Rensselaer scored three goals in the second period, including two from junior Jonathan Ornelas and the Engineers went on to defeat Brown, 4-3, in an ECAC Hockey League contest at Meehan Auditorium. Ornelas finished with two goals and an assist in helping RPI win for the second straight night and third time in its last five games.
Brown grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on a give-and-go with sophomore Eric Slais and junior Brian McNary. Senior Brian Ihnacak started the play with a pass to Slais along the left boards. As McNary was racing through the slot, Slais fed his linemate with a centering pass and McNary had an easy tap-in for the 1-0 Brown lead at 9:39 of the first.
RPI tied the game just 30 seconds into the second period, capitalizing on a turnover in Brown’s offensive end, as Ornelas knocked in the rebound of an Oren Eizenman shot. Ornelas then gave the Engineers a 2-1 lead when he knocked the puck past freshman Dan Rosen on a power play at 6:31. Just three minutes later, at 9:44, Andrei Uryadov beat Rosen with a low-angle shot from the side of the right faceoff circle that snuck into the back of the net where the crossbar and post meet, near side.
Before the end of the period, freshman Aaron Volpatti got one back for the Bears. After collecting a loose puck along the right boards, Volpatti beat an RPI defenseman, before walking in on Mathias Lange all alone and firing his shot top-shelf, glove-side at 14:26.
The Bears opened the third period with 1:38 remaining on a four-on-three power-play. RPI killed the four-on-three, but after Brown’s player was released, Brown still had a five-on-three advantage for 39 seconds. Sophomore Matt Vokes won a faceoff to Lange’s left back to junior Jeff Prough, who was just able to get his stick on the puck and deflect it back to junior David Robertson. Robertson had room to shoot, but chose to pass the puck back over to Hurley, whose one-timer from the faceoff circle beat Lange through the five-hole at 1:32.
Brown could not hold on to the tie though, as Matt Angers-Goulet knocked in RPI’s second power-play goal after a scramble in front of Rosen at 9:09 of the third to lift the Engineers to the victory.
Sophomore Mathias Lange made 25 saves for the win while Dan Rosen suffered the loss for the Bears. He had 20 saves on the night.
Rensselaer improves to 8-11-7 overall and 4-6-4 in the ECAC Hockey League. Brown falls to 8-9-4 and 4-8-2.
