Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) tied the game late in regulation and Mathias Lange (Klagenfurt, Austria/New York Apple Core) stopped four of five shots in the shootout and the #16 Engineers advanced to the finals of the 57th Annual Rensselaer Holiday Hockey Tournament, defeating American International College (AIC), 2-1, in a shootout. 

RPI freshman Tyler Helfrich (Calgary, AB/Prince George Spruce Kings) scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Engineers move on to face ninth-ranked Notre Dame in Saturday's championship game (7:15pm). 

Officially a 1-1 tie, Rensselaer is now 6-3-3 overall (1-1-2 ECAC Hockey), while the Yellow Jackets go to 2-5-2 (2-4-1 Atlantic Hockey).

The Engineers, who trailed for much of the game, tied it with 3:19 remaining in the third period when sophomore Paul Kerins (Weston, ON/North York Rangers) found a rebound and snuck a shot past AIC junior goaltender Tom Fenton (Sarnia, ON/Milton Ice Hawks) for the equalizer. Sophomore Peter Merth (New Westminster, BC/Burnaby Express), who took a shot from the point, had the first assist while the secondary helper was credited to Andrei Uryadov (St. Petersburgh, Russia/Kent School).

The Yellow Jackets, who saw Fenton make 45 saves, earned the lead with just two seconds remaining in the opening stanza when senior forward Greg Genovese (Hingham, MA/Pomfret) beat Lange five-hole. Genovese took a pass from Chad Richardson (Hingham, MA/Melfor Mustangs), who intercepted a Rensselaer clearing attempt at the blue line and skated in alone before dishing the puck to Genovese.

Despite the Engineers carrying much of the play and out-shooting AIC 15-9 in the first period, they trailed the Yellow Jackets going into intermission. The story was much of the same in the second period as RPI held a 17-11 edge in shots in the second, giving it a 32-20 advantage through two periods of play. The Engineers outshot AIC 11-7 in the third period.

Uryadov and Helfrich scored in the shootout for Rensselaer, while Mike McMillan (Sault Ste. Marie, ON/Soo Thunderbirds) notched the only shootout tally for AIC. Lange made the save on the fifth AIC shooter, Mark Pavli (Sarnia, ON/Petrolia Jets), to seal the 2-1 shootout win.

Lange finished with 26 saves and runs his record 2-2-2 on the year, while Fenton stopped 15 shots in the first period, 17 in the second, 10 in the third and three in overtime and is now 0-4-1.

While Rensselaer plays Notre Dame, AIC plays Alabama-Huntsville at 4pm in the third-place game.  The Irish defeated the Chargers, 4-1.