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

Behounek/Banks
Hansen/Godin
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

While Saturday's game threatened to be an even tougher matchup for the Engineers than Friday's, with fourth-ranked Clarkson visiting Houston Field House, RPI took advantage of a great outing from Lovisa Selander coupled with some opportune penalty calls to pull a big upset and hand the Golden Knights their first loss of the season, 13 games in.

It was Clarkson scoring first, with Cayley Mercer giving the Golden Knights a 1-0 edge in a first period which saw the visitors outshoot RPI 15-3. Mercer's goal was a quick redirect in front of the net which came just moments after the Engineers broke up a 3-on-2 opportunity.

Lindsey Hylwa drew the Engineers even midway through the middle frame, putting just enough of a tip on a Mari Mankey shot coming on the rush to sneak it past Shea Tiley.

Mankey would then go on to tally the go-ahead goal on the Engineers' seventh power play chance of the game, at 12:49 of the third. Jenn Godin set up the goal with a slapshot from the point which Tiley stopped, but the puck dropped at the top of the crease and Mankey was able to slide it underneath the Clarkson goalie before she could get a glove on it.

The Engineers then held on as Clarkson fought hard to tie the game back up, with Selander making several big stops and finishing the game with an excellent 45 saves, making her 76 for 79 on the weekend.

RPI now travels to Dartmouth and Harvard before taking a couple weeks off from conference play for an exhibition at McGill and home set against New Hampshire.

-----

RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/6/15 - 7pm
SLU 2, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5186
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wrenstl1.n06

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2015/11/6/WICE_1106153848.aspx?path=whock
SLU: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2015/11/6/WHOCKEY_1106152655.aspx?path=whockey
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/998-womens-hockey-vs-st-lawrence

RECORD: 3-5-1 (1-1-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. #4 Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/7/15 - 4pm
RPI 2, Clarkson 1

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5187
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wclkren1.n07

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2015/11/7/WICE_1107152112.aspx?path=whock
Clarkson: http://clarksonathletics.com/news/2015/11/7/WHOCK_1107154740.aspx?path=whock
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P1axL7eDJ0
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/1000-womens-hockey-vs-clarkson

RECORD: 4-5-1 (2-1-1 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Nov. 13 - at Dartmouth (7pm)
Nov. 14 - at Harvard (4pm)
Nov. 22 - at McGill (2pm)
Nov. 27 - New Hampshire (7pm)
Nov. 28 - New Hampshire (4pm)

Small Sample Sizes

Hey, look! The women are in 2nd place in the ECAC! Tied for second, technically, with Harvard and Dartmouth, but they've got a game in hand over both teams, so... yeah!

And wow! Just like last year, the men are in 1st place! Tied for first, technically, with Harvard (freakin' Harvard), but hey, better than the alternative!

OK, so it's really not that impressive just yet for either team. But the road has to start somewhere, and it's started very well for both squads - unbeaten last weekend. That's the first time that's happened since December 7-8. 2012, when the men won at Yale and tied at Brown while the women swept those teams at home.

There's only way to stay on the perch - keep it up. The women have a difficult task in front of them at home against the North Country. The better bet is tonight against St. Lawrence, but the Saints don't seem to be that big of a slouch. Sure, they're 4-6-1, but four of those losses were to Clarkson and Boston College. No shame there. And then tomorrow is Clarkson... and Clarkson's a wrecking ball so far this year (no, that's not the pumpup).

The men get to return to the North Country for the fourth time in calendar year 2015 to take on nationally ranked Clarkson tonight and nationally ranked St. Lawrence tomorrow. This weekend marks the ECAC debuts for both teams and is never easy for the Engineers, but they could well be without leading scorer Evan Tironese, who took a hit that was a five-minute boarding call in most leagues but apparently a legal hit in the ECAC against Union last Saturday, and also without Milos Bubela, who is frequently a dangerous scoring threat.

In honor of this weekend's games against the North Country, here's a reach back to the past for an ode to alien landings, which wouldn't be the strangest thing to ever happen up there.


PROGRAMMING NOTE: In case you missed it on Twitter, WRPI won't be in the North Country this weekend. It was pretty much the perfect storm in terms of announcers being unavailable, and one that hopefully won't happen again, but it's pretty much the risk you run when you have a broadcast that's basically unpaid (we get reimbursed for travel expenses and that's it) and entirely produced by working professionals. However, the good news is that the women's hockey game tonight and hopefully tomorrow afternoon as well will be broadcast. Huzzah!

Know Your Enemy: St. Lawrence

A solid goaltender can take a team that might have been mediocre without him and turn them into world-beaters. Lacking one can turn a team that might have regularly destroyed teams offensively and turn them into an inconsistent mess. Case in point: St. Lawrence. During the era where names like Greg Carey and Kyle Flanagan were scoring buckets of goals, the Saints had no goaltending to speak of and were rarely contenders. Enter Kyle Hayton, and despite the exit of Greg Carey and his younger brother Matt, SLU was tough to beat and finished in second place - in a manner reminiscent of the 2012-13 Engineers. And he's got another three seasons in the pipes for the Saints.

St. Lawrence
Nickname: Saints
Location: Canton, NY
Founded: 1856
Conference: ECAC
National Championships: 0
Last NCAA Appearance: 2007
Last Frozen Four: 2000
Coach: Greg Carvel (4th season)
2014-15 Record: 20-14-3 (14-7-1 ECAC, 2nd place)
Series: SLU leads, 80-56-6
First Game: January 3, 1951 (Troy, NY)
Last RPI win: February 28, 2015 (Troy, NY)
Last SLU win: March 14, 2015 (Canton, NY)

2015-16 games: November 6, 2015 (Canton, NY); February 5, 2016 (Troy, NY)

Key players: F Sean McGovern, sr.; F Tommy Thompson, sr.; F Brian Ward, sr.; D Gavin Bayreuther, jr.; F Woody Hudson, jr.;  D Eric Sweetman, jr; D Nolan Gluchowski, so; G Kyle Hayton, so.; F Christian Horn, so.; F Ryan Lough, so.; F Mike Marnell, so.; D Matt Purmal, so.; F Michael Ederer, fr.; D R.J. Gicewicz, fr.; F Jacob Pritchard, fr.

Key losses: F Patrick Doherty, F Gunnar Hughes, D Chris Martin

Previous KYE installments:

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

Coming into last year, there was a question about where the goals were going to come from for St. Lawrence, considering the departure of the program's top offensive threats. The answer came pretty quickly - they were going to come from everywhere. That's what turned SLU from a team most picked to finish near the bottom of the standings into a team that ultimately finished near the very top.

The solution to not having a great deal in the way of standout players who are going to score goals for your team every weekend is to have a balanced attack that makes pretty much every player on the ice a threat to score, even if none of them individually is a serious concern. In some ways, that's actually the superior way to play it, and that's exactly what the Saints got out of their forwards last season. No SLU player reached the 30 point mark last season, and only one - Ward - made it to 25. Only two players - Hughes and Marnell - scored 10 or more goals. But crucially, the Saints had 15 different players attain the 10 point plateau, and 12 who scored five or more goals on the season.

Combined with the excellent play in net by the obvious ECAC Rookie of the Year Hayton (who also was a serious candidate for the Dryden Award) and the excellent two-way abilities on the blue line from Bayreuther, Gluchowski, and Sweetman, and the Saints were very much a force to be reckoned with pretty much all season long.

Uneven results in non-conference games kept SLU from their first NCAA tournament appearance in several seasons: being swept by Vermont in a home-and-home in December and picking up only a tie in two games with Northeastern really hurt, as did a loss to RIT in the season opener. The Saints rolled through the heart of the ECAC schedule, losing just twice in league play after New Year's before being swept at the Capital District on the last weekend of the season.

Game 1 of the ECAC quarterfinals between St. Lawrence and RPI is as good of a goaltender's duel as you're ever going to see. Hayton and Jason Kasdorf went blow for blow for 59 minutes before Martin scored in the game's final minute, the goal that essentially won the series for the Saints. SLU never led the semifinal game in Lake Placid against Colgate, but they never trailed by more than one and three times tied things up.

So the story of St. Lawrence for this upcoming season is very much one of unfinished business. Despite an outstanding record and a second place finish, SLU still finished the year empty-handed. The Saints' three key losses aren't nothing - Doherty was second on the team in scoring, Hughes led the team in goals with 12, and Martin was more or less a fourth attacking defenseman to go with the aforementioned trio - but the good news is that the core of what was there last season is back again for more this year. 11 of the 15 players who scored 10 points are back.

There's no one piece that makes St. Lawrence dangerous - they played excellent team hockey last season. Hayton, perhaps, was the glue that made everything stick, but the Saints relied more on team effort than individual talent and it paid off in spades. They've lost very little from last season. But as RPI showed at the end of the season last year, good goaltending can keep a team in it against SLU - Scott Diebold's home swan song will be long remembered, and no one can fault what Kasdorf did in the quarterfinals. Still, if SLU can repeat last year's balanced attack and roll three or even four dangerous scoring lines, they'll be tough to beat, and another big run through the ECAC schedule could be in the works. That makes them a legitimate contender for the very top of the league table.

Men's Hockey - ECAC Quarterfinals (13/14 Mar)

The Engineers needed an outstanding effort if they were going to survive a second consecutive weekend in the North Country get to Lake Placid. They got one on Friday, but it wasn't enough to overcome a St. Lawrence team that was right back on top of their game as RPI endured a heartbreaking, literally last minute 1-0 loss. That loss that proved too difficult to bounce back from on Saturday as their season ended with a 5-1 defeat in Canton.

Game 1
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

The conventional wisdom coming into the weekend had the play of Jason Kasdorf as the key for RPI - if he played up to his potential, the Engineers had a chance. On Friday night, facing off with the obvious choice for the ECAC's Ken Dryden Award given to the goaltender of the year, St. Lawrence freshman Kyle Hayton, RPI got the kind of play from Kasdorf that they needed to have that chance.

The RPI offense was grooving as well, controlling play and putting pucks on net. In fact, outside of a pair of penalty kills the Engineers needed to get through in the first 20 minutes, RPI had a pretty solid grip on possession throughout the first period. But while Kasdorf was playing well in net for RPI, so was Hayton for St. Lawrence. The freshman netminder made a number of acrobatic robberies throughout the first two periods to frustrate an Engineer attack that was otherwise functioning just as well, if not better, than it had for much of the season to that point.

No doubt, with the offense working hard, moving the puck well and taking shots, and with Kasdorf frustrating St. Lawrence's offense on the other end, RPI had the formula that they needed for victory. But Hayton's unrelenting play on the other end turned the contest into the consummate chess match as neither team wanted to be the one to blink first. In the first two periods of the game, each netminder made 21 saves on 21 shots. It was the very definition of a goaltender's duel.

Possession slowly started moving in the opposite direction midway through the second period, and where the Engineers had dominated the game early on, St. Lawrence began getting their opportunities later in the contest. But just as Hayton had generally weathered the storm well early, Kasdorf did the same for the Engineers. As time wound down, it became fairly obvious that the first goal of the game could well be the last as well, and that the tally would easily be the most momentous of the series, one on which the fortunes of both teams would rest.

RPI got their golden opportunity to be the one to score that goal with about 4:30 or so left in regulation. The Engineers, moving quickly in transition, took a shot that Hayton saved, but the rebound came free and a number of RPI players had the opportunity to pounce on it and potentially score. St. Lawrence captain Gunnar Hughes was not willing to let that happen, and he tossed the cage to stop play. That earned him a penalty for delay of game at a crucial point of the game, but the RPI power play was unable to capitalize.

As time drained away and overtime started to look inevitable, the game changed in a manner so common to hockey - a bounce. SLU's Chris Martin sent the puck weakly toward the net through traffic in an attempt to try and make something happen, and that's exactly what he got. The puck deflected off of Chris Bradley and into the back of the net with 51.5 seconds remaining in regulation, a bounce that St. Lawrence earned with strong penalty killing and the possession advantage late in the game.

The Engineers pulled Kasdorf from the net with 20 seconds left, but they were unable to get on past Hayton, who finished with 27 saves against 33 for Kasdorf.

Game 2
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Nanne-Miller-Gillespie
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

The ominous pre-game news was the loss of freshman forward Drew Melanson, the team's leading scorer, to an injury sustained the previous night. Kenny Gillespie, who had previously only seen time on the fourth line, slotted in on the right wing of Melanson's line, moving Lou Nanne to the left wing as Seth Appert sought to avoid disrupting the chemistry of the team's other three lines, which have been fairly static for the last couple of weeks.

RPI got their opportunity to put their stamp on a bounce-back effort early as SLU's Woody Hudson took a holding call 1:52, giving the Engineers a quick power play chance. That power play, however, went nowhere at all for an RPI team that would go 0-for-4 on the man advantage in Game 2 and conclude their season with just one power play goal in their final 17 games.

The Engineers certainly didn't back down after Friday night's loss. They sought to take the game to the hosts early, and for the second straight night, they peppered Kyle Hayton with shots in the first period, but once again, he was up to the task. Hayton made 16 saves in the first period alone, giving him 43 saves on 43 shots across the first four periods on the weekend. RPI was putting up a goose-egg on the scoreboard, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence took advantage of their opportunities in the first period, limited though they were. Another fortunate bounce for the Saints turned into the game's first goal at 5:45, and then a far more intentional redirection put SLU up 2-0 just 1:05 later, a devastating turn of events for an RPI team that had still been doing just about everything right on the weekend.

RPI finally got one past Hayton early in the second period as Mark Miller picked up his seventh goal of the year 2:02 into the middle frame to cut SLU's lead in half at 2-1. The Engineers were very much alive at that point, and they pressed looking for the equalizer. That was, however, destined to be the only puck they could get past the Saints' netminder on the weekend. Hayton made another 11 saves in the second period, and added 11 more in the third period, giving him 65 saves on 66 shots over the course of the weekend. As good as Jason Kasdorf was, Kyle Hayton was simply even better, and that was the difference.

The Saints iced the series with two more goals, one late in the second and another late in the third to make the score 4-1, then with the Engineers pulling out all stops, added an empty netter with about 15 seconds remaining to make the final scoreline 5-1. The Engineers, two steps away from Lake Placid, finished their season with a 12-26-3, but had little to be ashamed about for their final effort of the season.

Semifinal matchups
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #6 Harvard
#2 St. Lawrence vs. #4 Colgate

RPI at St. Lawrence
ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 1 - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
3/13/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: St. Lawrence 1, RPI 0

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Watertown Daily Times

RECORD: 12-25-3 (8-12-2, 18pts)

RPI at St. Lawrence
ECAC Quarterfinals, Game 2 - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
3/14/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: St. Lawrence 5, RPI 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Watertown Daily Times

RECORD: 12-26-3 (8-12-2, 18pts)

The Final Stand

It's heartache when you fight so hard and prove pretty much all the naysayers wrong, only to find yourself on the short end of the score due to a bizarro bounce - but that's pretty much the entire story of last night's epic game for the Engineers.

There's no shame, no shame at all in what happened last night. It was a goaltender's duel that any true student of the game would adore. St. Lawrence had the lion's share of the possession in the third period, so they earned the right to be in a position to benefit from a bounce off two players and into the net.

It was a performance to be proud of, but even if RPI had been blown out of the building last night, the situation would stand the same - down 1-0, staring into the end of the season for the second time in three games. There's only one thing to do now. Throw the sweater back on and prepare for war in the trenches once again. We saw last year that the road team can win games 2 and 3. Let's make it happen for us, this time.

Since it's the weekend of St. Patrick's parades and the theme (and the weather, in Troy at least) is about right... here's a solemn battle aire for tonight - a slower tune that can still send chills and adrenaline in a way only the Irish can.

House Money?

Week two. Another trip to the North Country. Another very low margin for error. Another chance to extend the season.

There's no pressure on RPI at all other than the pressure the team has on itself to achieve as much as they possibly can. Few observers think we have a prayer. Maybe they're right. But some of those same observers were delivering obituaries for this team in January and February. Oops.

There's no team out there that's still got a season in front of them that can't string together eight wins and lift the ultimate prize. It's true for everyone from North Dakota (25-7-3) to Niagara (7-26-4, although technically it's only seven for the Purps). How likely is that? It's not likely in the slightest.

But how about something closer to home? How about just going to Lake Placid? We don't need to take eight steps this weekend. Just take two - to a place we haven't been since a few scant months after 9/11.

There's always hope, especially if this team is peaking at the right time. They could give it their all and still come out on the short end. But what if we have yet to see this team at their best this season, and we get it now? That would be something.

No fear.

Men's Hockey - Clarkson & St. Lawrence (27/28 Feb)

The Engineers needed a strong weekend and a little bit of help in order to secure home ice for the first round. They came within a goal on Friday of getting everything they needed, but they'll still be on the road despite a solid final weekend. A 3-3 tie on Friday against Clarkson guaranteed that RPI would be on the road in this coming weekend, but a strong effort against one of the best teams in the league on Saturday, St. Lawrence, produced a 4-3 victory to push the Engineers toward the post season having been unbeaten in three of their final four contests.

Clarkson
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Kasdorf

Matt Neal returned to the lineup after missing the previous weekend's games in Central New York - he replaced Kenny Gillespie and slotted into an all-senior line.

The first period was action packed and full of scoring - five goals scored between the two teams in the first 20 minutes (that's one every four minutes for you math majors). The average almost got started right on, as Viktor Liljegren scored at 4:07 of the first period to put RPI in front 1-0. But just over a minute later, the Engineers put themselves in a tough spot as a Jake Wood hooking call was followed just four seconds later by a high-sticking call against Curtis Leonard, giving Clarkson a long five-on-three opportunity. The Engineers killed most of it well, but the Golden Knights broke through for a tying goal 21 seconds from the end of Wood's penalty.

A hooking call against Riley Bourbonnais about four minutes later created a goal for Clarkson that was essentially a power play goal, coming seven seconds after the penalty expired and while the puck remained in the RPI end. That put the Golden Knights up 2-1, but it was destined to be a short-lived lead for the visitors.

Just under a minute later, Drew Melanson tied the game up with his seventh goal of the year, and four minutes after that Mark McGowan netted number six on the year to make it 3-2 RPI.

Clarkson pulled their netminder, Steve Perry, to start the second period, as Perry had allowed three goals on just 10 shots in the opening period. The second, however, would prove to be the Jason Kasdorf show, as the junior goaltender made 14 saves to maintain RPI's lead. The Engineers mustered just two shots in the middle frame, which featured no goals despite the first period goal bonanza.

A potenital tipping point came 2:22 into the third, as Jimmy DeVito was assessed a five-minute major for a reckless knee-to-knee hit against Clarkson's James de Haas. The penalty was slightly mitigated by a retaliation penalty assessed to Kevin Tansey, who immediately went after DeVito, but nonetheless, Clarkson would enjoy three full minutes of major penalty power play time once Tansey's penalty was over. The RPI penalty bent, but did not break, keeping the Engineer lead at 3-2.

With under seven minutes left to play, Clarkson pulled themselves back even with the Engineers, as James Howden scored on a shot that Kasdorf was slightly screened on by one of his own defenders, just barely missing snagging the shot with his glove.

The tying goal helped build momentum for the visitors, who dominated the remainder of the period and much of the ensuing overtime. By the end of the game, the Engineers managed only 8 shots on Lewis, two fewer than they managed in the first period alone. Behind Jason Kasdorf's play, RPI did manage to hold on for the tie, but that was enough to ensure that they would be on the road in the playoffs.

St. Lawrence
Liljegren-Schroeder-Bubela
Melanson-Miller-Nanne
Neal-McGowan-Laliberte

Wood-Bourbonnais-DeVito

Leonard-Bradley
Curadi-Bell
Prapavessis-Wilson

Diebold

For senior night, Scott Diebold got the start in net - the only real change to the RPI lineup from the previous night. All of the graduating seniors were in the starting lineup.

A Jake Wood penalty led to the first goal for the opposition for the second straight night on Saturday as St. Lawrence scored an odd goal that coincided with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on one of its own players in the final minute of the period. It was the Saints' third power play opportunity of the opening 20 minutes.

RPI responded in the second with their second three-goal period of the weekend. After an entire season of barely missed nets and hitting several pipes, Mike Prapavessis finally came through with his first collegiate goal two and a half minutes into the second period, tying the score. SLU regained the lead 2:31 later on a laser of a shot by defenseman Eric Sweetman. From there on out, however, it was the Drew Melanson show.

The RPI freshman tied things up midway through the period. After catching a home-run pass from Bradley Bell, Melanson gained the zone on the breakaway and faked out St. Lawrence netminder Kyle Hayton scored for his 8th goal of the season. The assist for Bell was the freshman's first collegiate point, ensuring that every Engineer skater now has recorded at least one point on the season. Then, two minutes later on the power play, Melanson put home a rebound off a shot by Prapavessis, putting the Engineers ahead 3-2.

It was looking like a serious case of deja vu - a 3-2 RPI lead heading into the third period, and some seriously strong play by the opposition in search of the tying goal. Diebold stood strong in net during the second period, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the middle frame, and he continued heroic play during the third period as well, but was beaten on another laser shot from the point by Sweetman with just over nine minutes left in regulation.

From that point, RPI fans could be forgiven for groaning and basically saying "here we go again." It was the third time in four games that the Engineers had surrendered a lead in the third period. But the script was not about to play out in the same way it had been playing out. About three minutes later, as RPI fought to regain the lead, Mark McGowan was pulled down after getting behind the defense on his way toward the net, and he was awarded a penalty shot. McGowan calmly moved to his left and outwaited Hayton, scoring the go-ahead goal with six and a half minutes left in regulation.

Scott Diebold equally was not about to be denied on senior night. He stood proud and tall in net for the remainder of the game, remaining cool under pressure late as St. Lawrence pulled Hayton for the extra attacker. His play helped the 4-3 lead stand up, ending RPI's winless streak at nine (which equaled their nine-game losing streak from earlier in the year) and picking up a win that guaranteed the Engineers 9th place and a trip to Potsdam to take on Clarkson.

With the Golden Knights falling to Union that same night, the Engineers could have been the ones hosting Clarkson if only they'd been able to hold that Friday lead. The good news is that Clarkson has only picked up a single win and a single tie in their last nine games. The bad news is, both of those were against RPI. Still, the last playoff series the Engineers won in 2012 was won in Potsdam, and there are signs of life in both the offense and the defense. Anything is possible, even in a season as long as this one has really been for the Engineers.

Final ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 35 points (16-3-3)
2. St. Lawrence - 29 points (14-7-1)
3. Yale - 28 points (12-6-4)
4. Colgate - 26 points (11-7-4)
5. Dartmouth - 26 points (12-8-2)
6. Harvard - 25 points (11-8-3)
7. Cornell - 22 points (9-9-4)
8. Clarkson - 19 points (8-11-3)
9. RPI - 18 points (8-12-2)
10. Union - 17 points (8-13-1)
11. Brown - 13 points (5-14-3)
12. Princeton - 6 points (2-18-2)

First Round matchups
#12 Princeton at #5 Dartmouth
#11 Brown at #6 Harvard
#10 Union at #7 Cornell
#9 RPI at #8 Clarkson

Clarkson at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/27/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 3, Clarkson 3 (OT)

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 9-23-3 (7-12-2, 16pts)

#19 St. Lawrence at RPI
ECAC Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/28/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: RPI 4, St. Lawrence 3

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union

RECORD: 10-23-3 (8-12-2, 18pts)

Upcoming games
06 Mar - at Clarkson
07 Mar - at Clarkson
08 Mar - at Clarkson (if necessary)
13 Mar - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seed, if qualified)
14 Mar - ECAC Quarterfinals (at higher seed, if qualified)

This Is It

Let's be perfectly honest. There's been a lot to be embarrassed about this year.

* RPI was 35 seconds away from being shutout in three consecutive games against Minnesota and Denver. (This seems a lot less embarrassing after Union came within about 17:30 of being shutout in four straight, but still.)

* The Engineers got swept at home by Bentley by a combined score of 9-2.

* Swept by Brown by a combined score of 10-5.

* Shut out six different times.

* Three separate losing streaks of five or more on the season.

* 12 straight games of scoring fewer than three goals.

* Two different winless streaks of eight or longer, including the current one.

* 0-23-0 in games giving up 3 or more goals.

* Losing by five in a rivalry game in which they led at the second intermission.

And even after all of this, there's still hope. There's still a chance. Home ice is a possibility.

But everything that's happened in the last month has to be wiped clean. This has to be the start of a new season right here and now.

Two wins this weekend and a little bit of luck, and everything you see above can start to be wiped away.

It's home ice advantage week. Take control of your own destiny, Red.

Men's Hockey - at St. Lawrence & Clarkson (6/7 Feb)

The struggle continues for the Engineers, as a poor showing in the North Country produced the team's third losing streak of four games or more on the season. The Friday game at St. Lawrence seems to have been the better of the two outings, as a strong second period positioned RPI with a striking-distance shot at one of the best teams in the league, but spot mistakes killed in a 3-1 loss. The next night, the Engineers struck first but coughed up the lead after just nine seconds on the way to a 5-2 loss at Clarkson.

St. Lawrence
Liljegren-DeVito-McGowan
Neal-Miller-Laliberte
Nanne-Bubela-Schroeder

Melanson-Bourbonnais-Gillespie

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Reno

Kasdorf

With Jake Wood still out on suspension, the Engineers got some good news in the return of Mark Miller for the first time in over a month. Despite having the strong-early trio of Miller, Lou Nanne, and Drew Melanson all in the same lineup for the first time in nearly three months, they were featured on three separate lines.

The home team struck twice in the first period to get the edge they would need to pick up the victory, although the Engineers would do their part later to make things close. Goals by Alexander Dahl and Christian Horn at 5:54 and 11:17 of the first gave SLU a 2-0 lead, with the second goal being a direct result of a turnover in the RPI end.

Matt Neal scored his 5th goal of the season early in the second to make it 2-1 and add some intrigue to a game that up to that point had been dominated by the Saints. The Engineers turned the game around in that second period and had arguably their best 20 minutes of hockey since the Mayor's Cup, but they were unable to get any closer during the period despite a 13-5 shot edge as SLU's Kyle Hayton preserved the lead well.

The RPI penalty kill managed to go 5-for-5 on the evening, but St. Lawrence's power play looked very strong all night. On at least four of the five power play opportunities, the Saints were fairly unlucky not to score, missing open nets and hitting iron instead of finding the cage.

A goal by Mike Marnell at 10:47 of the third period basically ended any real hopes that the Engineers had of catching up to St. Lawrence, although the tide of the game had started turning well before that one returned SLU's lead to two. RPI played most of the last two minutes of the game with the extra attacker, but could not improve on Neal's tally, falling for the second consecutive league game and firmly dropping the Engineers into 9th place in the league standings.

Clarkson
Liljegren-Schroeder-McGowan
Melanson-Bourbonnais-Miller
Fulton-DeVito-Gillespie
Neal-Bubela-Laliberte

Leonard-Prapavessis
Curadi-Bradley
Wilson-Bokenfohr

Kasdorf

Despite his eligibility to return to the lineup, Jake Wood sat out a third-consecutive game, almost certainly because he wasn't on the trip to begin with given RPI's injury status with both Mark Miller and Travis Fulton questionable for the weekend's games. However, Fulton returned to the lineup on Saturday night as part of a line jumble that saw Lou Nanne removed from the lineup completely for reasons unknown.

Quick goals for Clarkson were the theme of the evening, with the timing on each of the Golden Knights' first four goals producing a serious blow for the visitors' morale.

The Engineers did manage to strike first against Clarkson, going ahead 1-0 on a goal by Jacob Laliberte at 8:21 of the first period, but it didn't take long for things to deteriorate. Four seconds later, Matt Neal was called for hooking on the ensuing center-ice faceoff. Then, on the next faceoff in the RPI end, Clarkson won the draw and converted for a tying goal only nine seconds after the Engineers had taken the lead.

Another quick goal early in the second period basically took the wind completely out of RPI's sails, as the Golden Knights went ahead 2-1 just 25 seconds into the middle frame. Five minutes later, a Jimmy DeVito penalty ended after only five seconds - exactly the way the Neal penalty ended, on a power play goal off a faceoff win for Clarkson in the RPI end, making it 3-1 Clarkson.

Mark McGowan got one back for his fourth goal of the season with 4:30 remaining in the second period to give RPI some hope, but just over two minutes later Clarkson got another one to regain their two goal lead, then picked up a fifth goal - and fourth of the second period - just under two minutes after that. McGowan then whipped the puck out of the net and up out of the rink, earning himself a misconduct penalty at the same time Jason Kasdorf was finishing his night up early.

There was no scoring in the third period, but the game was certainly a fait accompli by that time.

RPI has in the past used Freakout! weekend to turn around difficult seasons. If they can't do that this year, it's all over. The last time the Engineers were at home, they played well enough to run with any team in the league. They start off with one of the teams they should still be able to beat - except that they didn't last time out.

Current ECAC Standings
1. Quinnipiac - 27 points (13-2-1)
2. St. Lawrence - 24 points (12-4-0)
3. Yale - 18 points (8-6-2)
4. Harvard - 18 points (8-6-2)
5. Clarkson - 18 points (8-6-2)
6. Dartmouth - 18 points (8-6-2)
7. Cornell - 17 points (8-7-1)
8. Colgate - 17 points (7-6-3)
9. RPI - 14 points (7-9-0)
10. Union - 13 points (6-9-1)
11. Brown - 5 points (2-13-1)
12. Princeton - 3 points (1-14-1)

RPI at St. Lawrence
ECAC Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
2/6/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: St. Lawrence 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS

RPI
USCHO
Troy Record
Albany Times Union
Watertown Daily Times

RECORD: 9-19-1 (7-8-0, 14pts)

RPI at Clarkson
ECAC Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
2/7/15 - 7:00pm

RESULT: Clarkson 5, RPI 2

BOX SCORES
College Hockey Stats
USCHO

RECAPS
RPI
Troy Record
Albany Times Union
Watertown Daily Times

RECORD: 9-20-1 (7-9-0, 14pts)

Upcoming games
13 Feb - Brown
14 Feb - #15 Yale (Big Red Freakout!)
20 Feb - at Cornell
21 Feb - at Colgate
27 Feb - Clarkson

Women's Hockey - Clarkson & St. Lawrence (6/7 Feb)

RPI may have played two of their best games of the season against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, but it wasn't enough in either game as they dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions at the Field House.

With the two losses, coupled with a Yale win over Dartmouth, RPI falls nine points shy of 8th place with just eight points up for grabs. They will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row and third time in four seasons.

Clarkson

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Despite Alexa Gruschow scoring a shorthanded goal early in a 5-minute major penalty, the penalty ended up costing the Engineers as Clarkson's power play goal gave them a 2-1 win over RPI on Friday night.

The goals came late in the second and early in the third, after Taylor Mahoney was sent off with a major and game misconduct for contact to the head. Only about 20 seconds into the Clarkson power play, Gruschow poked a puck free on the Clarkson blue line to spring herself on a breakaway which she put past Shea Tiley.

That goal tied the game 1-1, as earier in the period Cayley Mercer had capitalized on a failed clearing attempt by the Engineers to get her own mini breakaway on O'Brien which gave the Golden Knights an early lead.

With Mahoney's penalty still being served early in the third period, Clarkson picked up the go-ahead goal with a shot through traffic from the slot that O'Brien didn't appear to get a good look at.

RPI put up 28 shots, including 10 in the third period where they had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity, but couldn't solve Tiley again after Gruschow's tally.

St. Lawrence

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Another fairly good performance from RPI, another 2-1 loss to show for it as the Engineers were defeated by St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon, ending the Engineers' slim hopes of a playoff bid.

Again it was a power play tally that stood up as the game winner, as Kayla Raniwsky's goal early in the third put the Saints up 2-0.

Taylor Mahoney cut that lead in half at 10:52 of the third, taking a nice feed from Marisa Raspa in the corner and rifling a shot into the top corner to beat Carmen MacDonald for the only time on the afternoon.

SLU opened the scoring at 10:18 of the first with a weak wrister by Brooke Webster that trickled through O'Brien and into the net.

RPI finished with 25 shots, and O'Brien with 33 saves (56 on the weekend) in a strong performance.

While there are 4 games left on the schedule, the Engineers are officially eliminated from playoff contention and will just be playing for position in the bottom four over the final two weekends of the season.

-----

RPI vs. Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/6/15 - 7:00pm
Clarkson 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wclkren1.f06
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4451

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/6/WICE_0206151834.aspx
Clarkson: http://www.clarksonathletics.com/news/2015/2/6/WHOCK_0206152221.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9-qC6l8CiA
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/897-womens-hockey-vs-clarkson-

RECORD: 5-29-4 (3-13-1 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
2/7/15 - 3:00pm
St. Lawrence 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstl1.f07
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4452

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/2/7/WICE_0207153710.aspx
St. Lawrence: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2015/2/7/WHOCKEY_0207155904.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43SJVEm04U
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/898-womens-hockey-vs-st-lawrence-

RECORD: 5-21-4 (3-14-1 ECAC)

-----

Upcoming Schedule

Feb. 13 - at Yale (7pm)
Feb. 14 - at Brown (4pm)
Feb. 20 - Cornell (7pm)
Feb. 21 - Colgate

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ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 29 pts. (14-3-1) (.806)
2t. Quinnipiac - 28 pts. (13-3-2) (.778)
2t. Clarkson - 28 pts. (13-3-2) (.778)
4. Cornell - 26 pts. (12-4-2) (.722)
5. St. Lawrence - 25 pts. (11-4-3) (.694)
6. Princeton - 23 pts. (11-6-1) (.639)
7t. Dartmouth - 16 pts. (7-9-2) (.444)
7t. Yale - 16 pts. (8-10-0) (.444)
9. Colgate - 9 pts. (4-13-1) (.250)
10. RPI - 7 pts. (3-14-1) (.194)
11. Union - 5 pts (1-14-3) (.139)
12. Brown - 4 pts. (2-16-0) (.111)

And Down the Stretch They Come

We've alluded to it for some time. The final third of the season is the most feverish - and it takes place in the final month.

Four at home, four on the road. The first two on the road come this weekend in the North Country, which, by current points, is the most difficult road trip of the year, like it always used to be. Tonight the Engineers face off with what may be the most underrated team in the entire country in St. Lawrence. They've finally got what they've been lacking for at least the last five years - a solid goaltender and a balanced attack. That makes them dangerous on a night in, night out basis. What RPI was in 2013 and what Colgate was in 2014, St. Lawrence is this year.

Following up is a visit to a Clarkson team that isn't lighting the world on fire but they're more or less getting the job done. They're in fourth place, which means they're doing something right, but they're also only two points ahead of the Engineers coming into the weekend (as opposed to six points for SLU). Given the closeness of the teams, if we had to pick one game to take points in this weekend, this is the one.

With four weeks left in the season, the Engineers are a point behind our preferred pace of "two points on the road, three at home." This might be a difficult weekend to pick that point back up (requiring three or more points), but a split is a necessity if they're going to keep a top 4 spot as a legitimate goal.

For the women, with six games left in the regular season, a playoff spot seems practically out of reach. Now seven points out with only 12 points available, it'll take a miracle - in fact, it may be semi miraculous if they don't get mathematically eliminated this coming weekend at home against the North Country teams. That leaves pride left to play for. Catch Colgate, finish in 9th at least. The Engineers managed to not get totally embarrassed a couple of weeks ago in the North Country, perhaps a small upset over the reigning national champions is in order? Who knows.

Time to awaken that fighting spirit that has seemed missing for a couple of weeks.

Women's Hockey - at St. Lawrence & Clarkson (16/17 Jan)

RPI headed north for a weekend pair at St. Lawrence and Clarkson, both of which sit solidly in the top half of the league standings. The hosts played like the standings would imply, as the Saints defeated RPI by a 3-1 margin before the Golden Knights skated to a 4-2 victory the following night.

St. Lawrence

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

RPI was outshot 40-16, yet Kelly O'Brien kept the game close as it took a late empty net goal to help St. Lawrence secure a 3-1 victory over the Engineers Friday night in Canton.

The Saints got on the board early as Kennedy Marchment put home a rebound for her tenth goal of the season at 3:17 of the first period.

Hannah Behounek tied it up at 9:44, putting a wrist shot top shelf on the power play to get RPI on the board.

The tie didn't survive the period, as the Engineers got into penalty trouble after Behounek's goal. After successfully killing a minute of 5-on-3 shortly after the goal, they found themselves down 5-on-3 again late in the period with two concurrent penalties called. This time SLU capitalized, as Megan Armstrong scored at 18:46 to make it a 2-1 game.

Half of RPI's 16 shots came in the second period, but none found their way past Brooke Wolejko. The Engineer power play came up short on one more try in the third, and instead it was Kayla Raniwsky scoring into the empty net at 19:05 of the final frame to put the game away.

Clarkson

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

It was a penalty-filled affair on Saturday afternoon as RPI and Clarkson combined for 28 minutes in the sin bin, yet oddly enough neither team scored on the power play or shorthanded (although one goal was scored 4-on-4). The goals that did come tilted the game in favor of the Golden Knights who came away with a 4-2 win over the Engineers.

Once again RPI gave up an early goal, this time to Amanda Titus at 2:48 of the first. Titus tipped a shot from Savannah Harmon past O'Brien for the quick lead.

The Engineers erased that deficit at 13:09 of the opening frame, when Ali Svoboda found a loose puck at the top of the crease and fired it past Shea Tiley.

Clarkson jumped ahead to a 3-1 lead over the course of three minutes spanning the midpoint of the second period. Olivia Howe regained the lead by firing the puck into the crease where it bounced off Behounek and past O'Brien. Harmon made it a two-goal lead by putting a rebound just under the crossbar at 12:48.

Things looked to be out of hand for RPI when Cayley Mercer scored at 14:56 of the third to put the Engineers in a three-goal hole. Jenn Godin scored in the game's final minute to cut it to 4-2 but it was too little, too late and RPI was swept on the weekend.

Next weekend will be the home-and-home with Union, two games that are absolutely critical for the Engineers to win in order to maintain any hope of making the playoffs. RPI will head to Schenectady for a 7pm game Friday, then return to the Field House for a 4pm matinee on Saturday.

-----

RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game - Appleton Arena (Canton, NY)
1/16/15 - 7:00pm
SLU 3, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstl1.j16
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4445

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/16/WICE_0116151313.aspx
SLU: http://www.saintsathletics.com/news/2015/1/16/WHOCKEY_0116150028.aspx

RECORD: 4-16-3 (2-9-0 ECAC)

-----

RPI vs. Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game - Cheel Arena (Potsdam, NY)
1/17/15 - 4:00pm
Clarkson 4, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wclkren1.j17
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4446

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/17/WICE_0117150642.aspx
Clarkson: http://www.clarksonathletics.com/news/2015/1/17/WHOCK_0117152434.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNy_LavwWlI

RECORD: 4-17-3 (2-10-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 23 - at Union (7pm)
Jan. 24 - Union (4pm)
Jan. 30 - at Colgate (3pm)
Jan. 31 - at Cornell (3pm)

-----

ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 24 pts. (11-1-2) (.857)
2. Clarkson - 20 pts. (9-2-2) (.769)
3. Harvard - 19 pts. (9-2-1) (.792)
4. St. Lawrence - 18 pts. (8-3-2) (.692)
5t. Cornell - 16 pts. (7-2-2) (.727)
5t. Princeton - 16 pts. (8-6-0) (.571)
7. Dartmouth - 13 pts. (6-5-1) (.542)
8. Yale - 10 pts. (5-7-0) (.417)
9t. Colgate - 4 pts. (2-9-0) (.182)
9t. RPI - 4 pts. (2-10-0) (.167)
11t. Brown - 2 pts (1-11-0) (.083)
11t. Union - 2 pts. (1-11-0) (.083)