The Engineers try to keep strong second half of hockey season going vs. Cornell, Colgate.
Transfers have helped RPI to 5-5-3 mark since eligible
The RPI hockey team has shown on numerous occasions this season that if knocked off its skates, the Engineers are going get back up and get back after it on the next shift.
Coming off a hard-to-take 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac — the game-winning goal game with less than a minute left in regulation — the Engineers aren’t about to start hanging their heads as they embark on their final road trip of the regular season by visiting Ecacleading Cornell on Friday and Colgate on Saturday.
As has been the policy all season, RPI is looking forward and not focusing on what is in the rear-view mirror.
“It’s a new week, these are new days,” RPI coach Dave Smith said. “I thought Tuesday’s practice was one of the better practices we’ve had during the year. Today (Wednesday) was a really good practice and we want to put another one together. The guys continue to shortterm focus. What can we do today?”
RPI (9-18-3, 6-10-2) is in ninth-place in the ECAC standings, four points behind Union and one point ahead of Colgate. The Engineers are 5-5-3 since the calendar flipped to 2019, aided by transfers Chase Zieky, Shane Bear, and Mike Gornall gaining eligibility, along with the emergence of freshman goaltender Owen Savory.
“We’re on the rise because we are finding ways to get points in games so that is a good sign,” senior captain Tommy Grant said.
The loss to Quinnipiac did not dampen RPI’S spirit — which was lifted in its Friday game against Princeton when the Engineers trailed 2-0 before scoring six unanswered goals to win.
“What we do in the locker room and what we do on the bench, we understand, as a group, what is happening,” Smith said. “We understand that teams are going to score goals. The Princeton game, we were playing really well but we found ourselves down 2-0. We stayed the course, we believed in the process. The guys talk about intentional behavior to get through those moments. You have to be able to hold and push back.”
The Engineers have been displaying a feistiness on the ice and have shown they aren’t going to back down to any opponent, displaying the look of a team tough to play against.
Gornall has provided RPI with a
physical presence in his 15 games since gaining eligibility following a transfer from North Dakota.
The hard-nosed winger threw a big check against Princeton with RPI trailing 2-0 and the Engineers scored their first goal of the game 49 seconds after the hit.
“At the time, I saw it as another play as a part of the game. If it brought energy to the bench, I’m glad to hear that,” Gornall said. “Leading up to the goal, you could call that entire 49-second sequence game-changing. I try to bring a lot of energy and physicality to the lineup. That is contagious. When you can get an entire team to play that way, you become very difficult to play against.”
RPI’S style, necessitated by the injury absence of speedy wingers Jacob Hayhurst and Patrick Polino from the lineup, and its commitment to each shift, are good attributes for a team getting ready for postseason play.
“We’ve had to be tenacious and be gritty and everyone has bought into that,” Smith said. “One of the most proud things I can say about any team that I’ve coached is that we are hard to play against.”
Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union