RPI Plays Well But Gets a Tie

Production Off As Game Features 14 Power Plays

By Isaac Goodling

Albany Times Union, November 19, 2005

HAMILTON - A hard-fought hockey game marked by superb special teams and excellent goaltending on both ends finished in a 1-1 draw Friday night between RPI and 17th-ranked Colgate.

Oren Eizenman scored the tying goal for RPI (6-4-2 overall, 2-1-2 ECACHL) late in the second period, but from that point neither team could take advantage of numerous power-play opportunities.

"I thought we played real well at our end of the rink," RPI coach Dan Fridgen said. "We did an excellent job on the penalty kill and moved the puck well on our power plays, but we just couldn't finish it."

Colgate's Kyle Wilson appeared to extend his streak of consecutive games with a point to 12 with a goal at 3:57 of the first period, but the play was nullified by an interference call on Marc Fulton. The Raiders (6-2-2, 3-1-1) got on the scoreboard shortly after, however, when Tyler Burton tapped in a pass from Nick St. Pierre with 11:59 remaining in the period.

After being outplayed for the first 10 minutes of the game, the Engineers picked up their play and shut down Colgate's offense the rest of the way. With only 55 seconds remaining in the second period, Eizenman broke through the Raiders defense and knocked in a rebound for RPI's lone goal. Scott Romfo got the assist.

"We played well at times," Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. "It was a game with a lot of momentum changes, and both teams tried to take advantage of that. Rensselaer did a good job of bottling us up. Our offense couldn't really get going and we just didn't capitalize on the chances that we had."

With the score tied, the players on both sides picked up the intensity, with the penalty-kill teams playing a large part. The teams combined for 14 power plays, including five in the third period and overtime, but Burton's goal was the only one on the man advantage.

"They've got a great power play," Fridgen said. "They gave us a lot of different looks, which is why I thought we did such a great job stopping them. We did the little things real well tonight; we saw some good hitting, good goaltending, just good hockey all around."

Mathias Lange recorded 27 saves for the Engineers, including four in overtime, and Mark Dekanich had 30 stops for Colgate.

"I thought Mark played really well," Vaughan said. "Their guy really impressed me, too. It was just a well-played game by both goalies."

RPI plays at Cornell tonight at 7.