TROY, NY -- After a wild finish to regulation, senior
Jason Walters tipped home the game-winning goal, giving Union a 5-4 overtime win at Rensselaer for the RPI Holiday Tournament title. Walters, who was named tournament MVP, led the Dutchmen with a career-high four points with two goals and two assists. With the win Union goes to 6-3-4, while Rensselaer falls to 8-6-1.
The Dutchmen held the lead, 4-3, with less than 10 seconds remaining, but a RPI surge that resulted in Paul Kerins deflecting in the tying goal with 0:00 on the clock. The officials conversed about whether there was anytime remaining and agreed to send the game into overtime.
Junior forward Stephane Boileau earned the assist on the game-winner when he fired a puck towards the net form the right halfwall. Walters skated between the net and the puck, tipping it down off the ice and into the net.
Walters scored Union's fourth goal as well, a power-play tally at 16:09 of the third with a wrist shot at the point. The goal seemed to seal the win for Union, but Kerins registered his first of two goals only 43 seconds later to make it 4-3.
Freshman goaltender
Keith Kinkaid extended his unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) by making 25 saves. He was named to the all-tournament team along with sophomore
Kelly Zajac and senior
Mike Schreiber.
Boileau had a career-best three assist and tied a career-high with three points.
Back-to-back hooking penalties by the Engineers put the Dutchmen on a two-man advantage and Schreiber converted for his third goal of the season at 9:01. The play started with senior Walters throwing a pass through traffic to Boileau on the doorstep. Boileau took a glance towards goal and then found Schreiber creeping down from the left point where he fired a wrist shot into the upper-left corner at 9:01.
Another RPI penalty extended the Dutchmen's power-play opportunity and once again Union capitalized when freshman
Jeremy Welsh slammed in a rebound from the top of the crease at 10:20. Boileau received a pass from Zajac similar to the one he got from Walters.
With the momentum clearly on Union's side, freshman
Kyle Bodie added to the lead with his first career goal at 14:56. Freshman
Wayne Simpson found Walters on the halfwall. The puck was thrown towards the goal and Bodie cashed in on a loose puck inside the crease.
Kinkaid set the tempo early for his team by turning away three point-blank shots within the first three minutes. He finished with eight saves in the period, helping Union kill off three RPI power-plays. The defense did lend a helping hand, blocking eight shots in the period.
The Union defense kept RPI at bay for the majority of the second period and upped its shot-block total to 13, laying the body in front of five shots. Kinkaid's shutout streak was snapped at 138:09 when Josh Rabbani made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 17:09. Kinkaid hadn't let a goal in since the 18:51 mark of the Clarkson game on Nov. 14.
Another power-play at the end of the second, which carried over into the third resulted in another Engineers goal. Brandon Pirri made it 3-2 with his seventh of the season on a one-timer setup by Tyler Helfrich at 51 seconds, setting up the wild finish.
Union returns to action on Friday, Dec. 4 with a 7 p.m. contest against upstate foe Colgate at Messa Rink. Tickets can be purchased by visiting
UnionAthleticsTickets.com.
