Last-Place RPI Blanks No. 2 M. Hockey, 4-0, in ECAC Stunner

TROY, N.Y. — By the time RPI’s Evan Tironese cleared his zone with mere seconds left in the first period, the Engineers had already accomplished the improbable. Not only had the last-place team in the ECAC held the nation’s top power-play unit off the board twice in one period; it was going to skate into the first intermission with a lead over the second-ranked team in the country.

Then things grew twice as nice.

Before the horn had a chance to sound, RPI won one final puck battle—sophomore center Brady Wiffen recovered a Tyler Moy fumble at center ice, creating a breakaway out of thin air. Wiffen walked in alone on Harvard goaltender Merrick Madsen and with six tenths of a second remaining, he ripped the puck right over the goal line, setting the stage for the stunner of the season in college hockey.

Against all odds, the Engineers (4-19-1, 2-10-0 ECAC) tacked on two more unanswered goals in the final 2:18 of the second period—including another last-second score—in what amounted to a remarkable 4-0 victory over the No. 2/3 Crimson (11-3-1, 7-2-1), a team that had won its last six games and scored at least four times in each one.

"I think we played hard," Harvard coach Ted Donato '91 said after the game. "I don’t think we played all that smart." By Thomas W. Franck

“That’s a tough one,” co-captain Alexander Kerfoot said. “I think it just goes to show that every team in this league is competitive, no matter what their record [is].”

“I don’t think we were very good in some very key areas,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “I would say we were not very good on the power play, we were not very good in our net, and we weren’t great finishing periods off. It’s something we’ll learn from.”

Ignoring other variables, the final score certainly screams ‘trap game’ ahead of the Crimson’s date with first-place Union on Saturday. However, Friday was no ordinary pitfall. Harvard did in fact produce 41 shots on the night—six more than its season average—and its typically deadly power-play unit went to work on five separate occasions.

By Thomas W. Franck

But in spite of all the opportunities, the Crimson produced an egg on the scoresheet for the first time since Dec. 5, 2015 against RPI, who at that point in time had star goaltender Jason Kasdorf stopping shots for them between the pipes. Now they have a freshman, Chase Perry. But the rookie had a night to remember on Friday, logging a career-high 41 saves en route to his first collegiate shutout.

“I thought that we battled hard at times, but their goalie stood on his head, and they were the better team tonight,” Kerfoot said.

The Engineers played with a lead right from the start. A boarding call against senior defenseman Clay Anderson put the Engineers on the power play just 1:35 into the contest, and Jacob Hayhurst connected on a wrister from the right faceoff dot about a minute later to put his side in front.

By Thomas W. Franck

The hosts continued to dominate the opening 10 minutes, but afterwards, Harvard finally began to find its rhythm. Donato said his team started playing “some pretty good hockey and had plenty of chances to tie the game up.” But an equalizer never came. RPI spoiled two Crimson power plays—including a lengthy 4-on-3—then capped the period with Wiffen’s steal-and-strike.

“Certainly the 4-on-3 two-minute kill was huge, and then obviously getting a shorty was very big,” RPI coach Seth Appert said. “And I thought it was appropriate—I thought Evan [Tironese] and Brady [Wiffen], as good of offensive players as they are, they were fantastic on our penalty kill tonight and defensively as centers. So it made sense that they got that goal.”

Once again, the Harvard response was strong—the visitors outshot the Engineers, 8-1, in the opening 10 minutes of period two. But just as before, no actual answer came. Then as the Crimson began to press, RPI started creating odd-man rushes all over the place, culminating in its third goal of the night at 17:42—a Jesper Ohrvall wrister from the left dot that made it 3-0.

“I thought we did a lot of good things and established our game again, and they come down and score again,” Donato said. “I don’t think we played our best by any means, but I thought they were opportunistic, and I thought we shot ourselves in the foot a few times.”

It looked as though that’s how the score would remain after two, but just as they did in the first, the Engineers made something out of nothing in the final seconds of a period. Despite taking a faceoff outside the Harvard zone with only 5.3 seconds left, Tironese wound up with the puck and threw it to a wide-open Jared Wilson on his left, setting up a slapshot one step inside the blue line that soared over Madsen’s shoulder.

By Thomas W. Franck

That goal would essentially mark the end of the night for the Crimson’s top goaltender, who had a difficult 15-for-19 night in net. Freshman Cameron Gornet made 11 saves in the third period in relief.

With the loss, Harvard falls out of a tie for second place in the PairWise rankings down to fifth. The Crimson also slips four points behind first-place Union in the ECAC standings. But Saturday night, Harvard will have its chance to pull back within two in Schenectady, N.Y.

“We’ll bounce back and regroup,” Donato said.

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.