It was a hat trick for Jordan Smelker at the Field House Sunday afternoon the captain of the Engineers led the team to a 9-0 exhibition win over the Badgers of Brock University. Five other Engineers had multiple-point games and the Engineers outshot the visiting Badgers 48-13 en route to closing out the exhibition portion of the 2013 schedule.
Smelker/Mahoney/Svoboda
Sanders/Wash/Gruschow
Horwood/Hylwa/Rooney
Letuligasenoa
Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Middlebrook/Behounek
O'Brien/Piper/Till
Five goals in just over five minutes of game time made for a furious rush which turned a scoreless affair into a 5-0 drubbing just past three minutes into the second period.
Smelker's first was also the first of the day at 17:58 of the first, a quick shot off a perfect pass from Ali Svoboda which left the Brock goaltender little chance of stopping it. Toni Sanders made it 2-0 just 24 seconds later, scoring off a scrum in front of the Brock net where most players had lost track of the puck.
The scoring continued unabated to start the second, with Alexa Gruschow outskating the Brock defense to free herself on a shorthanded breakaway and make it 3-0 at 1:27. Nona Letuligasenoa picked up the Engineers' fourth goal, taking the puck from behind the net and firing a quick backhander which caught netminder Julia Ouroumis by surprise.
Taylor Mahoney notched the fifth goal, picking up the puck after a faceoff win by Svoboda and quickly blasting a shot past Ouroumis. The Engineers were unable to convert on a pair of power play opportunities after Mahoney's goal, but Smelker proceeded make it 6-0 on her second of the afternoon at 9:55, powering past the Brock defense in much the same way as Gruschow had earlier, carrying the puck across the crease and making the ensuing backhander look easy.
Three more goals in the third period finished things off for the Engineers, starting with Smelker's hat trick goal at 9:25, where she took control of a Brock turnover on the near side boards, flipped the puck to Svoboda and headed for the net just in time to receive another precise pass for an easy goal. Lauren Wash scored RPI's 8th after another 24 second gap, forcing home a rebound on another scrum in front of the Brock net, and Svoboda scored one of her own to go with her three assists at 15:46, a wrister from the slot that found its way through traffic and wound up top shelf in the back of the net.
The exhibition schedule over, the Engineers now travel to Pittsburgh for a non-conference weekend at Robert Morris. The Colonials have been a fixture on RPI's schedule, appearing all but one season since 2005-2006. Since that one season off in 2010-11, the Engineers have been 0-3-1 against RMU, so this coming weekend should prove a much tougher test for the Engineers than their exhibition matchups. Game times for next weekend are 7pm Friday and 3pm Saturday.
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RPI vs. Brock
Exhibition Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
9/29/13 - 3:00pm
RPI 9, Brock 0
BOX SCORES:
RPI: not posted
College Hockey Stats: http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1314/boxes/wbrkren1.s29
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CM-w1mfJ4g
Complete Game: http://rpitv.org/p/599
RECORD: 0-0 (0-0 ECAC)
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Upcoming Games
Oct. 4 - at Robert Morris (7pm)
Oct. 5 - at Robert Morris (3pm)
Oct. 11 - Boston University (7pm)
Oct. 12 - Northeastern (4pm)
Oct. 19 - Vermont (3pm)