York, Engineers Blank Yale
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sophomore netminder Allen York
stopped all 22 shots he faced and Chase
Polacek and Jerry
D'Amigo both had a goal and two assists as the Rensselaer men's
hockey team shut out #6 Yale, 4-0. The Engineers, who also
got a goal and an assist from Brandon
Pirri, improve to 14-12-2. The Bulldogs drop to
12-6-3.
Yale was 7-2-1 against RPI over the last 10 meetings heading into
this season. The Engineers have turned the tide this year with two
convincing victories, including a 5-2 win over the Bulldogs on
November 6 in Troy.
In New Haven, Rensselaer had a 26-22 advantage in shots as York
blanked Division I's top scoring offense while handing the Elis
their second (6-2-1) loss at Ingalls Rink this winter. York
(Wetaskiwin, AB/Camrose Kodiaks) notched his first shutout of the
season and the second of his career.
The Engineers (7-6-1 ECAC Hockey), who have six National Hockey
League draft picks on the roster, had more shots on goal than the
Elis in the first and third periods while preventing the home team
from gathering any momentum all night.
The Elis were held to a season-low five shots on target in the
first period while giving up 11 and the only tally of the period at
6:18. RPI junior Bryan
Brutlag (Lakeville, MN/Academy of Holy Angels) took a short
pass from Pirri (Toronto, ON/Georgetown Raiders), while he was
cruising in from the right circle, and slipped a low wrister
through some traffic.
Yale freshman netminder Nick Maricic stepped it up from there and
was tested often over the last half of the frame before finishing
with 10 saves.
Yale had a 12-4 shot advantage in the second but could not find the
net again. It looked as if the 1-0 score might stand for the second
intermission until the visitors jumped on a defensive breakdown in
the home end. Polacek (Edina, MN/Academy of Holy Angels), one of
the nation's leaders in goals this year, skated in alone from the
outer edge of the left circle and sent a low shot under Maricic at
18:23 for the junior's 18th of the year.
Prior to that, both Jeff Anderson and Sean Backman had good
power-play chances with sneaky shots that York got his body on.
Yale, with a man-advantage and a chance to cut the margin in half,
got burned on a loose puck in the neutral zone that turned into a
two-on-one rush. Mark Arcobello was the one and he tried to dive
and swat the puck away but may have deflected the puck off
D'Amigo's stick at 2:12 for the 3-0 lead. The Engineers put
the game away with a power-play tally by Pirri at 4:47.















