Rensselaer got goals from four different players and freshman Mathias Lange stopped 21 of 23 shots to backstop the Engineers to a 4-2 win over Brown before a sold out Big Red Freakout! crowd of 5,317 at the Houston Field House.
With the win, RPI improves to 13-14-4 overall and 7-7-4 in the ECAC Hockey League, remaining in seventh place. The 12th-place Bears, who are now 0-6-3 in their last nine games, fall to 3-16-6 and 2-12-4 in the league.
RPI is now 12-0-4 in its last 16 Big Red Freakouts! and 18-7-4 overall, including 8-0-0 against Brown. Three of those victories over the Bears have come in the last four seasons.
Rensselaer opened a 1-0 lead at 9:58 of the first period when senior Kevin Croxton scored on a fine individual effort with the Engineers on the power play. After collecting the puck on the near boards, Croxton eluded several defenders while skating to the slot, where he scored on a wrist shot. Senior Brad Farynuk and junior Oren Eizenman assisted on the goal, Croxton’s 12th of the season.
Brown came back to tie the score with a 4-on-3 power play goal at 13:53. Sophomore Jeff Prough wristed a shot from the left faceoff circle through traffic for his 11th goal of the season. David Robertson earned the primary assist while Sean Hurley had the secondary.
RPI got the goal right back when junior defenseman Ryan Swanson scored on a shot from the right faceoff circle just 37 seconds later. For Swanson, who was set up by Chris Hussey, the goal was the first of his career.
Sophomore Andrew Lord put RPI ahead 3-1 at 8:33 of the second period when his wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle could not be controlled by Brown netminder Mark Sibbald and slid across the goal line.
The score remained 3-1 until there was just a minute remaining in the third period. Brown pulled to within one on a goal by freshman Matt Vokes, who scored from just outside of the crease with Sibbald on the bench for the extra attacker. Cory Caquette and Antonin Roux set up the goal, the third of the season for Vokes.
Freshman Kurt Colling sealed the win for Rensselaer with an empty net goal with 42 seconds remaining. Lord and Scott Romfo were credited with the assists.
Lange improved his personal record to 12-12-4 by stopping five shots in the first period, six in the second and ten in the third. Sibbald fell to 0-2-1 after making nine saves in the first, five in the second and two in the third.
Rensselaer returns to action on Friday night when it travels to Princeton for an ECACHL contest. Brown travels to St. Lawrence for a league game. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
