RPI returned to a quiet Houston Field House this weekend, with the students still on break and no band in the house. On tap first was a game against #2 Cornell, who entered the weekend with a 15-1 record and a perfect 10-0 mark in ECAC play, while the Big Red were followed up on Saturday by the Colgate Raiders, who entered with a much more reasonable 6-13-2 record – 3-6-1 in league play.
Cornell lived up to the hype on Friday, racking up 41 shots en route to a 6-1 win over the Engineers, while RPI ground out a 5-4 win over Colgate on Saturday despite tallying just 15 shots on the game.
Cornell
Smelker/Harrison/Horton
Sanders/Vandegrift/O’Keefe
Padmore/Dunlop/Jakubowski
Letuligasenoa/Guillemette/Stapleton/Mankey
Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Marzario
Daniels
van der Bliek
Friday night’s affair got off to a slow start, with the teams spending the first five minutes or so feeling each other out and neither generating any real offensive opportunities. The remainder of the period was played relatively even, with the Engineers generating quite a few good scoring chances and matching up with Cornell pretty well.
What looked to be a scoreless first period tipped in Cornell’s favor in just the blink of an eye, as missed defensive coverage by the Engineers allowed Cornell’s Jessica Campbell to break in all alone and beat Sonja van der Bliek with just 22 seconds left in the period for a 1-0 lead.
The wheels very quickly fell off for the Engineers as the second period opened up, when Brianne Jenner doubled the Big Red’s lead with a rocket shot from the right point that beat van der Bliek high. Just 47 seconds later, van der Bliek got caught looking the wrong way as Lauriane Rougeau was able to convert an easy wraparound to open up a 3-0 lead.
Coach Burke called timeout after the pair of quick goals and the Engineers settled down a bit, killing a Sierra Vadner penalty and generating a little offense of their own. As the midpoint of the period approached, Kristen Jakubowski skated the puck into the Cornell zone and flung the puck into the slot from behind the goal line. One bounce off a defender’s skate and RPI found itself on the board trailing 3-1.
Cornell answered that goal at 11:17 of the second as Catherine White snuck a shot between two RPI defenders and past van der Bliek to extend the lead to 4-1. A pair of Engineer penalties led to a Cornell 5-on-3 later in the period, which RPI survived, but Cornell put another home on the remaining power play when a failed clearing attempt found its way to Alyssa Gagliardi, who put the puck through traffic for Cornell’s fifth goal. The Big Red would give RPI a 5-on-3 opportunity of their own late in the period, but the Engineers couldn’t convert, and ended up being outscored 4-1 and outshot 19-7 on the period.
The final frame saw the Engineers muster just three shots on goal, and Cornell’s Laura Fortino put the final nail in the Engineers’ coffin at 13:42, picking up a rebound in the slot and sliding it past van der Bliek. The goal would mark the end of the night for van der Bliek, who was replaced by Shannon Ramelot. Ramelot went on to make three saves in closing out the remainder of the game. Cornell freshman Lauren Slebodnick picked up the win in net, making 15 saves on 16 shots.
Colgate
Smelker/Harrison/Horton
Sanders/Vandegrift/O’Keefe
Padmore/Dunlop/Jakubowski
Guillemette/Mankey/Stapleton
Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Marzario
Daniels
Ramelot
After coming in for van der Bliek the night before, Ramelot was given the start against Colgate on Saturday afternoon. After a big save kept Colgate off the board in the first, the Engineers got the game’s first power play opportunity with 40 seconds left in the frame. It took just 14 seconds to capitalize as Jordan Smelker fed a cross-ice pass to Taylor Horton who beat Colgate netminder Lisa Plenderleith for the 1-0 lead.
RPI opened up the second period with another goal as Alisa Harrison and Sierra Vadner broke in 2-on-1 and Harrison put the puck over a sprawled-out Plenderleith to double the Engineer lead. The goal marked the opening of a run-and-gun period which saw the teams trade three more goals over its 20 minutes.
Colgate’s Jessi Waters tipped in a Brittany Phillips shot at 6:56 to cut the Engineer lead to 2-1, but Taylor Horton restored RPI’s two-goal lead at 15:23. Colgate notched their second just moments after the end of an RPI penalty, when Rachel Walsh slammed home a rebound in the crease. Coach Burke elected to replace Ramelot with van der Bliek after the second period, and van der Bliek saw out the remainder of the game.
Colgate tied it up at 3:56 of the third on a 4-on-4 goal, as a bad bounce off a faceoff saw the puck drop right in front of van der Bliek for Jenna Klynstra, who put it home before van der Bliek could react.
The Engineers got the last least they would need with a pair of goals just before and after the midpoint of the third. Kristen Jakubowski scored her second of the weekend with a well-aimed shot to put RPI up 4-3, and Madison Marzario banked a shot off a Colgate defender just a minute later to open the lead up to 5-3. Colgate would draw back to within one on a power play goal by Brittany Phillips, but RPI held on for a hard fought 5-4 win.
The Engineers hit the road for the first of two weekends with a trip to Harvard (Friday, 7pm) and Dartmouth (Saturday, 4pm). Neither game will be carried on WRPI, but links to live stats and pay-per-view video will be available on the RPI Athletics website as usual.
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RPI vs. Cornell
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/14/11 – 7:00pm
Cornell 6, RPI 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wcorren1.j14
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oYV6kuQe4U
RECORD: 8-8-6 (6-4-1 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Colgate
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/15/11 – 4:00pm
RPI 5, Colgate 4
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/wclgren1.j15
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v80g6w0Id1g
RECORD: 9-8-6 (7-4-1 ECAC)
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ECAC Standings (by points)
GP Pts ECAC AllECAC Standings (by winning percentage)
Cornell 12 24 12-0 17-1
Harvard 12 16 7-3-2 8-7-2
Quinnipiac 14 16 8-6 8-7-2
Rensselaer 12 15 7-4-1 9-8-6
Princeton 14 15 7-6-1 10-10-1
Dartmouth 12 12 6-6 9-8
St. Lawrence 11 10 5-6 10-11-2
Yale 10 9 4-5-1 5-10-2
Clarkson 11 9 4-6-1 7-13-3
Colgate 12 9 4-7-1 7-14-2
Brown 10 5 1-6-3 2-12-3
Union 12 2 0-10-2 1-20-3
GP ECAC Win%
Cornell 12 12-0 1.000
Harvard 12 7-3-2 .667
Rensselaer 12 7-4-1 .625
Quinnipiac 14 8-6 .571
Princeton 14 7-6-1 .536
Dartmouth 12 6-6 .500
St. Lawrence 11 5-6 .455
Yale 10 4-5-1 .450
Clarkson 11 4-6-1 .409
Colgate 12 4-7-1 .375
Brown 10 1-6-3 .250
Union 12 0-10-2 .083
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Upcoming Games
Jan. 21 – at Harvard (7pm)
Jan. 22 – at Dartmouth (4pm)
Jan. 28 – at Colgate (7pm)
Jan. 29 – at Cornell (4pm)
Feb. 4 – Brown (7pm)
Feb. 5 – Yale (4pm)
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