RPI Stuns Icemen in ECAC Quarters, 4-3

Harvard men's hockey goalie Allain Roy sat motionless in the net Saturday night, as sophomore forward Chris Baird, fellow goalie Chuckie Hughes and Coach Ronn Tomassoni somberly crossed the ice to console him.

This year's ECAC goalie champion (his second title in four years), Roy had just finished making 37 saves against Rensselaer in the ECAC quarterfinals--an exemplary performance by most standards.

But one save eluded him.

RPI sophomore forward Jeff Gabriel pushed a loose rebound around Roy's right leg, 8:09 into overtime Saturday, to give the eighth-seeded Engineers a surprise 4-3 victory over the top-seeded Crimson.

After the game, Roy--and the rest of the Crimson--could not hold back their tears.

"You always think you can stop every shot," a doleful Roy said. "When that shot went in, it felt like my world ended. These guys are my life."

The Crimson (14-7-6 overall) had good reason to mourn: With the loss, all hopes of a post-season action were likely dashed.

Harvard needed to win or, at the very least, make a respectable showing in the conference playoffs to guarantee an NCAA playoff berth.

Now, 11th-ranked Harvard, which fell out of favor with the pollsters after dropping two games last weekend, is only a longshot to secure one of the 12 NCAA bids, which will be announced in two weeks.

"I don't know what to say. I'm disappointed, very disappointed," Tomassoni said. "I'm still proud of this team. We earned that number-one seed. It's tough to work all year for one game."

The NCAA bids "were really the furthest thing from my mind," the coach said. "Hopefully, they'll look at it from the standpoint that we were the conference champions."

RPI (14-14-4 overall) will play in the Garden this Friday, joining New York rivals Clarkson, Cornell and St. Lawrence at Hockeyfest '92.

What Went Wrong

Harvard looked ready to break open the game numerous times Saturday night, but the Engineers kept up physical pressure on the Crimson.

Heading into the third period, Harvard clung to a 3-2 lead, courtesy of goals by freshman forward Steve Martins (2) and senior defender Rich Defreitas.

RPI knotted the game at three, 9:41 into the final period, when freshman forward Kelly Askew flicked a quick wristshot by Roy off a feed from senior defender Ivan Moore.

The Crimson had several chances to score for the remainder of the game, with Martins--playing in his first game after sustaining a shoulder injury against Princeton--leading the way.

With freshman forward Bryan Lonsinger forced to fill in on the blue-line for re-injured Derek Maguire, Tomassoni went to Martins repeatedly at the end of the game.

So Close

The freshman almost delivered, creating close chances with sophomore defender Sean McCann at the end of the third and with freshman forward Brad Konik in overtime.

"It was really close. I had a couple of chances. That goalie played well," a distraught, tear-filled Martins said after the game, his left shoulder resting beneath a bulky bag of ice.

"We just tried to be aggressive at the end," Tomassoni said. "We had some great chances. I thought we scored a few times, but it didn't go in."

RPI goalie Neil Little registered 10 saves in overtime, to bring his game total to a mammoth 42.

The decisive shift came six minutes into overtime, when sophomore defender Lou Body was signalled for a questionable holding penalty at 6:18.

Harvard successfully contained RPI for the first minute, but the Engineers began to pressure the Crimson in the second half of the power play.

At 8:09, Perrardi, cheating behind the net, picked up the puck and floated it across the crease to an awaiting Gabriel.