On the fly
Friday, January 28
Brown 0 at Rensselaer 3
Despite out-shooting the Engineers 36-20, Brown took the goose-egged L as RPI won the special-teams game. Senior Chase Polacek and Bryan Brutlag potted power-play goals late in the first period to pace the ‘Tute, and classmate Tyler Helfrich added the empty-netter in support of junior Allen York (36 saves, second shutout of the season). The Engineers went 2/5 on the advantage on the evening, while the penalty kill blanked Bruno on five power plays of its own. Brown junior Mike Clemente made 17 saves on 19 shots in defeat.
Colgate 2 at Harvard 6
Sophomore defenseman Danny Biega scored an early equalizer, the power-play game-winner, and a short-handed empty-netter to lead Harvard to its first win in four weeks (1-7-0). The victory snapped a seven-game free-fall, while Colgate’s winless slide extended to 12 games (0-11-1). Sophs Conor Morrison and Alex Fallstrom lit the lamp for the Crimson, as did junior Alex Killorn. Ryan Carroll made 27 saves in net for Harvard. Sophomore Robbie Bourdon and senior Francois Brisebois scored for the Raiders; frosh Eric Mihalik sustained the damage with three goals on 13 shots, while junior Alex Evin mopped up with nine saves on 10 shots.
Cornell 2 at Dartmouth 2 (ot)
The Big Red and Big Green traded goals in the second and third period, and traded blows at the final horn in the stalemate. Senior Rob Smith and junior Connor Goggin scored for the Green, supporting junior James Mello (17 saves) in net. Junior Sean Collins and senior Joe Devin tallied for the visitors, as rookie Andy Iles stopped 31 of 33. The teams came to fisticuffs at the last buzzer, resulting in 36 minutes in penalties, but no game disqualifications were meted out.
Princeton 5 at St. Lawrence 3
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, and hung on against fierce Saints rallies to improve to 6-1-0 on the road this season. Senior blue-liner Tayler Fedun scored twice, rookies Andrew Ammon and Andrew Calof contributed as well, and senior Mike Kramer buried his team-leading eighth goal in the victory. Soph Mike Condon (29 saves) out-dueled rookie Matt Weninger (four goals, 13 shots); junior Robby Moss stopped 10 of 11 shots in Weninger’s relief. Frosh Justin Baker, sophomore Jordan Dewey and senior Nick Pitsikoulis scored for the Saints.
Quinnipiac 3 at Clarkson 2
Clarkson may have gone 2/3 on the power play Friday night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an early 2-0 deficit as QU stretched its unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1). Sophomore Jeremy Langlois scored twice in the first period for the Bobcats, and junior Yuri Bouharevich earned the game-winner in the third to boost sophomore Eric Hartzell (21 saves). Junior Paul Karpowich made 29 saves for the Golden Knights, but sophomore Andrew Himelson and junior Louke Oakley’s goals weren’t enough for ‘Tech in its third loss in four games (1-3-0).
Yale 2 at Union 3
The Dutchmen ultimately out-battled the nation’s top team, taking a 2-0 lead in the 27th minute and holding on for the one-goal victory. Each side scored twice on four power plays, but it was Union senior Adam Presizniuk’s even-strength goal – the only five-on-five goal of the game – that proved to be the game-winner. Rookie Daniel Carr and sophomore Wayne Simpson also scored for the Dutch, as soph Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves for the big win. Freshman Kenny Agostino and senior Jimmy Martin tallied PPG’s for the Blue, who couldn’t find the equalizer for senior Ryan Rondeau (31 saves) in Yale’s second loss in four games (2-2-0). Like Brown’s upset of the Bulldogs two weeks ago, Friday’s triumph was Union’s first over a top-ranked team.
Saturday, January 29
Princeton 4 at Clarkson 3 (ot)
Neither team managed to hold a lead for longer than 4:40 in this wild, back-and-forth slobberknocker, but Princeton senior Kevin Lohry made sure the drama ended early with the overtime game-winner only nine seconds into the extra period. Ammon scored twice and added an assist to extend his point streak to four games, and senior blue-liner Matt Godlewski potted his first of the season for the Tigers as well. Rookie Sean Bonar’s 31 saves were enough to best counterpart Karpowich (32 stops), as Golden Knights goals by junior Nick Tremblay (twice) and freshman Allan McPherson weren’t quite enough to keep ‘Tech from its sixth loss in eight games (2-6-0). Princeton, on the other hand, has only lost once in its last 11 games (9-1-1) and is on a four-game winning streak.
Quinnipiac 2 at St. Lawrence 2 (ot)
The Bobcats held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in Canton on Saturday, but couldn’t salt the win away as SLU junior Jacob Drewiske found the equalizer each time. Freshman Connor Jones and junior Scott Zurevinski scored and Hartzell made 33 saves for QU, while junior Robby Moss stopped 22 for the Saints, who ended a three-game losing slide. Quinnipiac has only lost once in its last 10 games (6-1-3).
Brown 2 at Union 4
The Dutchmen scored three goals in seven and a half minutes of the second period to blast past Brown, running Union’s current hot streak to 7-1-0. Sophomore Wayne Simpson scored once, as did senior Justin Pallos, while Presizniuk scored twice for the Dutch; Kinkaid made 26 saves for his 17th win of the season. Juniors Jack Maclellan and Bobby Farnham scored for Brown – rookie Marco DeFilippo and Clemente combined for 27 saves – and Bruno fell for the third straight time.
Colgate 3 at Dartmouth 7
Three straight goals by the Big Green to open the second period, combined with a 1/9 night for Colgate’s power play, spelled a runaway win for Dartmouth on Saturday. Soph Alex Goodship, junior Doug Jones (twice), and seniors Joe Stejskal, Kyle Reeds, Evan Stephens, and Scott Fleming scored for Dartmouth, in support of Mello (28 saves). Sophomore Mike Leidl, junior Mark Nasca and Brisebois mustered the Raiders’ three goals; junior Bryan Bessette surrendered four goals on 19 shots in just over 31 minutes of play, so junior Alex Evin (11 saves) stepped in to finish up.
Cornell 2 at Harvard 1
Harvard’s inability to pop one on the power play (0/4) spelled doom against the Big Red, as the Cornell advantage (1/2) made the difference with the second-period game-winner. Junior Locke Jillson did the damage, building on senior Mike Devin’s first-period goal, and Iles made 33 saves to stretch Cornell’s unbeaten run to four games (2-0-2). Harvard’s Carroll only faced 20 shots, saving 18, and Fallstrom scored for the second night in a row for the Crimson. The game ended in madness yet again for the Big Red, as officials meted out 66 minutes in penalties after the final horn, including a game disqualification (carrying a one-game automatic suspension) for Cornell soph defenseman Nick D’Agostino.
Yale 2 at Rensselaer 5
Three RPI goals in a 5:05 stretch straddling the second intermission put the ‘Tute ahead for good, and handed Yale its first losing streak of the season (0-2-0). The Engineers went 3/8 on the power play (while Yale went 2/7), getting goals from rookie Brock Higgs, sophomore C.J. Lee, juniors Josh Rabbani and Patrick Cullen, and Polacek. York made 38 dazzling saves, while Yale’s Rondeau was chased from the game after allowing four goals on 12 shots in 43 minutes. (Sophomore Nick Maricic cleaned up with five saves on five shots.) Junior Kevin Peel and senior Denny Kearney struck for the Bulldogs, who were held to their lowest-scoring weekend (four goals) of the year against Union and RPI.
In retrospect…
Prediction precision: 7-3-2 this week, 106-50-18 (.661) overall.
