TROY, N.Y. – Seniors Ture Linden and Linden Marshall have been named captains of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s hockey team for the 2021-22 season. Classmate Ottoville Leppanen will be an assistant captain and will be joined by graduate students Anthony Baxter (road games) and Shane Sellar (home games). The announcement was made by head coach Dave Smith.
A forward from Great Falls, Va., Linden is the Engineers’ top returning scorer for 2019-20, when he netted six goals and dished out 15 assists for 21 points, with one game-winning tally. Appearing in all 34 games that season, he recorded 50 shots, while blocking 22 at the defensive end and compiled a +7 rating. He was a key contributor to RPI’s penalty killing efforts that posted an .860 success rate on the year, including .868 in ECAC Hockey play.
Linden was RPI’s top scorer in conference play the last time the team took the ice, notching 20 points in 22 games. The former Lone Star Brahmas standout scored six goals and had 14 assists, with a +13 rating and 32 shots on goal.
In 70 career games at RPI, Linden has nine goals and 20 assists for 29 points.
A senior goaltender out of Victoria, B.C., Marshall went 3-3-0 with a 2.90 goals against average and a .904 save percentage in eight games (6 starts) last season. He turned away 179 of the 198 shots he faced. In three ECAC Hockey games (2 starts), he was 1-1-0, with a 1.83 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.
Marshall made 28 starts as a freshman in 2017-18, posting a 5-20-2 record, with a 3.17 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. Recording one shutout – a 29-save outing in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament at Colgate – the former Trail Smoke Eater made 828 saves on 916 shots, while compiling 1665:09 minutes.
Through 51 career appearances for the Engineers, Marshall is 13-31-2, with a 3.25 goals against average and a .900 save percentage. Playing 2747:08 minutes, he has one shutout.
A senior forward from Espoo, Finland, Leppanen played in 33 of the team’s 34 games in 2019-20, scoring four goals and assisting on 10 more for 14 points. He scored one power-play tally, had 38 shots and was a -5 for the season. In 21 league games, he had two goals and five assists for seven points.
Leppanen, a former member of the Espoo Blues U20 team, has played in 69 career games at RPI, registering eight goals and 25 assists for 33 points.
Baxter, who is a defenseman out of Oakville, Ontario, appeared in 16 games for UMass Lowell in 2020-21, where he scored three goals and picked up two assists for five points. He was assessed seven penalties for 25 points, while compiling a +1 rating and recording 26 shots.
In 116 games for the River Hawks, Baxter produced eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points.
A forward who hails from Carlisle, Pa., Sellar’s last college hockey action came for Dartmouth during the 2018-19 season. That year, he played in 34 games for the Big Green, scoring four goals with seven assists for 11 points. A +2 rating on the ice, he had one power-play goal and notched 68 shots.
Sellar appeared in 94 games for Dartmouth, amassing 16 goals 24 assist for 40 points.
Also announced was Rensselaer’s leadership group, which includes Marshall, Linden, Leppanen, Baxter, Sellar, Justin Addamo, Nick Bowman, Zach Dubinsky and Jakob Lacka.
The Engineers, who defeated Union College, 5-2, in their exhibition opener last Saturday, begin their regular season schedule this Friday and Saturday, when host Bowling Green for a pair at the Houston Field House.
