Highlights | Post-Game Comments

TROY, N.Y. - Eric Brassard recorded 35 saves to lead the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in an exhibition game on Saturday night at the Houston Field House. 

The Huskies opened the scoring at 8:44 of the first period, as Calder Brooks deked his way through the RPI zone and tucked the puck around RPI junior netminder Chase Perry for a 1-0 lead. Alexander Peters earned the lone helper.

Senior Jared Wilson nearly tied the game in the later stages of the opening stanza, but his slap shot from the right of the right circle rang off the crossbar.

Rensselaer did draw even, just 11 seconds into the second, when senior Viktor Liljgren took a cross-ice feed from sophomore Will Reilly and snapped a shot past Brassard from the middle of the left circle. 

Saint Mary's answered at 3:25, as Adam Bateman found Jake Coughler all alone at the back door after a scramble for the puck at the right of the cage. 

The Engineers had a number of chances to tie the game in the third, including over a minute of 5-on-3 power play time, but Brassard stood tall in goal, stopping all eight shots he faced in the third period. Perry wound up with 12 saves over the opening 31:08, before freshman Linden Marshall was 15 for 15 stopping pucks over 26:59.

RPI lifted Marshall for an extra attacker with 1:53 to go, but could not sneak a tying goal home.

The Engineers begin regular season play on October 13 and 14, when they travel to Ohio State for a two-game series. Saint Mary's visits Quinnipiac for another exhibition game tomorrow (5pm).