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DENVER — If you want to open the season against a team already with a couple of games under its belt, pick one that you have had a strong history of success against when playing at home. RPI has an overall 1-8-0 record when playing in Denver, and the Pioneers, led by junior Quentin Shore, came out looking to keep the Engineers down.
Opening night for the Pioneers saw a first period filled with physical play, lots of scoring chances, and a scoreless tie after 20 minutes of play. Denver owned the shot advantage for the period by a 20-9 margin over the Engineers, but could not get one past RPI goalie Jason Kasdorf that would stick on the scoreboard.
“I thought we were sluggish early,” said RPI coach Seth Appert. “Credit to Denver for that. I thought they came out in their home opener and had a lot of energy, a lot of jump, and forced our D-men, and our D-men cooperated with turning a lot of pucks over.”
At 16:55 of the period, Denver appeared to have solved Kasdorf on a rebound in the crease, only to see the goal immediately waived off by the referee for goaltender interference.
The second period opened with some tighter play, but at 4:30, RPI’s Luke Curadi received a five-minute major for hitting from behind along with a game misconduct. While the power play was not very effective, the momentum swung the Pioneers way.
At 12:41, Quentin Shore, off a feed from Zac Larraza, rang a shot from the high slot off the near post, far post, and past Kasdorf for the first goal of the game and a 1-0 Denver lead.
“I think my linemates made a great play; they forechecked hard, they created the turnover,” said Shore. “Larraza made an unbelievable pass; I think it was through the defenseman’s stick.”
Just over a minute later, Jacob LaLiberte took a minor for tripping and this time, the Pioneers power play cashed in. At 15:41, following some crisp passing and puck movement in the offensive zone, Nolan Zajac fired a shot through the pads of Kasdorf from the center point off a feed from Shore and the Pioneers had a two-goal lead.
RPI tried to rally back late in the period, but could not get anything past Evan Cowley despite attacking the goal and the netminder aggressively.
The third period again saw the Pioneers piling up offensive zone time, but unable to add to their lead. Both teams had power plays in the first 10 minutes of the period, but Cowley and Kasdorf made the saves needed to keep the game a two-goal affair.
RPI looked its best late in the period during four-on-four hockey following matching penalties at 13:56 of the period. Cowley made several key stops to help preserve the shutout for the Pioneers.
With Kasdorf pulled for an extra attacker, Gabe Levin made a great play to get the puck out of the defensive end and set up Ty Loney for an empty-net goal in the final minute of play for a 3-0 lead that would be the final score.
Shore finished with a goal and an assist, while Larraza finished with two assists. Cowley stopped all 26 Engineers shots for the shutout.
“I really liked our puck possession tonight,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “We want to be a puck possession team, and I think we showed at tonight. Quentin and Zac really had their game going tonight, and they got rewarded for it.”
The teams face off again tomorrow night at Magness Arena, and Montgomery’s message to the team is a simple one.
“RPI will be better tomorrow night than they were tonight, so we will need to up our game,” said Montgomery.
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