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THE FACEOFF
The Engineers and Dutchmen play the back-end of a home-and-home series in the second ECAC Hockey contest of the season for both teams. RPI defeated No. 2 Union, 6-1, at the Houston Field House on Friday night before a crowd of 4,002 on Black Friday in Troy.

LAST NIGHT'S GAME
Rensselaer sophomore Riley Bourbonnais had a hat trick and three freshmen also scored as the Engineers beat the defending national champions, Union College, 6-1. Bourbonnais, who had not scored before Friday's game, scored once in each period, including the game's first marker at 7:43 of the opening frame. Defenseman Jared Wilson and forwards Viktor Liljegren and Lou Nanne also tallied for RPI, which got 24 saves from Jason Kasdorf. Colin Stevens (14 saves) and Alex Sakellaropoulos (4) combined for 18 stops for the Dutchmen.

BLACK FRIDAY SUCCESS
With its win last night, RPI is now 8-2-2 on Black Friday, a night to mark the first ECAC Hockey home game of the season in which the team wears special jerseys that are raffled off to the fans. The Engineers have faced Union three times, posting a 2-1-0 mark. Rensselaer had a three-game winless streak on Black Friday (0-2-1) heading into last night's contest.

THE SERIES
RPI has played Union 90 times in its history, holding a 47-33-10 advantage, including wins in the last two meetings. In 42 home games, RPI is now 26-11-5 and the two teams have played 46 league contests, with Rensselaer owning an 19-22-6 record. The win on Friday was the first for the Engineers against the Dutchmen in seven games in ECAC Hockey play (0-6-0) dating back to November 13, 2010, when RPI won 4-3 in overtime on Black Friday (Saturday).

LAST YEAR HEAD-TO-HEAD
Rensselaer was 1-2-0 against Union last season, losing both the ECAC Hockey games, which were played in November, and winning the Mayor's Cup Game in late January. The first matchup was in Schenectady in which the Dutchmen came back from an early 1-0 deficit for a 4-1 lead before holding on, 4-3. The next night in Troy, defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored twice and Union won, 4-1, in a contest that featured 177 minutes in penalties with RPI collecting 94 and Union earning 83. The final meeting was a 2-1 Engineers victory backstopped by Scott Diebold's 28 saves in front of a crowd of 7,100 at the Times Union Center. Following the final whistle, the teams combined for 125 minutes in penalties and four players were disqualified.