NORTH COUNTRY TRIP: The Engineers make their yearly trip to the North Country this weekend, where they will face 17th-ranked Clarkson and 15th-ranked St. Lawrence on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (7pm), respectively … The Golden Knights and Saints are both ranked for an RPI visit for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
ENGINEERS TAKE SERIES OPENER: RPI scored four goals in the first period en route to a 5-1 victory over Union on Friday night in Schenectady … Senior Travis Fulton opened the scoring 10:38 into the game … Sophomores Lou Nanne and Kenny Gillespie then tallied less than a minute apart for a 3-0 lead, chasing Dutchman starting goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos from the game … Junior Riley Bourbonnais capped the period at 18:12 … Following a scoreless second, senior Milos Bubela netted a shorthanded goal to give the visitors a 5-0 advantage … Mark Dufour netted a power play marker late in the third to get Union on the board … RPI Senior Jason Kasdorf made 22 saves for the win.
RPI COMPLETES SWEEP: Rensselaer scored the game’s first two goals on its way to a 3-2 win over Union and a sweep of the two-game series with the Dutchmen … Sophomore defenseman Jared Wilson opened the scoring with his first goal of the year at 3:29 of the second period … Senior Phil Hampton doubled the hosts advantage at 7:01 of the frame … Union senior Sebastian Gingras pulled the visitors to within 2-1 at 4:03 of the third, but Rensselaer senior center Mark Miller pushed the lead back to two goals (3-1), midway through the period … A Ryan Scarfo tally at 12:46 brought the Dutchmen back to within 3-2, but the Engineers were able to hold on for the victory … Senior goaltender Jason Kasdorf made 27 saves for RPI.
POINTS LEADERS: Entering the weekend, freshman Evan Tironese has a goal and six assists for a team-high seven points … He is followed by junior Riley Bourbonnais (4 goals, 1 assist) with five points … Classmate Jake Wood (2 goals, 2 assists) and senior Zach Schroeder (1 goal, 3 assists) have four points apiece.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Jason Kasdorf has started all seven games this season and is 3-4-0 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers have started the season at 20.0% (5 for 25) on the power play …The penalty kill has opened at 82.9% (29 for 35).
IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have face-offs at a 44.6% clip over the first seven games … Senior Zach Schroeder comes into the weekend with a team-best 50.0% success rate (35 for 70), while junior Riley Bourbonnais is second at 48.9% (23 for 47).
TOPS IN SHORTIES: Rensselaer’s three shorthanded goals are the most in the country … Senior Milos Bubela is tied for the nation’s individual lead with St. Cloud State sophomore Judd Peterson, with two.
BLACK AND BLUE-LINERS: RPI senior captain Chris Bradley and St. Lawrence junior Eric Sweetman are tied for the ECAC Hockey lead with 18 blocked shots apiece.
GIVING UP THE BODY: The Engineers have blocked 121 shots through seven games, including a team-high 18 from senior captain Chris Bradley … Sophomore defenseman Mike Prapavessis has 16, while junior Riley Bourbonnais has gotten in front of 14 attempts from the opposition, which the most among RPI forwards.
TIRONESE HONORED BY LEAGUE: Freshman Evan Tironese earned ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month honors for October, leading the Engineers in scoring with a goal and six assists for seven points … He leads all ECAC Hockey rookies in points, assists, power play assists (3), penalties and penalty minutes. He is second among first-year players in face-offs won (27) and assists per game (1.00).
KASDORF VS. THE NORTH COUNTRY: Senior goaltender Jason Kasdorf is a combined 6-5-1 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence in his career … He is 4-2-1 with a 2.65 goals against average and a .913 save percentage in seven games against Clarkson, including the first shutout of the Golden Knights by an RPI goaltender since Bob Fox on February 6, 1954 … Kasdorf is 2-3 against St. Lawrence with a 2.42 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Clarkson ranks second among ECAC Hockey teams with 19 points from defensemen (4 goals, 15 assists) … St. Lawrence is third with 17 points (3 goals, 14 assists), while the Engineers are sixth (3 goals, 9 assists) in the 12-team league.
DON’T BE LATE: Clarkson (9) and St. Lawrence (7) are first and second in ECAC Hockey in first period goals … RPI (6) is fourth.
FAMILIAR FOE: Thirteen Engineers have played at least four career games against Clarkson, including senior Zach Schroeder, who has laced ’em up a team-high 11 times against the Golden Knights … Classmate Mark Miller has a team-best six points on two goals and four assists in nine games.
WELCOME TO MY HOMECOMING: Senior Mark Miller, who is from Massena, N.Y. has had success in his career against RPI’s rivals from the North Country … In 17 career games against the Saints and Golden Knights, he has four goals and six assists for 10 points.
ALL-TIME AGAINST CLARKSON: The Golden Knights hold an 87-50-10 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to January 24, 1925 … Clarkson won the inaugural meeting, 14-1, in Troy … The 87 defeats are the most for the Engineers against any team.
RECENTLY: The series is even at 7-7-2 since the start of the 2010-11 season and the teams split five games last year (2-2-1), with the Engineers winning an ECAC Hockey Playoff series in Potsdam in March, 2-to-1.
AT CHEEL ARENA: The two teams have split the last 10 meeting in Potsdam, 5-5 … The Engineers are 4-2 in the post-season over that stretch, but just 1-3 in regular season play.
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS: RPI and Clarkson have played 14 times over the last four seasons and the two teams are averaging a combined 5.36 goals per game … At least five goals have been scored 11 times and 7+ goals have been recorded three times.
ALL-TIME AGAINST ST. LAWRENCE: The Saints own a 80-56-6 record in the all-time series … The first meeting came on January 3, 1951, in Troy, where St. Lawrence earned a 7-2 win.
RECENTLY: The last 10 meetings have been split, 5-5, with St. Lawrence winning three of four last year, including two post-season games at Appleton Arena in Canton.
IN CANTON: St. Lawrence has won 6 of the last 10 games played at Appleton Arena, including all three from a year ago.
