Last night, the men played a solid game against RPI, but came up on the losing side, 4-3.
The game started out with RPI scoring just 43 seconds in, on Mike Zalewski's goal. The Saints really weren't fazed, and much like the Union game on Friday, they had some really good offensive zone pressure. Finally, they caught a break on an RPI penalty, and on the ensuing power play, Jeremy Wick found himself next to the goal with the puck, and was able to bang the puck in past Scott Diebold to tie the game up. RPI responded quick however, as Ryan Haggerty beat Matt Weninger five hole from the right faceoff dot, and the Engineers took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The second period started much better for the Saints, who again found themselves playing in RPI's zone a lot. When Gavin Bayreuther picked the puck up in his own zone, he made a few moves through the neutral zone and over the blueline, before leaving the puck for Justin Baker who finished off the great individual effort by Bayreuther, and tied SLU with RPI 2-2. About ten minutes later, Justin Baker threaded the needle to captain Kyle Essery on the left face off dot, who fired a bomb of a one timer that beat Diebold and put SLU up 3-2. The Saints took the lead into the second intermission.
Just six minutes into the third, Mark Miller was able to tie it for the Engineers, and less than five minutes later, Ryan Haggerty scored his second of the game to put RPI up 4-3. This proved to be the game winner for the Engineers, because, despite some excellent chances towards the end of the game, SLU couldn't tie it up. Even a late power play came up empty.
For the Saints, a regular season ECAC championship is no longer a realistic goal. But, given that every team makes the ECAC tournament, the Saints need to continue to fight to improve defensively, because if they can start to hold teams to some lower goal totals, they can be a dangerous team in the tournament. And there are a lot of positives to take out of the RPI game. They played a really strong game, had a physical presence, and killed off all 3 RPI power plays.
Next weekend they go on the road to play one of the worst ECAC teams, Princeton, and one of the best, Quinnipiac. We'll see how it goes.
The game started out with RPI scoring just 43 seconds in, on Mike Zalewski's goal. The Saints really weren't fazed, and much like the Union game on Friday, they had some really good offensive zone pressure. Finally, they caught a break on an RPI penalty, and on the ensuing power play, Jeremy Wick found himself next to the goal with the puck, and was able to bang the puck in past Scott Diebold to tie the game up. RPI responded quick however, as Ryan Haggerty beat Matt Weninger five hole from the right faceoff dot, and the Engineers took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The second period started much better for the Saints, who again found themselves playing in RPI's zone a lot. When Gavin Bayreuther picked the puck up in his own zone, he made a few moves through the neutral zone and over the blueline, before leaving the puck for Justin Baker who finished off the great individual effort by Bayreuther, and tied SLU with RPI 2-2. About ten minutes later, Justin Baker threaded the needle to captain Kyle Essery on the left face off dot, who fired a bomb of a one timer that beat Diebold and put SLU up 3-2. The Saints took the lead into the second intermission.
Just six minutes into the third, Mark Miller was able to tie it for the Engineers, and less than five minutes later, Ryan Haggerty scored his second of the game to put RPI up 4-3. This proved to be the game winner for the Engineers, because, despite some excellent chances towards the end of the game, SLU couldn't tie it up. Even a late power play came up empty.
For the Saints, a regular season ECAC championship is no longer a realistic goal. But, given that every team makes the ECAC tournament, the Saints need to continue to fight to improve defensively, because if they can start to hold teams to some lower goal totals, they can be a dangerous team in the tournament. And there are a lot of positives to take out of the RPI game. They played a really strong game, had a physical presence, and killed off all 3 RPI power plays.
Next weekend they go on the road to play one of the worst ECAC teams, Princeton, and one of the best, Quinnipiac. We'll see how it goes.
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