Engineers’ power play comes through
Hayhurst cashes in with 6:49 left as RPI rallies for win
In controlling the action in the third period of a 2-2 game against St. Lawrence, the RPI hockey team did all it could to get the go-ahead goal. The Engineers just needed to finally find the reward for its hard work.
Enter Jacob Hayhurst and the RPI power-play unit.
Hayhurst’s goal with 6:49 left in regulation with the Engineers on the power play was the game winner as RPI won for the third time in four games, beating St. Lawrence 3-2 Saturday at Houston Field House.
The junior center, the team’s leading returning goal scorer from last year, scored his first goal of the year after picking up a screen from freshman Ottoville Leppanen when he fired the puck past Saints goaltender Danny Mannella from the slot.
“It felt great to finally have one go into the net. We were working the power play really well,” Hayhurst said. “The guys made some nice passes up high and I happened to be all alone and they found me. Otter had great body position up front. There is no way the goalie saw that puck.”
RPI coach Dave Smith wasn’t pleased with his club’s lack of aggressiveness around the crease in its 6-0 loss to Clarkson but was happier with the effort against St. Lawrence, though there is room for improvement.
“Happier, but not completely satisfied,” Smith said. “We have a tendency to get on the outside. I know why. Guys are looking for open ice. We did a much better job tonight to get there.”
RPI (3-4-0, 3-1-0 ECAC) outshot St. Lawrence 37-25 in the game and kept the Saints without a shot in the third period until after Hayhurst’s goal.
The Engineers had a chance earlier in the third to break the tie when
Danny Digrande went to his backhand from point-blank range with Mannella on the ice but his shot hit the post.
“I really liked our commitment to playing properly in the offensive zone, and creatively,” Smith said. “It was really important to do that. We didn’t put the game away because we didn’t get the goal until later butitsurefeltlikewewerein control of the game. That is a confidence builder.”
St. Lawrence (1-7-0, 0-2-0) opened the scoring at 10:21 of the first on Kaden Pickering’s goal before Leppanen answered for RPI at 14:04 with his second goal of the season.
After Keenan Suthers gave the Saints a 2-1 lead at 17:35 of the first, Slingerlands native and Albany Academy graduate Jake Marrello made sure the St. Lawrence lead was short-lived.
As the puck whipped around the St. Lawrence net, Saint winger Alex Gilmour had the puck bounce over his stick and right to Marrello, who was crashing the zone near the front of the Saints’ net.
Marrello turned and fired it into the net at 18:06 for his first goal of the season.
“We were having a good shift. I was right at the top of the crease, which we’ve been preaching the past two weeks,” Marrello said. “I had a good bounce, right place and right time. I was just trying to get it off as quick as I could so the goalie couldn’t get over.”
RPI sophomore goaltender Linden Marshall had 23 saves in the win, including a stop on David Jankowski just before the final horn sounded to end the game.
Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union