Engineers Beat Saints, End Skid

Photo by Sara Melikian

Boxscore

CANTON, N.Y. -- The Rensselaer men's hockey scored three goals in the first two periods and hung on to a 6-3 victory over St. Lawrence University tonight at Appleton Arena. The Engineers improve to 9-15-3 overall, and 4-7-2 in ECAC Hockey play. The Saints fall to 9-13-3, including 4-8-2 in conference play.

Rensselaer struck first when freshman Scott Halpern (Boca Raton, FL/Bay State Breakers) scored his second goal of the season at 11:19 of first period. He was assisted by classmates Tyler Helfrich (Calgary, AB/Prince George Spruce Kings) and Chase Polacek (Edina, MN/Holy Angels)

Less than two minutes later, Helfrich put the Engineers ahead, 2-0. He took a pass from Polacek and beat sophomore goaltender Alex Petizian (Kirkland, PQ/Northwood).

RPI took a 3-0 lead at the 11:29 mark of the second period. Matt Angers-Goulet (St. Augustin, PQ/Notre Dame) score his seventh goal of the season, with assists going to senior Jake Morissette (Fruitvale, BC/Williams Lake Timberwolves) and freshman Ben Contini (Toronto, ON/North York Rangers).

The Saints out-shot the Engineers 23-12 through two periods of play and finished with a 35-20 advantage in shots on goal.

St. Lawrence scored one minute into the third period, when Aaron Bogosian (Massena, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) scored his fifth of the season. Shawn Fensel (Nepean, ON/Cornwall) and Jeremiah Cunningham (Ashburn, VA/Salisbury) recorded assists.

Peter Merth (New Westminster, BC/Burnaby Express) extended the Engineer lead back to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 3:13. Helfrich and Polacek picked up the helpers on the tally.

The Saints scored two goals at 10:13 and 12:28 the cut Rensselaer's lead to just one goal. Casey Parenteau (While Bear Lake, MN/Sioux Falls Stampede) and Cunningham beat Engineers goalie Jordan Alford (Red Deer, AB/Canmore Eagles) for the pair of goals.

Andrew Lord (West Vancouver, BC/Vernon Vipers) and Polacek tallied goals just over a minute apart to equal Rensselaer's largest lead of the night at 6-3. Freshman Bryan Brutlag (Lakeville, MN/Holy Angels) picked up an assist on both goals.

Polacek finished with a goal and three assists for four points, while Helfrich recorded a goal and two assists.

Alford made 32 saves for the Engineers, while Petizian and Kane Tisi (Mississauga, ON/St. Michael's Buzzers), who began the third period in net, combined for 17 stops.

The Engineers return to action next Friday and Saturday when they host Quinnipiac and Princeton. Both games will begin at 7pm.