By Warren Kozireski —
Former Canisius High, St. Francis High and Buffalo Regal Patrick Polino has already surpassed the number of goals he scored combined in his first two years at RPI. Through the first 22 games in this, his junior season, Polino led the Engineers with seven goals—six of those coming against ECAC conference opponents.
He netted four goals in his freshman year and two last season. He is now being rewarded for his knowledge as an upperclassmen and for his style of play.
“Patrick is coachable and tries to do the right thing and is he does it with his skill set—he knows the game, knows what we’re trying to do and almost all of his goals are a byproduct of chemistry with his line and things that we practice a lot with him and with our team,” Rensselaer second year head coach Dave Smith said.
“I love that he gets rewarded for doing the right thing. Patrick Polino tries to play the game the way we coach it and I love that about him. He’s in the right position, if he makes a mistake he doesn’t get down and comes back and tries to do the right thing and it’s nice when other players can see that focus on playing the right way.”
Polino had a career high two-goal game Oct. 26 against Union College and duplicated that mark with a pair Jan. 11 at St. Lawrence.
“I have found some chemistry with my two linemates (Ture Linden and Ottoville Leppanen); we’ve been together most of the year and they do a great job of working hard down low and finding me with the puck, so it’s been great so far,” Polino said after January contest.
The Business and Management major was just a handful of games from hitting the 100 career games mark.He is also consistently among the leaders this season for the Engineers in shot blocks per game and is focused on taking more shots this year.
“I spent a lot of time on my shot this summer and it’s been something of emphasis—I wanted to get more shots this year and get more shots through and on net. It’s important for me to play well in the d-zone and try to be a 200-foot player, get blocks and then get in the offensive zone and shoot the puck and it’s paying off this year.”
The 5’9”, 170 lb. winger spent part or all of five years after his developmental time in Buffalo with three teams in the United States Hockey League—Chicago, Green Bay and Lincoln where, over his final two seasons, he netted 64 points in 99 games even with missing the latter part of 2015-16 due to injury.
“When I was younger I visited a couple of times and as I got older laying in the USHL they called me again and I loved the campus, the hockey and everything, so it was a nice fit. Plus being close to home I had been so far away for so long moving away at 16, so it was nice to be able to come home, so it’s been fun.”
RPI made a coaching change after Polino’s freshman season and he did not envision being part of a changing hockey culture with a new staff, but he is embracing that leadership role.
“Coach always talks about that we want to leave it better than (when) we came in. It hasn’t been the most successful couple of years, but I think we’re heading in the right direction and it’s nice to be a part of it.”
