HARTFORD, Conn. - Senior goaltender Scott Diebold made 33 saves to help the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 1-1 tie with the University of Connecticut, this evening at the XL Center. With the draw, the Engineers move to 5-7-1 on the season, while the Huskies are now 2-5-4.

After a scoreless first period in which the UConn claimed an 8-5 edge in shots, the Huskies opened the scoring at 2:57 of the second. Junior Joey Ferriss (Novi, MI/Michigan Warriors) buried his first of the season, with an assist going to David Drake (Naperville, IL/Des Moines Buccaneers).

The Engineers pulled even with just 2.3 seconds to go in the frame, when senior Matt Neal (Minesing, ON/Stoufville Spirit) found freshman Drew Melanson (Paramus, NJ/Waterloo Black Hawks) for the first goal of his collegiate career. Senior captain Curtis Leonard (Napanee, ON/Wellington Dukes) picked up the second helper on the power-play tally.

Diebold (Buffalo, NY/Tri-City Storm) moved his record to 0-1-1, while stopping eight shots in the first period, 10 in the second and 13 in the third. UConn sophomore Rob Nichols (Dallas, TX/Wenatchee Wild) finished with 24 stops at the other end of the ice.

RPI finished 1 for 2 on the man-advantage, while the Huskies went 0 for 4.

Rensselaer is back on the ice next Tuesday, when it visits New Hampshire for a non-league game (7pm).