Women's Hockey - Union Home-and-Home

This weekend marked the annual home-and-home series between RPI and Union, a series which has given the Engineers a little trouble the past few seasons despite Union regularly occupying the cellar of the ECAC standings. Last season the game in Schenectady needed a late RPI power play goal to secure the win, while the season before the Engineers surrendered a point at Messa Rink (one of only two points earned by Union that season), tying the Dutchwomen 4-4 despite outshooting them 52-17.

RPI had no such difficulty this season, nor did they give anyone reason to doubt they were the better team as they shutout Union on consecutive afternoons, picking up four important ECAC points in the process. The margin was a (relatively) close 2-0 on Saturday, while Sunday's game was a dominant 5-0 victory for the Engineers

Saturday

Wright/Harrison/Naslund
Padmore/Dunlop/Weidner
Horton/Vandegrift/O'Keefe
Guillemette/Jakubowski/Stapleton

Castignetti/Gersten
Le Donne/Haller
Vadner/Daniels

van der Bliek

It was an uneventful first half of the game over in Schenectady, with no scoring in the first period or in the early part of the second, and only a couple penalties each way. As is fairly typical in Union games, the Dutchwomen only managed a handful of shots in the first half, with none that really tested Sonja van der Bliek. Through the first two periods Union recorded only 5 shots on goal to RPI's 22.

Midway through that second frame, Whitney Naslund broke the stalemate and picked up her 9th of the season from Alisa Harrison to give RPI a 1-0 lead near the midpoint of the period. The Engineers took several penalties in the latter half of the second but Union was unable to manage any sustained pressure, and the score remained 1-0 for the better part of 20 minutes.

Midway through the third RPI got a power play opportunity as Union was sent off on a holding the stick call, and it took just 22 seconds with the advantage for Alisa Harrison to score a goal of her own, with assists going to Naslund and Allison Wright. Union brought some pressure late in regulation but nothing of significance and the buzzer sounded with the score still 2-0.

Some assorted notes about Saturday's game - the scoreboard at Messa Rink was broken, leading to confusion about the game clock, penalties, and scoring. The public address guys had to announce the game time at regular intervals so the teams (and broadcasters) knew how much was left on the clock. RPI's top line of Wright, Harrison, and Naslund accounted for all of RPI's points, going 0-1-1, 1-1-2, and 1-1-2 respectively. The win also marked the first on a Saturday for the Engineers since the exhibition season opener against Bluewater on September 26.

Sunday

Wright/Harrison/Naslund
Padmore/Dunlop/Weidner
Horton/Vandegrift/O'Keefe
Guillemette/Jakubowski/Stapleton

Castignetti/Gersten
Le Donne/Vadner
Haller/Daniels

van der Bliek

Unlike Saturday's game, where Union played strong, and with energy, Sunday's game was really no contest from the get-go. Allison Wright tallied what would stand as the game winning goal at 5:07 of the first and it was all RPI from there. Kendra Dunlop doubled RPI's score a little less than three minutes later with a power play goal en route to outshooting the Dutchwomen 10-3 in the period.

Jill Vandegrift and Whitney Naslund notched goals in the second to again double RPI's lead to 4-0, and Alisa Harrison picked up the Engineers' fifth at 12:01 of the final frame to give the band the first legitimate excuse to play Hawaii 5-0 in quite a long time.

Unlike in Saturday's totally top-line dominated affair, 11 players tallied points in Sunday's game, with Allison Wright leading the charge with a 1-2-3 line. Harrison and Naslund had a goal and assist apiece while 8 others each picked up a point. Sonja van der Bliek was strong in net to earn her second shutout of the weekend, turning away several good Union opportunities as the Dutchwomen had their only flurry of good shots on the power play late in the third. The third period saw RPI outshot by Union (8-6), a feat not accomplished since January of 2006 when Union outshot RPI 6-5 in the second period of an otherwise uneventful 5-1 RPI win.

Whether RPI's weekend inconsistencies stemmed from games on Saturday or simply the second game of the weekend, they broke the pattern decisively this weekend with two convincing wins over Union. And they did so in games that have given both RPI teams fits in seasons past - those that come against opponents we "should" beat.

Rossli Chace did not dress this weekend after suffering a broken leg in practice the week prior.

RPI is now idle for a full month before hosting Clarkson and St. Lawrence at the Field House on January 8th and 9th.

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RPI @ Union
ECAC Hockey Game - Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
12/5/09 - 2:00pm
RPI 2, Union 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wrenuni1.d05
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/?date=20091205&vis=rpi&home=uc&gender=w

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2009/12/5/WICE_1205090855.aspx
UC: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2009/12/5/WICE_1205094606.aspx

RECORD: 6-8-4 (3-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 8 points)

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Union @ RPI
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
12/6/09 - 12:00pm
RPI 5, Union 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/0910/boxes/wrenuni1.d06
USCHO: http://www.uscho.com/box/?date=20091206&vis=uc&home=rpi&gender=w

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2009/12/6/WICE_1206092422.aspx
UC: http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2009/12/6/WICE_1206090422.aspx

RECORD: 7-8-4 (4-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 10 points)

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ECAC Standings (as of 12/6/09):

             GP    Pts    ECAC      All
Clarkson     9     16     8-1-0     14-4-1
Cornell      10    16     7-1-2     8-4-2
Harvard      9     12     6-3-0     7-3-2
Quinnipiac   10    12     4-2-4     7-6-5
Princeton    10    11     5-4-1     7-6-1
RPI          8     10     4-2-2     7-8-4
SLU          9     10     4-3-2     7-5-5
Dartmouth    9     9      4-4-1     5-4-1
Colgate      10    7      2-5-3     4-12-3
Yale         10    5      2-7-1     3-8-2
Brown        10    3      0-7-3     1-10-3
Union        8     1      0-7-1     2-13-1

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Upcoming Games

Jan. 8 - St. Lawrence
Jan. 9 - Clarkson
Jan. 15 - at Brown
Jan. 16 - at Yale

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WOMEN’S HOCKEY

The Engineers went 2-0 last week, sweeping a home-and-home series with Union College, 2-0 and 5-0. Senior Allison Wright (Oakville, ON) recorded four points (1 goals, 3 assists) in the two games, including three (1 goal, 2 assists) in the home win on Sunday. Rensselaer (7-8-4; 4-2-2 ECACH) returns to the ice on January 8 & 9, when it hosts North Country-rivals St. Lawrence and Clarkson, respectively.

Live Stats for both games will be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/whockey/index.htm and can be seen live on a pay-per-view basis through the B2 Networks at https://www.b2livetv.com/login.asp.