HOME OPENER: Rensselaer returns home after a weekend road trip to #7/8 North Dakota and Bemidji State, last Friday and Saturday ... The Engineers host Vermont for their 2014-15 home opener on Saturday (3pm).
REUNION & HOMECOMING WEEKEND: Rensselaer celebrates Reunion & Homecoming Weekend from October 9-12 ... Included in the festivities will be the Hall of Fame Banquet, at wich four new members will induced into the RPI Athletics Hall of Fame ... The Class of 2014 consists of Jennifer (Dias) Tulloch '07, Paris Moore '05, Brian Pothier '00 and
Bob Conway.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live statistics for Friday's game – and all Rensselaer home games – can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/whockey.
WATCH ONLINE: Saturday's game can be seen live online at www.rpiathletics.com/watch/whockey.
ON THE AIR AND ONLINE: Select games throughout the season can be heard live on 91.5 FM, WRPI or online at www.wrpi.org/listen.
TOP RETURNERING SCORERS: RPI welcomes back its top point-getter from a year ago in junior Alex Gruschow (7 goals, 13 assist), who had 20 points ... Classmate
Lauren Wash (12 goals, 5 assists) was third with 17 points, while senior captain
Ali Svoboda (7 goals, 9 assists) had 16.
IN GOAL: Senior
Kelly O'Brien went 10-15-2 as the starter in 29 of the team's 33 games ... She compiled a 2.30 goals against average and a .904 save percentage ... Classmate
Brianna Piper (0-5-1) had a 3.43 goals against average and an .888 save percentage in eight appearances (4 starts).
ENGINEERS DROP A PAIR: Rensselaer fell to #7/8 North Dakota last Friday, 7-1 ... Freshman
Shayna Tomlinson netted the team's lone goal, while senior goaltender
Kelly O'Brien stopped 32 shots ... The Engineers were then beaten, 4-0, at Bemidji State on Saturday ... Senior
Brianna Piper made 36 saves in the game, including 14 in the second period alone.
2013-14 VS. VERMONT: Dayna Colang scored two goals to lead Vermont to a 3-1 win over Rensselaer on October 19, 2013 at Houston Field House ... UVM got on the board at 13:10 of the first period, as Colang netted her third goal of the season ... The 1-0 advantage held for the Catamounts until the 12th minute of the second stanza, as senior forward
Toni Sanders scored the equalizer for the Engineers ...
Katie Rooney and
Laura Horwood recorded assists on the tally ... Vermont regained the lead just 2:11 into the third period, as Brianne Sundquist took assists from Brittany Zuback and Victoria Andreakos ... The Catamounts took advantage of a power play opportunity midway through the final period, as Colang finished off her second goal of the day ... Ashley Salerno handed off the helper to Colang, while Amanda Pelkey recorded the secondary assist ... RPI dominated the offensive end, outshooting the Catamounts, 40-16 ...
Kelly O'Brien finished with 13 saves in 57 minutes of action ... Vermont's Roxanne Douville recorded 10 saves in the first period before being relieved in net by Madison Litchfield for the final two periods ... Litchfield made 29 saves between the pipes for the Catamounts.
PACING THE CATAMOUNTS: Sophomore Cassidy Campeau (2 goals) and senior Delia McNally (2 assists) lead Vermont with two points apiece ... Five others have one point, including junior Dayna Colang, who has a goal ... Between the pipes, sophomore Madison Litchfield (1-1) has a 2.50 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.
VERMONT SPLITS ROAD TRIP: The Catamounts opened 2014-15 with a 3-1 win at #7/8 North Dakota last Saturday night ... Cassidy Campeau opened the scoring at 2:21 of the second period, but UND answered just 17 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1 ... Campeau netted the eventual game-winner at 3:05 of the third and Dayna Colang added an insurance tally at 17:23 of the frame to secure the victory ... Goaltender Madison Litchfield made 29 saves, including 12 in the third ... The following afternoon, Vermont fell at Bemidji State, 4-0 ... The Beavers scored two in the first and one in each of the second and third periods for the victory ... Litchfield finished with 33 stops, as the Catamounts were out-shot 37-28 in the contest.
RPI VS. VERMONT RECENTLY: Vermont holds a narrow 3-2-3 edge over the last eight meetings between the two schools ... Since the Engineers joined the ranks of Division I, RPI is 2-1-3, including a 3-1 loss at home last season ... The Engineers won at UVM in 2012-13, 5-1.
THROUGH TWO: Junior Alex Gruschow has 47 points in her first two seasons with the Engineers, on 20 goals and 27 assists ... That point total is third most in the school's DI history, behind Alisa Harrison '12 and Whitney Naslund '10, who put up 54 and 50 points, respectively, in their first two seasons at RPI.
SOPHOMORE SCORING: Last year's sophomore class accounted for 25 of the team's 68 goals (36.8%).
100 GAMES: Senior defenseman
Kathryn Schilter played in 100th game for the Engineers last Saturday against Bemidji State ... Sunday's match-up with Vermont will be the 100th game of senior captain
Taylor Mahoney's collegiate career.
THE CAPTAINS: Seniors
Taylor Mahoney and
Ali Svoboda will join assistant captain junior
Mari Mankey as the captains for the 2014-15 season ... All three are in their first season wearing the "C" or the "A" for the Engineers.
O'BRIEN IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior goaltender
Kelly O'Brien trails just former RPI standout Sonja van der Bliek '11 in a number of career school records ... She is second in games played (85), minutes (4753:09), total saves (1819) and losses (49) ... O'Brien ranks fifth in save percentage (.901) and goals against average (2.52).
BY CLASS: The 2014-15 roster consists of four freshmen, five sophomores, six juniors and seven seniors.
BY POSITION: The Engineers roster consists of 12 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders.
