Brown Skates Past RPI for Road Win

Brown news release…

TROY, N.Y. – Despite an early goal by Rensselaer, the Brown men’s hockey team answered right back with three consecutive tallies and held the lead the rest of the way, as the Bears downed the Engineers, 6-3, in Friday evening’s ECAC contest at Houston Field House.

Brown moved to 6-17-1 overall and 3-13-1 in the ECAC with its second straight win to complete the season sweep over the Engineers, while the home side dropped to 9-21-1 on the season and 7-10-0 in the conference.

Brown had six different players score during the game, made up of Joe Prescott (Norwell, Mass.), Mark Naclerio (Milford, Conn.), Matt Harlow (Bridgewater, Mass.), Sam Lafferty (Hollidaysburg, Pa.), Nick Lappin (Geneva, Ill.) and Matt Lorito (Oakville, Ontario). In addition to Naclerio, defensemen Tyler Wood (Manchester, Mass.) and Josh McArdle (Roscoe, Ill.) had two points apiece.

Sophomore Tim Ernst (Pickering, Ontario) stopped 23 shots for his second straight victory. Jason Kasdorf made 10 saves in the loss, before giving way to Scott Diebold, who also had 10 stops.

Rensselaer opened up the scoring early at 1:19 in the first, when Jacob Laliberte took a centering pass and beat Ernst right in front to give the home side the one-goal lead.

Brown struck right back, however, with two goals midway through the opening stanza. Rookie Ben Tegtmeyer (Cincinnati, Ohio) set up the first goal as he sent a pass through the neutral zone and hit Prescott in stride for the breakaway tally at 9:08.

The Bears added another goal at 11:59, when McArdle blasted a pass from the defensive zone off the boards and down the left side to Naclerio, who ripped a shot from the circle past Kasdorf to give the visitors the lead, 2-1. The two teams were even in shots, 8-8, after the first period.

Brown picked up right where it left off early in the second period as Harlow scored at 4:33. Ryan Jacobson (Greenwood Village, Colo.) corralled a pass from Massimo Lamacchia (Maple, Ontario) and skated behind the RPI net, and then sent a quick pass out front to Harlow, who muscled a shot past Kasdorf for the three-goal advantage.

Rensselaer answered back at 14:18 when Milos Bubela blasted a shot from in front of the blue line to trim the deficit to one, 3-2, at the second intermission. Brown held a slim edge in shots during the second period with a 10-9 margin.

After a pair of late penalties at the end second, the two teams opened up the third with 4-on-4 play, but the Bears went right to work as Lafferty scored just 51 seconds into the frame. McArdle kept the play alive in the offensive end, before Lafferty scooped up the loose puck and maneuvered toward the net through traffic for his third tally of the season.

Once again, the Engineers refused to go down quietly, as Mark Miller scored at 9:52 to pull within one, 4-3.

Nevertheless, Nick Lappin scored his second power-play goal of the season at 13:49 to give the Bears a two-goal lead. Lorito added an empty-net goal with one second left on the clock to secure the victory.

The two teams were even in shots, 26-26.

Brown returns to action tomorrow when the Bears visit Union at 7 p.m. Tickets for all Brown men’s hockey games can be purchased online, calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or walking up to the Box Office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.