Box Score TROY, N.Y. - #8 St. Lawrence's Nadine Edney scored the game-winning goal with 47 seconds left in regulation off an Amanda McClure (Stratford, Ontario) and Kennedy Marchment (Courtice, Ontario) assist to take a 1-0 ECAC Hockey (ECACH) win over Rensselaer at Houston Field House Friday night.
The Engineers drew a power play 17:10 into the contest on a checking call. RPI (7-8-4, 4-2-1 ECACH) took seven shots, including three by junior
Makenna Thomas, but none of them found their way to the net.
After a scoreless first period, RPI sophomore
Sabrina Repaci was charged with her third penalty of the season for hooking 4:30 in the second. Rensselaer kept their national-best kill percentage intact, giving up one mere shot by first year Skyler Podvey (Montclair, N.J.) that was saved by junior netminder
Lovisa Selander.
Senior forward
Shayna Tomlinson intercepted the puck for Rensselaer just outside the Saints zone four minutes later for a two-on-one with
Blake Orosz to net. Tomlinson dished the puck to Orosz across the net on the back post, but the sophomore was denied by junior Sonjia Shelly (Braceville, Ill.).
At the 16:58 mark, Podvey drew a tripping penalty to give the Engineers their second power play of the game. RPI saw a set of shots from Thomas and junior
Josefine Hansen, but St. Lawrence (8-6-3, 5-3-1 ECACH) kept Rensselaer off the scoreboard to keep the 0-0 shutout going into the third period.
The Saints started the first 15 minutes of the third period with a 13-9 shot advantage. With 5:20 remaining in regulation, Marchment had a 1v1 chance with Selander, but the Swedish goaltender came up with a beautiful save. Less than a minute later, Selander came up with another big save on sophomore Kalie Grant (Potsdam, N.Y.). St. Lawrence came back at Selander with 2:50 left in the period when sophomore Kayla Vespa (Hamilton, Ontario) was denied by the junior netminder just in front of the crease.
RPI responded 30 seconds later when junior
Aly Tremblay whipped a shot just over the St. Lawrence blue line, but Shelly's glove was there to catch the top shelf shot. The Engineers kept the momentum going with 1:40 remaining when Orosz had a 1v1 with Shelly. The junior netminder denied the sophomore along with Repaci's shot on the rebound.
With under a minute to go, Marchment and McClure gathered the puck in their defensive zone and cleared it to neutral ice. Edney (Mississauga, Ontario) came up with the 50/50 puck at center ice, and immediately skated to the Rensselaer net. Edney ripped a shot wide to the right, but the junior crashed the rebound off the boards and scored on the left post with 47 seconds left in regulation.
RPI refused to go down without swinging, taking Selander off the ice with 26 seconds left in the third period. Tomlinson won a faceoff with 12 seconds remaining to give Hansen a last second shot for the Engineers, but the junior's shot was saved by Shelly. There was a final scrum in front of the net to force overtime, but Rensselaer ran out of time for the game-tying goal.
Shelly (4-2-1) was credited with the 27 save win, while Selander (7-8-3) picked up the loss for RPI on a 32 save effort.
St. Lawrence held a 33-27 shot on goal advantage while winning faceoffs 21-13. The Saints blocked 19 shots to RPI's 16 with St. Lawrence's Amanda Butterfield (Grimsby, Ontario) leading the game with six blocks.
With tonight's result, the Engineers move into seventh in the ECACH while St. Lawrence moved up to a sixth place tie with Harvard (7-4-1, 5-2-1 ECACH).
Rensselaer returns to their home ice tomorrow to take on #3 Clarkson, the defending national champion, at 3pm in Houston Field House.