The venerable Houston Field House is undergoing an extensive facelift designed to make it one of the most attractive venues in the ECACHL. Meanwhile, it seems that one of the old rink\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prime tenants, the RPI women, have been testing the new elevators prematurely.<\/p>\n
How else could one explain the Engineers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 up and down fortunes this season?<\/p>\n
RPI was fast on its way to becoming one of the Nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best success stories prior to the Christmas break.<\/p>\n
That was then.<\/p>\n
The new year, however, has been a story with an unhappy ending, at least so far. The Engineers charged into the break with a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1), and just one loss (9-1-2) in their final 12 starts.<\/p>\n
Those numbers have been completely flipped. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost five of their last six contests, and are just 2-7-1 since 2009 rolled around. Needless to say, the Engineers are searching for answers as they head into this weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s North Country trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We were just working well as a team,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said RPI co-captain Melissa Boik, trying to put a finger on the situation. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain exactly what it was, because if that was the case, I could explain what is happening now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A glance at the game log reveals two things. One of them, the uptick in scoring, is encouraging. The other, the ballooning goals against numbers, is not.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re scoring more goals this time around,” said Boik a senior defenseman from Allen Park, Mich., “but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re letting in more, too.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
A partial explanation, according to Boik, is that they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprising their ECAC foes the second time around they way they might have in their first meetings.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Clearly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153both sides of our games have had their ups and downs. So teams we played the first time around, they know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen when they play us. Everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adjusting to it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Last Saturday, Harvard did some tinkering and skated out of Houston with a 5-4 win. This after RPI surprised the Crimson back in November by holding them to a 1-1 tie.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That was probably one of my favorite games of my career,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Boik. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The feeling coming out of it was great. That we were finally able to get a point out of them. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We knew what we had to do, coming into there. We knew how hard we had to play. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically just what we did.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The rematch was an entirely different tale, but almost wound up with the same result. The Crimson exploded to a 4-0 lead before RPI stormed back with a trio of third-period goals to eventually make it a one-goal game.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our penalty kill struggled that weekend, said Boik. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we made our way back into the game, and we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop fighting the entire time.”<\/p>\n
Boik led the last ditch charge by bombing in two third-period goals. The second came with 1:56 to play, and kept the Engineers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hopes aflicker.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the second goal went straight in,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think a teammate tipped it in. The first one was just a plain old shot to the net. There were enough teammates screening for me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It was the first multi-goal effort of her career, and gave her five for the season. It was her reward for playing with a little bit of desperation, and confidence, too.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The next few games,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to have to be shooting more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Currently sitting at 12-12-3 (7-7-2), a split of their six remaining contests would give the Engineers a .500 record for the first time in their brief ECAC Hockey existence.<\/p>\n
Boik said that she and her teammates will have to stay on the offensive over the final three weeks in order to hit the playoffs with a full head of steam.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re definitely a skating team,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So that works to our advantage. So with us puck movers, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to get that going.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That elevator does have an up button, too. Now, if they can just manage to find it again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The venerable Houston Field House is undergoing an extensive facelift designed to make it one of the most attractive venues in the ECACHL. Meanwhile, it seems that one of the old rink\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prime tenants, the RPI women, have been testing the new elevators prematurely. How else could one explain the Engineers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 up and down fortunes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n