Recap: RPI Splits in the North Country
RPI completes the season sweep against Clarkson & comes up empty at SLU
A confusing weekend in the North Country left RPI with exactly as many points as I expected, just not quite the way I thought it would happen. In all honesty, I sent a few texts Friday night as RPI skated out to a 4-0 lead saying that a 6-point weekend would likely put us within 2-3 points of playoff home ice.
I believe the last time RPI swept the season series from Clarkson was the 2009-10 season, a year in which Brandon Pirri and Chase Polacek headlined an exciting Engineer team. It’s been a long time since then, but RPI has quietly ripped off 4 in a row at Cheel Arena dating back to their playoff win in 2024. Appleton Arena has not been as kind to the program of late, as RPI hasn’t won there since the ‘21-’22 season. If memory serves, RPI was missing a bunch of players in that game due to COVID. That feels like a lifetime ago.
Friday: 4-3 Win at Clarkson
RPI raced out to a big lead in this one with some production from their young guns. Matthew Buckley potted a PPG on the doorstep on a high effort play from the Engineer powerplay. Ian Scherzer notched his first as an Engineer after coming very close in the past few weeks. That was nice to see for Ian, who looks to have the makings of a very high-quality player that Lang’s staff should be keen on developing. Ethan Bono made it 3 just 8 seconds later on a 2-on-1 off the center-ice draw. Rainers Rullers notched RPI’s 4th goal as his hot streak rolled on, and the Engineers looked to be smooth sailing to a solid road win at this point.
Clarkson threw everything at RPI over the final 37 minutes, outshooting them 39-15 in the final two frames and coming up just shy of drawing even. Unlike the Mayor’s Cup, RPI held on for a much needed 3 league points in this road contest. Nathan Krawchuk was outstanding with 44 saves and deserves a ton of credit for this win. Clarkson’s team looks a lot like I expect RPI to next year, with a lot of young CHL talent. RPI outworked them in both these games and got some high-end goaltending to notch two wins.
Saturday: 7-3 Loss at Saint Lawrence
The Engineers had a chance for a big weekend Saturday night when they headed over to Appleton Arena. But right from the jump things went awry, as their standout freshman goaltender was sidelined with an injury and 3rd-stringer Carson Dorfman got the nod. He let in two within the first five minutes, and Coach Lang quickly went to Bruno Bruveris in the 2nd after a shorthanded goal.
RPI looked poised to tie this one after a Kaz Sobieski goal and an upcoming powerplay. But Dovar Tinling’s stick snapped as he attempted a pass leading right to the shorthanded goal. Alfred Lindberg finally got his first one at RPI and Jagger Tapper scored as well, but it wasn’t enough for RPI on this night.
Before learning hockey analytics, shots on goal was essentially the only way I would assess how a team had played and who should have won. RPI had 9.9 expected goals in the season series to SLU’s 6, meaning they should have won each game by 2 goals. Instead, they lost the season series 11-6. This is caused by many things and is part of the reason that goaltending and elite goal scorers are so important. RPI outplayed St. Lawrence both times and had more scoring chances but unfortunately leaves the season series with nothing to show for it.
Standings
RPI sits in 11th but has 2 games at hand on SLU who leads them by just a point. 4 of RPI’s final 6 games come against the top half of the league which will be a challenge, but they are all played at home.
It’s stretch time in Eric Lang’s first year at RPI and the Engineers are hungry for points. Home ice in the ECAC playoff is nearly impossible at this point, but I do think double-digit wins is feasible. RPI will welcome in Cornell and Colgate this weekend in their 2nd to last weekend at the Field House. Let’s Go Red!