Recap: RPI at Canisius
RPI earns road sweep over Canisius as Watson returns
How sweep it is! The Engineers downed the Canisius Golden Griffins twice this weekend, earning their first weekend sweep of the year. Jack Watson’s return to the net was a game changer, as the junior netminder seemed in total control of both games. It took RPI until February to win on the road last year, and this weekend marked their 3rd and 4th road wins on the campaign. Now they have a big opportunity to notch a few home wins in the next two weeks.
Unfortunately, the unique streaming service used by Canisius restricted us from watching the games, and a delay from our stat service has given us significantly less knowledge to write this recap on than usual.
Friday: 6-3 RPI
On the surface, Friday was the lesser of the two games for the Engineers despite the 6-3 win, as they were outshot 38-25. However, RPI’s impressive shooting percentage on the season won out again, connecting on 6 of those 25 shots. Canisius controlled the first 10 minutes and the entire 2nd period, and RPI dominated the 2nd half of the 1st period and the entire 3rd period. Ryan Brushett logged a hat-trick early in this game, with each goal assisted by his new linemate John Beaton. Freshman Tyler Hotson scored twice in the 3rd period to put this game on ice, and arguably scored the goal of the season off this feed from Dovar Tinling.
https://x.com/RPI_Hockey/status/1740866637438603681?s=20
However, the story of Friday’s game was the return of Jack Watson, who provided the stability in net the Engineers sought in the first half. As I said in the 2nd half preview, if Watson can get healthy and gain form, RPI has real potential going forward.
Saturday: 2-1 RPI
A quick turnaround for a 1pm puck drop on Saturday led to a low-scoring 2-1 victory for RPI. This game was much more structured than Friday’s and is the type of game that should excite the RPI fan. +1 on special teams, 2/2 on the PK, strong goaltending, and a good response off a Friday night win. All of which are improvements on the first half of the season. We have been mentioning all year that 5v5 play has been fine, but it is extremely difficult to win games with poor goaltending and special teams. Now that RPI is improving in these departments, they are beginning to see the results they want.
Additional Headlines of the Week:
· Seth Appert was called up to coach the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and earned an overtime win. What a great accomplishment for a guy who left a lasting impact on the RPI community.
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· Senior forward Jake Gagnon was named captain during the week. Coach Smith touted Gagnon numerous times for his leadership, and also mentioned that he expects him to play his graduate year here as well.
· Dave Smith said on his weekly radio spot that Jakob Lee and Dovar Tinling were both injured this past weekend and 6 guys missed practice on Tuesday due to injuries and the flu. The lineup on Friday could look like anything, so be prepared.
· Tyler Hotson was named ECAC Rookie of the week. A nice accolade for Hotson, who has been one of RPI’s best players of late.
· Newest RPI commit Jimmy Goffredo enrolled for the 2nd semester and joined the team this past weekend in Buffalo. He picked up a questionable 5-minute major on Friday and did not register any points. I reckon the staff did not bring him in to sit, so I expect to see him quite a bit.