Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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Engineers Escape Holy Cross With 5-5 Tie
Dec. 7, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The men's hockey team (3-2-3) skated to a 5-5 tie with Holy Cross on Tuesday night in a game that was expected to be a dogfight. The Crusaders (6-5-2, 3-2-2 NECHA) came into MIT's Johnson Ice Arena riding a two-game winning streak, while the Engineers came in from a different direction, having lost their last two contests. Both streaks came to a halt in MIT's last matchup before winter break. The Engineers, still winless in their last five contests (0-2-3), were impressive on special teams and tallied two powerplay goals and one shorthanded score. It was the visiting Crusaders who got on the board first on a goal by Paul Riley at 18:44 of the first period. Holy Cross held the lead until the 6:30 mark when MIT senior Adam Shabshelowitz notched his sixth goal of the season on a set up by junior Tim Studley and senior John Bergin. But the Crusaders came right back and regained the lead 36 seconds later. Sophomore Kevin Connolly corralled a pass from sophomore Justin Martin and fired a shot past MIT goalie Thomas Hopkins. Still with a one goal advantage heading into the second period, junior defenseman Frank Powers extended the Crusaders lead to 3-1 at 9:33. An ensuing MIT penalty gave Holy Cross a chance to go up by three, but MIT's leading scoring defenseman Nicholas Maietta managed to get one by Crusaders senior keeper Peter Bartline to draw the Engineers within one at 6:37. Holy Cross remained on the powerplay, and Riley once again capitalized on a feed from Brendon Webb. Down by two, the Engineers continued to pressure Holy Cross, and Crusaders senior blueliner Brian Coleman was whistled for a holding minor with 4:58 left in the second frame. MIT's two leading scorers, freshmen Nick LaBounty and Ryan Ballentine, made the most of the man advantage as LaBounty found Ballentine for the powerplay tally at 3:38. MIT managed to kill a late Crusader powerplay and headed into the third period down 4-3. The Engineers found themselves back on the powerplay after senior Joseph Mantovani was called for hooking at 15:12 of the third period. With time winding down on the man advantage, Maietta put home the equalizer for his second goal of the game and fifth of the year. The game remained deadlocked as the midpoint of the period went by, and Crusader freshman forward Andy Doherty took a roughing penalty at 9:23, giving MIT a chance to grab their first lead of the night. Joseph Mantovani, who had just taken a bad penalty leading to MIT's tying goal, had other ideas and scored shorthanded at 6:38. Unable to slow the Engineers, Holy Cross forward Justin Martin took another penalty at 8:08, forcing his team on the penalty kill for the seventh time. MIT didn't capitalize on the powerplay, but just two seconds after the man advantage expired, LaBounty beat Bartline to knot the game at five. The goal was LaBounty's team-leading eighth of the season. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the last six minutes of regulation or in the five minute overtime, and the game ended in a 5-5 tie. MIT outshot Holy Cross 45-39. With the tie, the Engineers snapped a two-game losing streak but still have not found the win column in the last five contests. The game was the last for MIT before winter recess. The Engineers will resume play on January 13 when they travel to UMass Amherst (1-3-1). |
