Engineers Blank Brown
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Junior netminder Sonja van
der Bliek stopped all 26 shots she faced and the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team scored two second
period goals on their way to a 2-0 shutout of Brown University, in
ECAC Hockey action on Friday. With the victory, the Engineers
improve to 8-9-5 overall with a 5-3-3 mark in conference play. The
Bears are now 2-11-4 and 0-8-3 in ECAC Hockey.
After a scoreless first period, RPI broke out onto the scoreboard
as freshman Taylor
Horton (St. Thomas, ON/Bluewater Hawks) scored at 13:03 of the
second stanza. Making a heads-up play in the Bears' zone, Horton
intercepted the puck off a pass and sprinted toward the goaltender
for a five-hole shot that banked into the net.
Senior Whitney
Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) then made it a
two-goal advantage less than a minute later, when she scored on the
power play at 13:52. Off a pass from linemate Allison
Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice), Naslund was able to get it
past Brown goalie Katie Jamieson (Waterloo, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros)
for her team-leading 12th goal of the season. Earning the secondary
assist on the play was sophomore Amanda
Castignetti (Anchorage, AK/Shattuck St. Mary's).
In the third period, the defensive tempo picked up as each squad
was called for three penalties each. RPI had several chances to add
to its lead as senior Allysen
Weidner (Wichita, KS/Shattuck St. Mary's) nearly scored on a
breakaway attempt, but was hooked down, which resulted in a Bears
penalty.
Brown tried to get onto the board late in the game, taking
advantage of two RPI players in the penalty box by pulling their
goalie, but could not solve van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr.
Aeros), who came up with several big stops in the final
seconds.
In addition to nine saves in the first period, van der Bliek also
posted 11 stops in the second stanza and 12 in the third. For the
Bears, Jamieson made 32 saves, including 10 in the opening period,
11 in the middle frame and five in the third period.
The Engineers return to action tomorrow afternoon in a 4pm tilt at
Yale, while Brown hosts Union, also at 4pm in Providence.












