The hangover for Rensselaer didn’t last long.
After losing 4-3 to Niagara the night before in one of the worst ways possible – giving up a goal with one second left in overtime – the Engineers quickly put that in the rear view mirror with an 8-3 shellacking of host Rochester Institute of Technology.
It was the first win of the season for RPI (1-1-2) and for new head coach Dave Smith, who was hired away from Canisius at the end of last season. It was also the first collegiate win for freshman goaltender Linden Marshall, who made 33 saves.
“It’s a long season and we’ve had four games and we’re trying to get better every period,” Smith said. “And we did a lot of things well tonight and still there were moments of desperation, but overall it was awesome for us.”
Viktor Liljegren and Troy York each had a pair of goals for Rensselaer, which put RIT away with four unanswered goals after the Tigers had cut the lead to 4-3 late in the second period. The teams traded goals early in the game, which was 2-2 midway through the first period.
RIT’s Abbott Girduckis scored the Tigers’ first two goals of the contest to draw even at 1-1 and 2-2. But Liljegren and York got their first goals of the game to open a 4-2 lead at the end of the first period.
Jordan Peacock’s tally at 15:32 of the second period pulled the Tigers to within 4-3, but the turning point came a few minutes later.
After RIT barely missed tying the game on the power play (a video review of the play confirmed no goal), Brady Wiffen scored seconds later to put RPI up 5-3.
Wiffen skated under a pass from Jared Wilson and roofed the puck from in close past RIT goaltender Logan Drackett. The Engineers got three insurance goals in the third period and Marshall stopped all seven shots he faced in the final stanza.
Drackett was replaced after the seventh RPI goal by Ian Andriano, who allowed one goal on three shots over the final 10:09 of the contest.
“(At the beginning of the game) my nerves were pretty high and I was pretty jumpy,” Marshall said. “But as the game went on I definitely settled down and got a little confidence going.”
Getting goal support sure helped as well.
“That was nice,” said Marshall, who was making his first collegiate start. “When the guys are pushing on offense, it definitely makes my job easier.”
“We knew that (Marshall) had been practicing well and practicing with purpose,” said Smith. “We like him a lot. Chace (Perry) had played well but it felt like the right combination of things to put (Marshall) in.”
It was a tough weekend for RIT, which surrendered a total of 14 goals in losses to Union and Rensselaer.
“We played poorly defensively,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson.”Guys that we were confident in to be anchors were anchors in the wrong way. We’ve got to be way better.”
ECAC Roundup
Canisius 3, Colgate 3
The Golden Griffins erased a 3-1 deficit with two goals in the third period, including the tying tally from Matt Hoover with a minute to play.
Daniel Urbani made 37 saves for Canisius, while Colgate goaltender Colton Point made 32 stops.
Clarkson 4, Providence 0
The Golden Knights got a pair of power play goals from Devin Brosseau and 26 saves from Jake Kielly, who recorded his second shutout of the season and fifth of his career.
Union, 5 Niagara 1
The Dutchmen posted their second win of the season after losing their first five contests.
Ryan Scarfo had two goals and goaltender Darion Hanson stopped 23 of 24 shots he faced. Union coach Rick Bennett became the winningest coach in school history, passing former mentor mentor Nate Leaman with his 139th victory.
Quinnipiac, 4, Northeastern 3 (OT)
Alex Whelan’s goal with 38 seconds left in overtime gave the Bobcats the win at Matthews Arena.
Quinnipiac tied the game early in third period on Chase Priskie’s second goal of the game. Ryan Ruck made 43 saves in defeat for Northeastern, which was outshot 46-26.
UMass-Lowell 5, St. Lawrence 0
Jake Kamrass had a pair of goals and River Hawks goaltender Christoffer Hernberg made 27 saves for his first career shutout.
St. Lawrence outshot UMass-Lowell 27-17 but stayed winless on the season (0-6).
