Late Goal Gives RPI Tie with Yale
TROY, N.Y. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the
17th-ranked team in the nation, got a goal from senior captain Jake
Morissette (Fruitvale, BC) with just 46 seconds left in the third
period to tie Yale University, 1-1, at the Houston Field House in
front of a Black Friday crowd of 3,719 in the ECAC Hockey opener
for both teams.
With the game winding down and junior goaltender Mathias Lange
(Klagenfurt, Austria) pulled for an extra-attacker, sophomore
defensman Peter Merth (New Westminster, BC) had his shot blocked.
The rebound came to Morissette, who went high with the shot and
beat Yale sophomore goaltender Billy Blase (Santa Monica, CA).
Until that point, Blase had not allowed a goal in the first 119:12
of this season. He shut out Brown last weekend. Blase (1-0-1) wound
up with 31 saves on the evening.
His counterpart, Lange (2-1-1), made 29 saves in the game,
including five in the overtime session.
The visiting Bulldogs got a late first period goal to take a 1-0
lead into the first intermission. Freshman Denny Kearney (Hanover,
NH) skated up the ice and fired a wrist shot from the top of the
right circle that eluded a screened Lange. Sophomore Mark Arcobello
(Miford, CT) was credited with the assist on the play.
Both teams had two chances on the power play and neither
converted.
With the tie the Engineers improved their unbeaten streak to
five games (4-0-1) and their overall record to 5-2-1. The Bulldogs
are now 1-1-1.
Rensselaer is right back in action on Saturday night when it hosts
league foe Brown University at 7pm. Yale travels to Union College
for an ECAC Hockey game, also at 7pm.
