Men’s hockey season ends in ECAC first round

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team saw their 2022-23 season come to a close on Saturday night, as the seventh-seeded Engineers fell to the No. 10 seed Yale Bulldogs by a final score of 4-1 at the Houston Field House.
 
RPI finishes their season 14-20-1 overall having put up a 9-13-0 in ECAC Hockey record, while Yale improves to 8-18-4 overall. The Bulldogs advance to a three-game series next weekend against the top-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats in Hamden.
 
Yale was the first on the scoreboard, scoring two goals in the first period – first at the 6:17 mark courtesy of Connor Sullivan. After a faceoff won by Nicholas Allain, Sullivan corralled the puck, and skated in on RPI goaltender Jack Watson and scored. That tally was backed up by a goal from Reilly Connors, as a shot from the left wing circle found Watson's five-hole, making it 2-0 Bulldogs at the 12:53 mark.
 
Senior Ryan Mahshie gave the Engineers life late in the first period, scoring to cut the Bulldogs' lead back down to one. With a puck thrown from the left wing across the ice by a charging Jake Gagnon, the puck found Mahshie wide open in the right-wing circle as he took a wrist shot that found the twine to make it a 2-1 score at the 14:17 mark. The score remained 2-1 into the first intermission.
 
The Bulldogs brought their lead back to two goals early in the second period, as Connors scored his second goal of the day on a scramble in front of the net. With multiple bodies from both teams fighting for the puck, Connors connected with the puck and swatted it past Watson to make it 3-1 Bulldogs.
 
Things remained 3-1 into the third period, as RPI picked up the intensity by outshooting Yale 10-7 in the final stanza. As time ticked down late in the third, the Engineers pulled their Watson with just over three minutes to play. Despite a hard push in the offensive end by RPI, Yale forced the puck out of the zone and was chased down by David Chen who put home the empty netter at the 17:47 mark.
 
Watson finished the game with 22 saves between the pipes for RPI, while Yale's Luke Pearson ended with 25 saves for the Bulldogs.