BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN: The Engineers return to the Houston Field House after earning three points on their North Country trip last weekend … RPI tied then-No. 17 Clarkson, 2-2, before topping then-No. 15 St. Lawrence, 4-3, in overtime … RPI will play its third straight game against a top-20 team on Friday, when it hosts No. 10 Yale at 7pm … Brown comes to town the following night for another 7pm puck drop.
FOLLOWING THE ACTION: Most RPI men’s hockey games can be heard live on WRPI, 91.5 FM, and on the Internet on www.wrpi.org … Home games can also be seen – for free – on RPI TV … The video stream can be found at www.rpitv.org.
RENSSELAER TIES CLARKSON: Senior Travis Fulton and junior Jake Wood got the Engineers off to a 2-0 lead, but the 17th-ranked Golden Knights battled back for a 2-2 tie, thanks to a Terrance Amorosa marker with 1:56 left in regulation … Jason Kasdorf made 28 saves before getting knocked out of the game … His replacement, freshman Cam Hackett, wound up with the decision, stopping 10 of the 11 shots he faced.
ENGINEERS SLIP PAST SLU: After allowing an early 2-1 lead to get away, Rensselaer scored two unanswered goals in regulation and overtime to thwart 15th-ranked St. Lawrence, 4-3 … Massena, N.Y. native, Mark Miller, provided the game-winning tally, one minute into the extra session … Junior Riley Bourbonnais and sophmore Drew Melanson each had a goal and an assist for the visitors, who open the league season with a four-game unbeaten streak … Freshman Cam Hackett made 37 saves for his first collegiate victory in his first start between the pipes.
TICKETS: Tickets to all Rensselaer home games are available through the Houston Field House box office or by calling 518-276-6262.
POINTS LEADERS: Entering the weekend, junior Riley Bourbonnais has five goals and three assists for a team-high eight points in nine games … Freshman Evan Tironese (1 goal, 6 assists) has seven points, while junior Jake Wood (3 goals, 2 assists) had five points.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Jason Kasdorf has started eight of the team’s nine games this season and is 3-4-0 with a 2.46 goals against average and a .927 save percentage … Freshman Cam Hackett (1-0-1) has made two apperanaces and carries a 3.08 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Engineers have started the season at 16.1% (5 for 31) on the power play …The penalty kill has opened at 86.4% (38 for 44).
IN THE FACE-OFF CIRCLE: The Engineers have face-offs at a 43.9% clip over the first nine games … Senior Mark Miller has won a team-best 48.3% of his draws, while classmate Milos Bubela is second at 47.5%.
SHORTHANDED LEADERS: Rensselaer’s three shorthanded goals are second most in the country, trailing Nebraska-Omaha (4) … Senior Milos Bubela is tied for the nation’s individual lead with St. Cloud State sophomore Judd Peterson and Nebraska-Omaha junior Jake Guentzel … All three have two shorthanded goals.
BOURBONNAIS STREAKING: RPI junior Riley Bourbonnais is currently riding a four-game point streak in which he has amassed two goals and three assists for five points … He is a +6 over that stretch with a team-high 16 shots.
SUPPORTING ROLES: Four players have three points during RPI’s four-game unbeaten streak, including freshman Evan Tironese (3 assists), senior Travis Fulton (2 goals, 1 assist), junior Jake Wood (1 goal, 2 assists) and sophomore Lou Nanne (1 goal, 2 assists).
SNAPPED STREAK: Junior Jake Wood saw his five-game point streak snapped against St. Lawrence on Saturday night … He had three goals and two assist over his previous five contests.
GIVING UP THE BODY: The Engineers have blocked 136 shots through nine games, including a team-high 20 from senior captain Chris Bradley … Sophomore defenseman Mike Prapavessis has 18, while junior Riley Bourbonnais has gotten in front of 15 attempts from the opposition, which the most among RPI forwards.
UNBEATEN STREAKS: The Engineers four-game unbeaten streak is the fourth-longest in the country … ECAC Hockey teams own four of the seven longest such current streaks nationally.
BEST START SINCE 1994-95: Rensselaer is out to its best conference start to a season since the 1994-95 team opened with five straight victories … That team went on to win the ECAC Hockey Championship in Lake Placid, topping Princeton 5-1 in the final.
ALL-TIME VS. YALE: The Engineers own a 55-44-6 lead in the all-time series with the Bulldogs, which dates back to January 22, 1909 … Yale won the inaugural meeting, 3-0, in Albany.
RECENTLY: The Bulldogs have won 6 of the last 10 meetings, including the last four in a row … RPI’s last win in the series came on February 18, 2013 – a 4-1 victory at the Houston Field House.
IN 2014-15: Yale swept the regular season series with the Engineers last year, posting wins of 5-2 and 4-1 … The Bulldogs never trailed in an early season match-up in New Haven, getting goals from Trent Ruffolo and Carson Cooper, before RPI’s Jake Wood made it a 2-1 game late in the second period … Ryan Hitchcock put the hosts back up by two (3-1), but Milos Bubela answered with a power play goal to draw the Engineers to within 3-2 … Two third period tallies created some breathing room for the Bulldogs … In the return trip to Troy, Yale scored the first two goals once again, including a man advantage tally by Cooper … Viktor Liljegren then tallied on the power play for RPI, but two second period goals by the Bulldogs capped the scoring.
SCOUTING YALE: The Bulldogs are coming off of a 1-0-1 weekend in which they tied nationally-ranked Harvard, 2-2, and defeated Dartmouth, 4-2 … They are led offensively by freshman Joe Snively, who has four goals and one assist for five points … Junior Mike Doherty (2 goals, 2 assists) and senior defenseman Ryan Obuchowski (1 goal, 3 assists) have four points apiece.
YALE GOALTENDING: Junior Alex Lyons enters the weekend with a 3-0-1 record, having started all four games this season … He has a 1.47 goals against average and a .950 save percentage.
THRILL OF THE KILL: Yale is first in the country with a perfect penalty kill (8 for 8), while the Engineers are 21st at 86.4% (38 for 44).
PENALTY DISPARITY: RPI is the fifth most penalized team in the country, averaging 15.7 penalty minutes per contest … The Bulldogs have been assessed a nation-low 4.5 minutes per game.
ALL-TIME VS. BROWN: The Engineers hold a commanding 59-26-7 lead in the all-time series with the Bears, which dates back to December 28, 1951 … Brown won the first ever meeting, 5-0, in Troy.
RECENTLY: RPI is 5-4-1 over the last 10 meetings, including a 3-3 record at the Houston Field House.
2014-15 VS. THE BEARS: Brown swept the season series last year, winning by scores of 4-2 and 6-3 … In Providence, Tim Ernst made 39 saves and Matt Lorito netted the eventual game-winning goal in the second period for the 4-2 victory … At the Houston Field House, Jacob Laliberte scored first, but three straight by the visiting Bears made it 3-1, early in the second period … Milos Bubela brought RPI to within 3-2, before Sam Lafferty netted a goal that turned out to be the winner, 51 seconds into the third.
PACING BROWN: Off to an 0-3-0 start, the Bears have a trio of scorers with three points, including Nick Lappin (1 goal, 2 assists), Zack Prybek (1 goal, 2 assists) and Josh McArdle (3 assists).
BEARS NETMINDING: Junior Tim Ernst is 0-2-0 with a 5.61 goals against average and an .823 save percentage, while classmate Tyler Steel is 0-1-0 with a 7.00 goals against average and a .759 save percentage.
ENGINEERS VS. RANKED TEAMS: The Engineers are 2-2-1 against ranked opposition this season, including victories over then-No. 1 Boston College (2-1) and then-No. 15 St. Lawrence (4-3 in OT).
