 |  |
Smith makes 44 saves to lead Sacred Heart to 4-3 victory
TROY, N.Y. - Sacred Heart University freshman forward Bear Trapp
(Regina,
SK/Estevan), tallied two goals, including the game-winner in
overtime,
and junior goaltender Jason Smith (St. Lambert, PQ/Lennoxville
Cougars)
recorded 44 saves to lead the Pioneers to a 4-3 victory
Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in a non-conference Division I men's
hockey
contest at the Houston Field House. With its victory, Sacred
Heart
improves to 8-3-1 on the season, including a 6-1-0 mark in its last
seven
games. The Engineers fall to 7-6-3.
Trapp got the game-winner at 1:01 of overtime from behind the net
when
his attempted pass deflected off a Rensselaer defenseman and into
the
back of the net. Smith earned the win by making 16 saves in
the first
period, 17 in the second, 11 in the third period and none in
the
overtime. He is now 7-3-1 on the season.
The Pioneers opened the scoring at 4:38 of the first period when
junior
forward Peter Ferraro (Pleasantville, NY/Avon Old Farms) skated up
the
left side of the ice on a two-on-one with Erik Rose (Milford,
CT/Junior
Coyotes) and snapped off a wrist shot to the short side. For
Ferraro,
the unassisted goal was his fourth marker of the season. RPI
answered at
16:57 when junior forward Oren Eizenman (Toronto, ON/Wexford
Raiders)
tallied from just outside the crease. Eizenman earned his
ninth goal of
the season when his wrist shot was partially stopped by the
goaltender
but still managed to get the puck across the goal line. For
Eizenman,
the goal extended his point-scoring streak to 14 games (9 goals,
10
assists). Senior Kevin Croxton (Calgary, AB/Camrose Kodiaks),
who fed
Eizenman in the neutral zone, earned the primary assist while
defenseman
Brad Farynuk (Enderby, BC/Vernon Vipers) earned the secondary
for
Rensselaer, which outshot the Pioneers 17-7 in the
period.
Sacred Heart built a two-goal lead after two periods with a pair of
power
play goals in the middle stanza. Senior Rocco Molinaro
(Dearborn,
MI/Cleveland Barons) ripped a slap shot from the blueline in the
middle
of the circles that range off the crossbar for a 2-1 lead at
8:48. Kalen
Wright (Candle Lake, SK/Melfort Mustangs) and Molinaro earned the
assists
on the goal. Trapp made it 3-1 less than two minutes later
when he swept
in a loose puck that was laying in the crease. Trapp's goal,
his seventh
of the season, was scored after Bernie Chmiel's (Pittsburgh,
PA/Pittsburgh Force) shot slipped through Rensselaer goaltender
Mathias
Lange (Klagenfurt, Austria/New York Apple Core). Sacred
Heart's leading
scorer, Pierre-Luc O'Brien (Nicolet, QC/Cowichan Valley Capitals)
also
earned an assist on the goal.
Rensselaer battled back in the third period, tallying two goals to
tie
the game at 3-3. Eizenman notched his second of the game off
a rebound
of a shot by sophomore Andrew Lord (West Vancouver, BC/Vernon
Vipers) at
7:21 and sophomore Jonathan Ornelas (Mississauga, ON/Milton
IceHawks)
tied the game at 15:33. Croxton started the play on RPI's
second goal
from the top of the left circle, passing the puck to Lord, who had
his
shot stopped. Ornelas tied the game at 15:33 when he lifted a
shot into
the upper right corner for his tenth goal of the season.
Farynuk and
Croxton tallied the assists.
Lange finished with 24 saves, including six in the first period, 11
in
the second, six in the third and one in overtime.
Rensselaer returns to action next Saturday night when it hosts
Rochester
Institute of Technology in a non-league game at Houston Field
House
(7pm). Sacred Heart travel to Atlantic Hockey League
foe Army Sunday afternoon at Tate Rink.
