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TROY, N.Y. - Freshman forward Mike Zalewski had two goals and an assist and classmate Jason Kasdorf stopped all 15 shots he faced to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 5-0 victory over Clarkson University in an ECAC Hockey contest in front of a Houston Field House crowd of 4,128.

The win, coupled with a loss by St. Lawrence University, means the Engineers (16-12-5 overall; 11-7-3 ECACH) will finish in second place in the league standings. RPI will have a bye through the first round of the first round of the playoffs. The Golden Knights (9-17-7; 8-10-3 ECACH) have to win at Union College on Saturday night (7pm) to maintain the possibility of hosting a best-of-three first round series.

The Engineers grabbed a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by freshmen linemates Milos Bubela (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia / Dubuque Fighting Saints) and Zalewski (New Hartford, NY / Vernon Vipers). Bubela made it a 1-0 gave the home team a 1-0 lead at 14:55 of the frame when he tapped in the last of a crisp passing sequence with his linemates. Junior center Brock Higgs (Kingston, ON / Kingston Voyageurs) started the play when he found Zalewski in the slot. Zalewski skipped the puck over to Bubela, who was stationed just outside crease to the goalie's left. The right wing slid the puck over the line for his eighth goal of the season. 

Zalewski, the left wing, made it a 2-0 score at 19:17 when he fired a wristshot through traffic and into the back of the net from the right faceoff dot. Senior defenseman Nick Bailen (Fredonia, NY / Indiana Ice) had the lone assist on the goal, Zalewski's eighth of the season.

RPI got three second period goals to increase its lead to 5-0 after two. Zalewski scored at 1:31, Guy Leboeuf tallied at 3:40 and Curtis Leonard scored at the 17:12 mark. Zalewski got his second of the game from right in front of the crease, while Leboeuf and Leonard scored on slap shots from the blueline. Leboeuf's goal, his first of the season, chased Greg Lewis (Mars, PA / Wenatchee Wild) from the Clarkson goal. 

Higgs had assists on two of the second period goals. Bubela had an assist on Zalewski's second goal and Bailen picked up his second helper of the night on Leonard's goal.

Kasdorf (Winnipeg, MB / Des Moine Buccaneers) had four stops for the first period, four in the second and seven in the third to improve his personal record to 12-3-2. Lewis had 10 saves before being replaced by senior Cody Rosen (Kingston, ON / Kingston Voyageurs), who stopped 23 shots in relief. 

Rensselaer closes out the regular season on Saturday night when St. Lawrence visits the Field House for Senior Appreciation Night.